WJSTLL?! Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Hullo. I am one of those crazy people who live in Florida, where roaches are the state bird, and the environment can only be described as "palm tree rich." So a while back, I started catching teh "pests" in the house and raising them as pets. At the moment, this legacy has passed on to my five little friends, Kafka, Jitterbug, Ravenous, Mehitabel, and Misa-Misa. And they live on in a predator-free environment as my strange pets. (Strange? Yes. It's typically rather strange when a girl decides out of the blue to keep roaches. Especially when she works for an exterminator... But of course, logic works for a select few in this universe...) Why do I do this? Well...I like the way roaches look. I like the way they react. I like watching how they behave with one another, and what body language they have... And I also like when men twice my size and rippling with muscles are standing on a chair screaming, and I like being the one who goes over to the roach, looks at it and then says "Ah. Just an american cockroach" then squishing it properly before someone has a heart attack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allpet Roaches Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Welcome! A number of our great pet roaches are found in Florida (and a number of pests as well). The most handsome pets native there include Blaberus craniifer, Hemiblabera tenebricosa and Panchlora nivea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arachyd Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 "...and basket weavers who sit and smile and twiddle their thumbs and toes..." I love that song! Welcome! I was also an exterminator many years ago. I still don't like the roaches that look like the German Cockroach (small, fast, brown) but I do enjoy my dubias and tesselatas. Now I work in an office for a large agency and I'm the one they come to when something crawly gets in the building and they don't want to see it get stuck in a glue trap. I've managed to make a lot of people feel sympathetic (or guilty) enough that they'd rather give things a chance to be carried outside safely than squished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WJSTLL?! Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 "...and basket weavers who sit and smile and twiddle their thumbs and toes..." I love that song! Welcome! I was also an exterminator many years ago. I still don't like the roaches that look like the German Cockroach (small, fast, brown) but I do enjoy my dubias and tesselatas. Now I work in an office for a large agency and I'm the one they come to when something crawly gets in the building and they don't want to see it get stuck in a glue trap. I've managed to make a lot of people feel sympathetic (or guilty) enough that they'd rather give things a chance to be carried outside safely than squished. YES! JUST AS PLANNED! *airpunch* Someone knows the song... But of course, living in Florida means you basically have only two seasons:rainy and dry...so there really ARE trees and flowers and chirping birds all the time. (Slight truth there! But sadly, I can't yet twiddle my toes...) Aw, hey! The only problem with the german cockroaches is that they're a bugger (Oh the puns!) to get rid of. ("Might as well blow up the building" kind of thing in some cases...) I mean, they're the LITTLE ones. I always laugh when people from further north complain about their eensy cockroaches and how much they gross them out. It just makes me want to put a palmetto bug an inch and a half long on a cabinet and watch the person's react as the thing dive-bombs their head s the next-tallest object in the room. (Maybe that's a little heartless, but it's usually totally worth the headmovies...) People don't really feel sorry for the things down here (except for me) because of the relative size, I assume. (Nice big American Cockroaches and all...) There's a rather noticeable difference between the cockroach you find in your cereal bowl in Miami, and the cockroach behind the toilet in Hershey. (Watching my aunt squeal over a roach no bigger than my rather bitten-up pinky fingernail rather highlighted this difference for me... ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WJSTLL?! Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 Welcome! A number of our great pet roaches are found in Florida (and a number of pests as well). The most handsome pets native there include Blaberus craniifer, Hemiblabera tenebricosa and Panchlora nivea. Oooh, debatable, sir. Jitterbug is a pretty spiffy looking Male if I do say so myself. ^_~ Even if he IS supposedly just a pest. (Put it this way--I have a plentiful supply of potential pets in the kitchen during the rainy season every year...and every tropical storm that comes by yeilds a sudden swell of adventuresome critters...) It's like a dream come true... Assuming you like American Cockroaches. (I think I've mentioned before that this is usually a less common thing for girls without any lizards/snakes to feed them to, or for girls in general as far as I've noticed. ) Oh the bright side, if I ever move into a dorm, or a third-rate apartment, I'll probably be even more deliriously happy. AND you don't need a humidifier or all that fancy stuff you poor peopel suffer through further north--the only thing is egg cases don't seem to hatch inside at room temperature. They need about outdoor temperature so... ...Seriously all you people ought to reture here and live happy and bountiful lives with our ample "pest" population. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nhewyt Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 Howdy and welcome. My sister lived in Florida for a number of years. When she moved back here she brought her prized staghorn fern with her - a HUGE thing, about 5 feet around and growing in a heavy wire basket on wood packed round with moss. A giant roach which she called a Palmetto Bug had stowed away in the moss and was living there happily for about a month until the day it decided to fly around the room and scare the be-jezzus out of my mother LOL. That was many years ago, before I knew much about roaches, but as I recall it, I would have to say it was a Giant Cave that someone had to have cut loose down there. It was about 3 and a half inches long with a wingspan at least twice that. I never got to examine it closely alive as my mother beat it to death with a rolled up news paper :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.