Exactly what is this bug?

Basye, VA(Zone 6a)

I live in the woods and have always seen a few of these around, but there seems to be more of them this spring. This one is about half an inch long but sometimes they get bigger than that. They don't seem to be nocturnal or scurry rapidly when you turn the lights on like household roaches do. I see them most often down in the basement, but I caught this one upstairs. In general, bugs don't usually bother me too much, but I recently found one of these crawling up my pants leg and one even *inside* my clothes last week! Talk about a total freak-out! It's making me creep and itch all over again now just thinking about it! So are they anything to be concerned about or does this just happen to be a "good" year for them?

Thumbnail by VaMtnDude
Minot, ND

Probably one of the wood cockroaches in the genus Parcoblatta - see http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark_leppin/3512305368/in/set-72157611256861725 for an example.

Lucketts, VA(Zone 7a)

VaMtnDude - I live fairly close to you in a rural wooded area and am finding the same incursion happening. Just yesterday morning when I let in our cat one of these ran in as the door closed. Unfortunately for the roach, I saw it. I'm thinking it has something to do with the time of year.

Basye, VA(Zone 6a)

Thanks for the replies. I figured they were probably just regular wood roaches but wasn't sure since there have been so many this spring. After posting this, I heard about someone who lives nearby who has so many she's called in an exterminator. Personally, I'm not going to go spraying chemical poison on everything in my house and wind up getting cancer or something. I'm hoping it's just one of those usual cycles in nature where something flourishes and thrives for a while and then disappears again. (We're also due for the 17-year cicadas again this year and that awful buzzing racket they make, oh joy.)

greenthumb99, howdy neighbor! I'll be over in your neck o' the woods in a couple weeks for the big flower and garden festival in Leesburg. I've never gone to it before so I'm really looking forward to it. Sounds like a huge event!

Anne Arundel,, MD(Zone 7b)

"one of those years?" Ew.
We get them around the porch light. I'm in a subdivision but with mature trees and some semi natural areas.

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