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Behind a Denny’s. Classic!

Thanks :-D I’m really excited

I’ve already been eyeballing images of them after a molt and thinking about whether or not I can convince myself it’s a prawn or something, lol. But I really don’t want to do that unless I’m starving - not because I think it’s gross, but because I don’t really wanna kill them unless necessary.

I’m going to guess probably not without aging at the very least. Eucalyptus seems like it would fall into the same category as cedar in my mind. Lemme Google this… Yeah that’s what I figured - it contains a lot of aromatic oils that can be toxic. The aging/composting is going to be your best bet with anything like that, because it allows the oils to break down and the volatile compounds to turn into gas. That being said, don’t feed your bugs anything just because I said it may be ok. I’m just a guy who did a bunch of research in a hotel bed.

Last year one of the maintenance managers got highly inebriated, made a bit of a fool of himself, and then fell down a flight of stairs.

They’re sending me to learn about safety, heating and cooling, and pest control, and I’m learning how to raise roaches and be a phone sex operator - although to be fair I did learn a lesson about responsible drinking and handrails, so I guess they got me on that one.

I guess I’ll have to establish a baseline for their reaction to my presence after a couple of months or so, and then just note if I see any difference when I start masking my chemical markers 🤷🏻‍♂️

Yup! Although as mentioned elsewhere, you wanna be somewhat careful about mites, I wouldn’t go tossing random stuff directly into the enclosure, but of you have, like, a feeding station or something, or if you’re just walking around with one in your shirt pocket or whatever, go for it!

A lot of owners feed them fruit and vegetables - potatoes, carrots, strawberries, grapes, etc… - and also leaves and wood from non-aromatic trees and plants - fresh aromatics like cedar can be deadly. They also feed them dry pet food for protein - stuff like fish food, or kibbles n bits - or even fresh meat, but it’s not preferred to do so.

They typically feed on forest floor detritus in the wild, so stuff like fallen leaves and branches, the occasional tiny dead gecko. Stuff like that.

I fed em some raisins and a fortune cookie and they went nuts! lol

That’s something I haven’t looked into. I can either Google this now, or experiment on my own blindly to see if my results match those that exist, if any.

I’m gonna do the second. I’ll let you know o7

Some of them are, but most of them just pose more of a stress/nuisance problem. Depending on the species, they can live up to a couple of months, lay 2-10 eggs every couple of days, and go from egg to reproducing adult in 1-2 weeks, so they have the possibility to massively explode in population if they are introduced.

I’ve only had these for a few days, so I can’t say that the experience will be the same for everyone, or that it won’t change over time, but so far they are AWESOME!

They have little personalities, and the pregnant ones are so cute because they just grip your finger and hold as close to you as possible, and it honestly reminds me of a cat pressing its paw into you and extending its claws ever so gently.

The hissing is funny sometimes, because it’s almost like a little kid throwing a tantrum. I was trying to clean out the jar they were in temporarily before I got home, and every time I’d try to move this particular male, he’d be like “NO!” and scurry about 4 mm, and I’d go to pick him up again, and he’d go “NOOOO!!” XD

And because I know it’s coming - the males have small, I call em, “proto-horns” on the back of their heads, and their antenna are fuzzy.

Not the best angle for the situation, but you can see the bumps there on the head, and if you look closely you can see the thick-yet-fine fuzz on the antenna. Compare it to the image in the main post, and you’ll notice the difference in the horns.

I have only known these roaches for a weekend, but if anything ever happened to them, I’d kill everyone in this room and then myself. That being said, the eggs make my skin crawl and I go “ewweweweeee” like a little citygirl.

There’s some debate on this, but the current consensus seems to be that they are more akin to ants: they recognize their colonymates, and they have social hierarchies; they recognize their handlers over time… they’re not quite as intelligent as rats, but it’s a closer race than you might think.

Rats are really smart, though. It’s like comparing a dolphin and a goldfish:

Goldfish can be trained to do simple things like ring a bell for food, but dolphins do ocean dmt and then use their prehensile genitals to choke turtles and then laugh about it.

I’ve always been kinda interested, but never really thought I’d actually end up with any. I just happened to be outside when the lecturer was leaving and asked to see them again and he said “You can have them if you want,” and I was like “YES OK PLEASE” lol

Then I spent my first morning back home baking soil and mulch to make sure there were no mites XD

They’re so cool! Like little scratchy puppies. With no floor pissing!

(I also have a dog and some cats, so I’m not hating)

I was at a conference for section 8 housing maintenance men, if that helps at all. Other than the bugs it was very dull.

Well, the bugs, and the HVAC instructor left his mic on while he was talking dirty on the phone with his wife. But that’s only 2 things over a 4-day conference.

Do you know who Shakira is?

You sound wistfully awed.