What is the natural predator of cockroaches?

The natural predators of cockroaches include a variety of animals that prey on them in both indoor and outdoor environments, helping to control populations though they are not sufficient for indoor infestation control alone and should be combined with sanitation and baits for effective elimination. Among mammals, mice, rats, and shrews eat cockroaches when they encounter them in wall voids and basements. Birds including chickens, sparrows, and starlings eat roaches outdoors, and chickens are sometimes used in gardens to reduce American cockroaches which are large reddish brown often called palmetto bugs. Reptiles and amphibians such as lizards, geckos, bearded dragons, iguanas, frogs, and toads are significant predators, with geckos and lizards commonly eating German cockroaches and American cockroaches in homes in warm climates, though they cannot control heavy infestations. Arthropod predators include spiders such as huntsman spiders, wolf spiders, and house spiders that catch roaches in webs or hunt them, centipedes, scorpions, and predatory beetles like ground beetles and tiger beetles. Parasitic wasps, specifically ensign wasps and jewel wasps, lay eggs inside cockroach egg cases and nymphs, with larvae consuming roaches from inside. Fungi and pathogens also attack roaches. However, natural predators alone do not eliminate indoor German cockroach infestations because roaches reproduce quickly and hide in cracks, so integrated pest management including thorough sanitation by storing food sealed, sealing cracks with caulk, and using gel baits containing fipronil or indoxacarb that roaches carry back to kill colony within days to weeks is needed for permanent control, with professional service costing $150 to $400.