# Will a smashed cockroach attract more roaches? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-smashed-cockroach-attract-more-roaches/240615 "2004-04-18T02:07:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-smashed-cockroach-attract-more-roaches/240615/1 "2004-04-18T02:07:27Z")
A friend was about to smash a roach in his house the other day, another friend said “I wouldn’t do that, they’ll only come back in greater numbers”. He smashed it anyways, and the other guy said “now you’ve done it, enjoy your infestation”. This sounds like a load of crap to me, don’t most things retreat when they smell their own dead? Might the dead roach be a source of food for the other roaches? Snopes had nothing, and Orkin’s closed. Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![Kaotic\_Newtral](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@Kaotic\_Newtral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaotic_Newtral)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-smashed-cockroach-attract-more-roaches/240615/2 "2004-04-18T02:10:53Z")
That seems to be _crap_ to me. My house has never been one to be overrun with bugs though. I’m pretty sure the biggest attractors for roaches and the like are conditions where they have food that can’t be seen by us. One extra roach ain’t nuttin’. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-smashed-cockroach-attract-more-roaches/240615/3 "2004-04-18T03:14:10Z")
I stomped a roach once, but didn’t kill it - I just smashed the back half of him. He was stuck to the floor, waving his legs around. Immediately, two more roaches ran out and started eating him while he was still kicking. I thought that was pretty rude, so I stomped them, too. ---
**Author:** ![jmizzou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@jmizzou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmizzou)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-smashed-cockroach-attract-more-roaches/240615/4 "2004-04-18T03:21:27Z")
[Not really](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mroachsmell.html), sayeth the Master. ---
**Author:** ![NotMrKnowItAll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6bbea6/32.png) [@NotMrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotMrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-smashed-cockroach-attract-more-roaches/240615/5 "2004-04-18T03:49:34Z")
I come from a long line of entomologists. No. What being misapplied is the notion that for every _Blatta_ you see, there’s 10[sup]2[/sup] hidden in the wall. **Completely irrelevant story about my mom:** My mom is an entomologist (big suprise[just like my dad] Wood’s hole and all that). In one project, she studied the effect various chemicals had on cockroach hind gut. So she’d cut a wood roach’s legs and head off before extracting it’s hind gut. She had problem with the heads trying to escape, pulling themselves along by their mandibles. **Extra double irrelevant story about my brother** My brother studied the effects of gram-positve and gram-negative antibiotics on the reproductive abilities of _Blatta_. Turns out there’s some disgusting bacterial symbiosis in _[Blatta_ procreation. In other news, my brother is now on tenure tract. Yeah! **Double-super irrelevant story about my dad** He’s spending the next month cataloging the _lygaeidae_ collection at the Smithsonian in D.C. He’s a taxonomist. I chose physics as my degree, so I work with computers. My dad thinks I missed my calling in entomology. Ha! ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-smashed-cockroach-attract-more-roaches/240615/6 "2004-04-18T04:14:27Z")
> [@jmizzou](#): > > [Not really](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mroachsmell.html), sayeth the Master. Actually, it’s not the Master, but SD staff Doug. If I may be blunt, I thought his report was kinda flimsy. So I delved deeper here: [Comments on Staff Reports: Does the smell of squished cockroach attract other roaches?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=144148) However, while I was able to clarify them, **Doug** ’s conclusions pretty well stood intact. One line from that other thread is worth repeating here: > [@](#): > > First, she found roaches prefer to walk on fecal material rather than a clean surface. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-smashed-cockroach-attract-more-roaches/240615/7 "2004-04-18T04:38:07Z")
> [@NotMrKnowItAll](#): > > She had problem with the heads trying to escape, pulling themselves along by their mandibles. > [@Kyle Reese](#): > > Listen. And understand. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead. Heh. Amazing what you can do, when you don’t go into shock. ---
**Author:** ![jmizzou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@jmizzou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmizzou)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-smashed-cockroach-attract-more-roaches/240615/8 "2004-04-18T05:05:30Z")
Ahh, thanks for the clarification, **dqa**.