What a baby cockroach looks like
The small cockroaches that run for cover when you switch on the kitchen light are usually German cockroaches, and their young, the nymphs, look like smaller, darker versions of them: dark brown to black, with no wings, and with two dark bands running along the back just behind the head. Adults grow to 10 to 15 millimetres.
For a few hours after each moult a nymph is white, and a newly hatched American cockroach starts out white too. If the one you found was white, white cockroach explains what you saw.
Is it a baby cockroach, or something else?
A baby cockroach runs fast, has long antennae, and turns up near food and water: the kitchen, the sink, the bathroom.
A small, flat, slow, reddish-brown insect with short antennae, found in the bed or along a mattress seam rather than the kitchen, is more likely a bed bug. Bed bugs has a real photograph and the sizes at every stage.
A silvery, tapering insect with three tails at the back is a silverfish. Silverfish shows the difference.
Why seeing them matters
A baby cockroach did not wander in. The female carries her egg case until just before the eggs hatch, and each case holds 30 to 40 eggs, so nymphs mean cockroaches are already breeding somewhere inside the house.
They also grow up fast. At room temperature a nymph becomes an adult in about 60 days, moulting around six times on the way, and each adult female goes on to carry several egg cases of her own. A handful this month can be a kitchen full by next season.
And for every adult you see there are several young ones. The University of Florida puts a growing German cockroach population at about 80 percent nymphs and 20 percent adults, so the babies are most of what is there.
Where to look
Look where the adults shelter, in warm, damp, cluttered spots near food: behind the ref and the stove, under the sink, in cabinet hinges and drawer corners, inside the rice cooker and other small appliances. A flashlight at night, when they come out, shows them best.
What to do this week
- Clean up crumbs and grease, keep food sealed, and leave nothing wet in the sink overnight.
- Clear out cardboard boxes, paper bags and clutter, which is where they shelter.
- Seal the cracks behind the backsplash and around pipes under the sink.
- Skip the spray can. UC IPM advises against foggers, bombs and aerosol sprays for cockroaches: they can be hazardous and can drive cockroaches into other rooms without killing them.
If you buy cockroach bait, it is a pesticide. Read the label before you open it, and put it only where a small child or a pet cannot reach, as the US EPA’s pesticide safety guide says. Where it should go in a kitchen with children in it is a good question to hand to us instead.
When to book a treatment
If you are seeing nymphs in more than one room, seeing them in daylight, or live in an apartment or a row of houses where the building shares walls and pipes, book an inspection. We find where they are breeding and treat those places, and we cover Pampanga, Bulacan, Bataan, Tarlac and Olongapo. Send a message through the contact form with your town and where you are seeing them.
Sources
University of Florida IFAS, German cockroach, read 12 October 2026.
University of Florida IFAS, American cockroach, read 12 October 2026.
University of California IPM, Cockroaches, read 12 October 2026.
US EPA, Citizen’s Guide to Pest Control and Pesticide Safety, read 12 October 2026.