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COCKROACHES have given away a secret that could be their undoing.
Entomologists in Florida have discovered that the insects follow filthy trails
laid down by other roaches鈥攁nd that the chemicals they follow could be
used to lead them to traps.

Researchers used to think that roaches wandered around randomly as they
scavenged for morsels. But Dini Miller and Philip Koehler at the University of
Florida in Gainesville discovered that German cockroaches follow trails of their
own faecal material, using their antennae to sense chemicals it contains.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e pooping as they鈥檙e walking along, and their bodies also have attractant
chemicals on them,鈥� Miller says. 鈥淥ver time, a trail accumulates by accident.鈥�
The trail is very long lasting. 鈥淚f you go to a house that has a bad
infestation, you can see a brown line along the sink counter or cabinets where
the cockroaches pass.鈥� At first, the researchers thought they could use the
faecal material to attract the roaches to a trap or bait. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 brown and it
smells terrible,鈥� Miller says.

By dissolving the faeces in methylene chloride, and then mixing the solution
with water, she was able to transfer the cockroach attractants into the water,
leaving the offensive colour and odour in the methylene chloride. 鈥淲e can make a
line with this water, let it dry, and the cockroach will follow that line even
though it can鈥檛 see it,鈥� she says.

Miller says people should place their cockroach bait or traps along these
newly discovered roach trails. She questions whether anyone would breed
鈥渮illions of cockroaches鈥� to harvest the faecal material, but suggests that the
chemical could be synthesised when it鈥檚 finally identified.