Found a roach in my living room. What should I do here? Is it just one roach, or is the '1 roach means a thousand more' true?
>>2093409
clean your living space for once
What's a Turk doing in your living room?
>>2093409
Give her food, she'll clean up your trash
>>2093714
;__________;
>>2093709
Came here to ask this.
>>2093409
>>2093409
Another roach thread!
Thanks OP. I'm the guy that writes on and off again about the little friend I made two months ago. Its nice to have a thread to share.
I just rebuilt his habitat and jungle gym to be better than ever, with wee ropes, hidey holes, straw tunnels and many levels of paperboard and toothpicks. It also has modifications so that I can deliver water without opening it and a straw that sends it to the bottom level without damaging the surrounding structures, and can quickly and easily access the food area without disrupting Roach or his habitat, which is important for keeping it sanitary and changing out food so its fresh and not fouling his area with spoilt food. Roach probably wouldn't mind, but in captivity, I think the effort to keep the air clean is more important, and even Roach would not want foul fumes of spoilt food choking his small home till spring warms up.
He is a great pet/guest, always cheerfully romping and investigating everything, or peacefully napping. Its cute when he is in deep sleep, with his antennae completely flat and outward. Its comical how his antennae mimic expressions matching his behavior. I wonder if our eyebrows take some origins from them, in a convergent way.
For me, it has been just one roach, luckily. He was just a nymph looking for shelter from the cold, a German roach. Although your pic is blurred some, I do not think yours is a German. It does appear young though.
If you have an infestation, it does have to be dealt with in the natural competition for living space. But I am happy to say that for me, one little roach has been great company for my computer station- easy chair. I keep his habitat in the shadows and dark by day, and at night bring him out to watch...
>>2095032
... He is a good natured little guy, grateful for every morsel, and timid but not mindlessly skittish. That is, he doesn't freak out when I give him food. He just backs off to give us space and watches with his antennae in the 'whats going on' position. I've been able to correlate his antennae with various behavior modes, and they are, if accidentally, comically expressive. He is very lively without being frantic. Roaches, I've learned, use scent trails, so he spends most of his day napping or mapping his habitat.
I like that he feels safe and exhibits comfort. Its nice to know in the city, where I see so few animals and can have no pets, that I can at least make life nice for a little bug till it gets warmer, and am rewarded with cheerful, plucky company.
I hope you have as much enjoyment with yours if you like. Someone shared an article here a few weeks ago that showed they actually have personalities. I continue to be amazed at all the things I see he can do with so little brain. He shows reflexes, curiosity, judgement, preferences, and moods.
One of the things I find most amazing is grooming and self attention, and the degree of articulation such a little brain can manage, coordinating 'paw' to antennae to mouth. That he can sense three points in space in relation to himself to perform a deliberate, purposed action for a result, I think, is pretty incredible.
Enough of my nutty /an/ roach prattle. Good luck OP, I hope you dont have a problem, but rather a new friend like me.
>>2095032
:D I saw this thread and wondered if you'd show up, roach-bro.
>>2095037
:3
I like to visit when I notice Roach is in a chipper mood, which cheers me up, and share how surprisingly nice it is. I cant keep pets in my flat, nor could I commit to a lot of maintenance anyways. I dote on insect visitors often, but usually its warmer and I just show them out the next day.
So when he showed up in the cold winter alone, it was a new situation, since there was no reason to treat him as a pest, and it was too cold to free him outdoors.
It sounds odd to be grateful for a roach, but I have learned a lot, and never in a thousand years would've guessed a roach can have such a wide range of neural activity. I always thought they were just like bumbling beetles, little scavenging or grazing drones, but was wrong. He is quite capable for a little guy, and has the appearance of all the range of a rat, albeit simpler.
The other day he got caught in a translucent straw and had trouble turning around. But he rose to the problem and persistently applied changes in his approach till he figured it out. I noticed what appeared to be learning behavior earlier, and someone showed an article where indeed they can learn somewhat. For an insect, that seems remarkable.
I have a theory that a lot of a creatures personality derives from how they acquire food and eat, as well as size and locomotion. Predators seem to have more problem solving ability and higher levels of abstraction, like hunting spiders. Prey animals are quicker and observant but less able to focus, typically grazers and scavengers of small size in relation to threats. Small birds seem to exhibit this, the naked exhibition of every passing thought, with no delay from thought to action. It reveals how emotion functions as a survival aspect in interpreting ones environment for whichever salient priority.
Sorry for rambling. I just meant that it surprised me that a wee prey scavenger could exhibit the range of neural activity, which is why I liken him to a rat....
>>2095052
... His appearance reminds me of a bunny, with his long antennae, big dark eyes and dark cleft mandibles. But as a pet, he seems like a dog, going from lounging to spunky romping and innocent curiosity about everything.
Sometimes he goes in his flattened paperboard tent and turns to rest with his head poking out, and looks just like a dog in his dog house. He's quite entertaining, even a bit distracting with his antics.
PS- fwiw, when I say Roach was "caught in a straw (tunnel)" its more accurate to say he changed his mind (which itself is interesting).
He was never trapped and could've gone through to the end. He wasn't in any danger though. He just decided he wanted to turn around absent any obvious external stimulus. He just interpreted his environment for some reason as "the hell with this" and decided it was worth it to do a 180, and stubbornly applied himself to figuring it out.
>>2095032
pls get a trip so its easier for me to filter your faggotry
>>2095052
I'm happy that you have found kin, and I enjoy reading your ramblings. Personally I keep rats, and adore their little social behaviors, and although I feel it's odd for someone to appreciate a roach I know many people would think I'm odd for appreciating my rats so much. Cockroaches, like rats, are especially adapted for the conditions that humans create, so we should expect to see some similarities between the three of us.
>>2095098
>Cockroaches, like rats, are especially adapted for the conditions that humans create, so we should expect to see some similarities between the three of us.
That makes sense. I'm grateful anyone likes to read what I share, tyvm.
I too like rats very much, and if I could have a pet, I'd probably get one. When I go to the pet store to window shop, I tend to linger around the rats, knowing they are so smart. Often I've wondered what kind to get if I could.
Its not just flat rules that keep me from getting a pet though. Even if allowed, I'm pretty busy and frankly terrified of the commitment to animal maintenance. German roaches reportedly don't live much more than 9 months, and dont ask much, so its perfect for me. My health isn't so good and I've always had an awful image of me croaking and leaving some poor animal to suffer a slow demise (its probably obvious Im a nutty recluse). So thats always kept me from getting pets these recent years also. How someone works up the nerve to keep tortoises and parrots is overwhelming to me, with such enormous life spans they have.
So here in the city (I loathe city life) I have to content myself to feeding birds and doting on the occasional stray bug.
And this little roach is just right for me.
:)
After a lifetime of family, relationship and friend malfunctions, I admit Im more than a little antisocial, but still have love to give, and it reminds me of that quote "Animals make us human"...
>>2095126
... So I guess it takes a humble vermin to give me something to care for, and thats fine by me. It may also be why I call him "Gregor" sometimes, in honor of Kafka's protagonist Gregor Samsa, the last name, I've read, being a Slavic contraction for "I'm alone", Which is true, and a personal preference from age. So it feels good to have a pet, even if it makes me a bit daft, blogging on and on about a roach.
He's napping at the moment. A deep sleep it looks like, with the antennae completely flat and laterally oriented.
Perhaps its the Strauss we are listening to lel
Thank you for your kind words, I do appreciate them. Have a great night, all.
<3
>>2095126
I enjoy your updates too, roachbro! Not the other guy but keep it up, always brings a smile to my face.
Send it to space, make it an astroroach.
>>2095052
You should read up on bumblebees how they learn climbing in a flower by trial and error and how to have a flying routine. Real smart qt's
>>2095379
I like bumblebees very much and enjoy their company too. Sometimes I fine one lost and exhausted in a windowsill. I offer him some juice, let him get his strength back then gently coax him into my hand and let him free outdoors. Its only happened a few times, but I enjoy giving them a helping hand in the hard life of small animals.
They used to bring me cheer when I had a garden in the country. "Creeping Charlie" is a small flowering weed, but I would let them grow because they are frankly pretty, and the bees loved them.
The bumblebees would make me laugh; I would sit on my porch and they would fly right up to my face and look at me for a few seconds, then fly away as if I was the most boring uninteresting thing they'd ever seen.
I find the trick to bees and wasps is diplomatic body language in unexpected encounters. With a little courage, if you dont flail away at them, they dont panic and seem less likely to interpret a need to defend themselves. Of course there is the occasional unfortunate and unexpected collision, but if you see each other before contact and arent intruding on their home turf, they dont seem to react as hostilely.
>>2095412
If you see a bumblebee at 9 nine in the morning you can see him again at that same time the day after.
>>2095436
Really? I didn't know that. I should read up on that. I have heard they have some very developed rhythm. I don't know much about it, but I know its been written about.
It would explain their regular visits in my old garden though.
Disgusting, what worthless creatures. Fuck anyone who actually likes roaches
