This species is the most numerous and widespread of the indoor cockroaches. The average German cockroach is about one-half long and pale brown in color, with two dark stripes on the shield behind its head. German cockroaches have proliferated widely in part because they reproduce year round (not seasonally) at such a prodigious rate that a single female can produce as many as 30,000 offspring in a year's time. Also significant is the fact that the females do not merely lay and scatter their eggs, but instead carry them in a hard-shelled capsule, which ensures that a high percentage of offspring survive. Like all cockroaches, this species feeds on decaying organic matter and spreads germs (through excretion) wherever it goes.