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"Pretty" or "Cute" Cockroaches


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I have a friend who is deathly afraid of cockroaches. She thinks that every roach is basically P. americana and needs to be sprayed/squashed as quickly as humanly possible. I'd like to show her otherwise, so what roaches would you recommend as being "pretty" or "cute" to show her that they all aren't bad/pests/scary. I already have adult T. petiveriana, adultand nymph L. verrocosa, and nymph and adult G. lurida (regular morph).

Obviously this is all a matter of preference, but I'm still curious to hear what you all think!

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Therea olegrandjeani!

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Pretty much all the Gyna species are made of magic, space, and rainbows IMHO. Someone here has one that looks like it has a nebula on it even.

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I wouldn't use any of the Gyna. They look too much like a "roach" on the underside. Of course, as long as they stayed upright I guess it would be a fine species. I vote for T. petiveriana. Not many people know that there is a roach that is black with domino spots on it. Plus, they are really adorable.

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I think Discoid are really pretty, but almost all roaches are beautiful to me. Maybe try to get some of the really colorful kind.

The Harlequin roach with yellow and black stripes.

Green species like Cuban and Banana.

There are blue species also but I'm not sure of the names.

Our site leaders Orin and Zepher should be able to help.

I've written some literature advocating for roaches. I stress what makes them pretty, their usually gentle nature, and potential uses they have. If you like, I'll mail to you so you can influence her with it.

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The Therea species look like "bugs" more than roaches, so as long as she's not afraid of creepy crawlies in general I would think that would be your best bet. To someone who doesn't research insects to learn more, the adults look a lot like giant monochrome lady bugs. My husband who is a little nervous around the roaches at times will scoop up the nymphs without a second thought because they resemble beetles and don't trigger cockroach flashbacks. (He went to college in Florida and had some bad experiences with the native fauna down there.) The only bad thing about adult Therea is that they're fast and jerky, which can be startling since that can come across as being unpredictable and if you're already nervous then not being able to know what they're going to do next is not a good thing. I recommend putting them in a sealed jar and letting her decide how much more she wants to touch/see them. Having control of the situation is key! I wish I had done that rather than just walk them out when I introduced some of my roaches to my mother and step daughter. They were so freaked out by the hissers they won't even walk near the door to where the critters are kept now.

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