Black Cockroaches Infest Volgograd After Severe Frost

Entomologist Galina Fedorova details why large black cockroaches are appearing in Volgograd homes post-frost, highlighting exotic species and health risks.

Mar 6, 2026

Cockroaches exhibit high survivability, enduring harsh conditions like severe frost.
Source:
Maria Romanova

After severe frosts, large black cockroaches have begun appearing in Volgograd apartments. The insects with shiny shells penetrate through cracks, sinks, and sewer systems. Experts note that these pests are active year-round and do not hibernate.

Exotic cockroach species arriving in Russia raise significant health and safety concerns.
Source:
Evgenia Bikunova

Galina Fedorova, an entomologist at the Volgograd Regional Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology, stated that cockroaches belong to the oldest group of insects associated with humans. In modern fauna, there are over 4,000 species, approximately 60 of which live near people.

Cockroaches are known to bite humans, causing skin damage while they sleep.
Source:
Evgenia Bikunova

Eight species are registered in Russia: the red (German cockroach), black oriental, American, brown-banded, ash, East Asian, brown, smoky, and Turkestan cockroach. All of them are found in the Volgograd region; a separate «Russian cockroach» species does not exist.

These insects act as vectors for numerous diseases that pose risks to human health.
Source:
Evgenia Bikunova

Exotic varieties often enter the country with imported goods. “For example, large Chinese ones. In China, they are used in cosmetology, pharmacology, and the restaurant business. These cockroaches are used to treat AIDS, cancer, and baldness. But it is not excluded that they can also transmit infections,” Fedorova explained. American cockroaches are sometimes kept as pets, but in Volgograd, they have also become pests.

Cockroaches lead an active lifestyle regardless of the season. “Cockroaches are very tenacious, resistant to adverse conditions insects that are adapted to survive even in extreme conditions,” the expert emphasized. They create nests in dark corners, behind furniture, and inside household appliances.

Females lay eggs in special capsules — oothecae. The red cockroach carries such a capsule for 15–40 days, while the black one leaves it in hidden places. Larvae develop from nine months to four years. Lifespan depends on the species:

red cockroach — 128–180 days,
black — 120–160 days,
American — 520–720 days.

The insects are omnivorous and can starve for up to 40 days. They feed on organic residues, wood, plastic, and even bite people. “Cockroaches can even bite not very clean people and small children. At night during human sleep, cockroaches can partially or completely gnaw off the epidermis on lips, elbows, neck, fingers, eyelids, and other places,” warned Galina Fedorova. There are known cases when they crawled into the ear canal, causing damage.

The pests penetrate inside electrical equipment, short-circuiting contacts and causing malfunctions. Moreover, they carry pathogens of dangerous diseases. “Synanthropic cockroaches are mechanical vectors of many infections, capable of retaining pathogenic microorganisms inside and on the surface of their bodies for a relatively long time and then releasing them,” noted the entomologist. Among them are salmonella, shigella, staphylococcus, Coxsackie and polio viruses, and helminth eggs.

Infected females can transmit infections to offspring through the eggshell. Most species living in Russia cannot fly but are capable of gliding for short distances using underdeveloped wings.