cockroaches, another unrelated to recovery topic

[quercusalba]

I have on my desk a cage containing four Madagascar hissing cockroaches.. they belong to a colleague of mine who is giving a presentation about them as a part of his graduate work. I find them absolutely fascinating. At first they are creepy... but then when you spend the time to look at them, they are amazing, just like every other life in this world. Every last one.

So I think maybe this comes around to recovery after all - everyone is worth a life without the pain of alcoholism/addiction. The beauty of life is all around us - and includes us.

Meanwhile, I'm going to hold one of these guys... thus far, I've only been "brave" enough to pet them (which, of course, leads to much hissing on their part...).

over and out,
anne

[amymarie]

Oh Anne,

I LOVE the hissers....
My gf hates em and says we cant have em, but then again, she also said we would NEVER have a snake....2 months later we had 2...

[quercusalba]

Ok, there, I held one of them. So cool! I'm always the one who rescues bugs from the house when they're stuck inside... so they generally don't bother me, but these guys are just so huge. The legs felt really interesting on my hand... and I think my body heat made the one I handled more active. Antennae moving all around and lots of walking and touching... very startle-able, though, crouching and hissing at the slightest thing. I talked to it, but I'm not sure how their perceptions work, and I'm quite sure English isn't it's first language. All in all, though, very cool.

Amymarie - are they available as pets? Generally I'm pretty wary about nonconventional pets (have seen them badly cared for too often, and I worry about the depletion of wildlife)... but these guys are really neat, and could teach a good lesson to kids about living things. I gather that they're easy to breed in captivity, too, which is a plus for the continuation of the species.

[Chy]

You mean like big ugly bugs? ewwwwwwwwwwww... I can not stand roaches no way no how.. now give me a snake anyday!

[51anna]

Oh you guys...roaches and snakes!!

Anne, I do understand what you mean. It's a bit of a reminder that sometimes my perceptions need shifting - usually when I'm whining about something!

[amymarie]

Anne,

They sell them here in TX as pets...usually for teachers though. There is one pet store that I know of that sells them...$50 bucks for a roach!! They do make interesting pets...
and we are all about interesting pets...(and yes we are careful of how we keep them- huge yard or living space etc)

[Dan]

I've seen those hissing roaches at the science center where I used to live.
They also had a variety of spider named South American Bird Eating Tarantula...
That's just wrong

[DesertEyes]

Originally Posted by Dan

... a variety of spider named South American Bird Eating Tarantula......That's just wrong

*lol* Only if you're a bird :-) I've seen 'em as big as 12 inches across. The locals call them "pajarera". They are _very_ aggresive, unlike North American tarantulas which are down right scaredy-cat. They come out at night and hunt by feeling vibrations in the ground. So if you step away from your campsite after dark to relieve yourself behind a bush you just might....

'course, if you're into Halloween creepy crawlies there's a variety of black scorpion that's big enough to eat a sewer rat.

Mike

Hissers are such a Gas! They even starred in a low-budget horror flick. The only scene I can remember is where they crawled up on some guy's livingroom wall & spelled his name out. ROFL.

For the folks who don't know: Madagascar is a fairly large island off the main shore of South Africa, and has indiginous life that is typically not found on the main continent. Similar to New Zealand's wildlife--like the GIANT Wetas (cricket).

[bahookie]

A guy at our science centre chased me with one of those hissing cockroaches last month. Blehhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I freaked, much to the amusement of my kids.
WHY would anyone want one of those in their house?

Then my other half was telling me she lived in Texas for a while and used to wake up with a cockroach running over her.

I'm glad Scotland's too cold for big creepy crawlies.

Really, a scorpion that big? Seriously? Are these midget rats they can eat?

J
xxx
Ps found this:

That's big!

[DesertEyes]

Originally Posted by bahookie

... Really, a scorpion that big? Seriously? Are these midget rats they can eat?...

"Emperor Scorpion", in the African jungles. The locals pick them up and handle them like pets. I've seen some that were easily 12 inches long, maybe more. They'll eat anything they can catch, which includes good sized rats. As to whether they can win over an _American_ Sewer Rat.... I dunno, we grow our rats pretty big over here.

Mike :-)

[DesertEyes]

Originally Posted by Midas

... They even starred in a low-budget horror flick. ...

They also starred in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". Kate Blanchet had to stick her hand in a pile of 'em for one scene, she said it was almost enough to divorce her hubby George, who produced and directed the movie.

Mike :-)

[unspun]

"Joe's Apartment".............they were'nt those giant hissing kind, but it was still a hilariously stupid movie to watch............"Hey Joe.........."

[wolflet]

cockroaches are very tribal & come & gather all the pieces of their dead (no not canibals)...they have songs && dances for their dead & many other things......& they might survive the atom bomb!.......