Giant Cockroaches

I don’t like cockroaches.  Not one bit.  I think they’re gross.  Not as disgusting as slugs, mind you.  But still annoyingly gross. 

My amazing kids to the rescue!  Trying to rid my desk of the cockroach that wanted to make it's home in my air con.  This picture is proof that even the hardiest of third grade boys are slightly startled by crawling cockroaches.  Glad it's not just me!

If you look closely, you can see them using my baton.  Glad to know it comes in handy for more than just rewards for good spelling!  (He had to promise ahead of time to clean it off if it touched the roach...)

 

After arriving at school this morning, turning on my air con, and seeing a massive cockroach crawl out of the opening… I started thinking about why it is that I hate these creatures so much.  Here's what I've come up with.


1. They are impossible to squish.  You hit them with a notebook, or a shoe, or something else hard over and over… and they still keep crawling around.  Sporadically. And generally, towards your foot.  Which, of course, causes a jump backward.  Not because I’m necessarily scared of them, but because it just grosses me out.

2. You don’t REALLY want to smash them anyway.  They squirt white.  Whoever heard of white blood?  Or yellow?  The little ones in our house leave yellow spots, the big ones white.  And that’s just gross.  Especially when it’s on your mosquito net.

3. But you also don’t want to let them keep running around.  They might make more little cockroaches.  That are also impossible to kill.  And that’s problematic.  Because no one wants to open the fridge… or the drawer… or the cupboard… or anything really… and see a roach scurrying for cover from the light.

4. These interesting creatures have exoskeletons and are very hardy.  Because of their ability to survive floods, thrashings with notebooks, and other horrible atrocities, these guys have been around for a long time.  According to Wikipedia, cockroaches are among the hardiest insects on the planet. Some species are capable of remaining active for a month without food and are able to survive on limited resources like the glue from the back of postage stamps.  Some can go without air for 45 minutes. They can survive for a week without a head, and only die then because of dehydration.  In one experiment, cockroaches were able to recover from being submerged underwater for half an hour.  Somehow, all this doesn’t give me much hope for a happy, cockroach-free future for my children some day.

However, if you would like to help prolong the agony… uh hm, I mean encourage the population of this fabulous race of creatures, you can check here for more information on how to care for them as pets. 

Supposedly, Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches make great pets.  They are especially good for classrooms.  Feel free to take any of the Tanzanian ones home with you on your next visit!

Gross.