Cockroaches!
For a while I've wanted to get a giant African millipede as a pet, but I was reading up on them and they seem like one would require a bit too much responsibility. I heard that cockroaches, specifically Madagascar hissing cockroaches are the ultimate "trainer pet" as far as invertebrates are concerned. All they need is a tank with a little bit of terrain, and they eat vegetables and dog food. The most convenient part is that my entomology prof keeps cockroaches in his office, and he has so many that he offered to spare me some, free of charge =D.
When I first got them, they weren't very active, and didn't seem to be eating very much, so I started to get a little worried. I read up a little bit and realized a couple things: that my room wasn't warm enough, and probably wasn't humid enough either. To rectify this, I shine a desk lamp on half of the tank (to give them an option of heated or not) and I sprinkle a little extra water on their hunk of wood whenever I fill their water dish. The water dish is pretty funny actually... my prof told me that they can have issues with a pool of water, so I put a sponge inside an upturned jam-jar lid, and just moisten the sponge every day or so.
They are quite interesting cockroaches. They're big, slow, have no weapons, and are absolutely flightless. How on earth do they survive in the wild? Well... that's where the hissing comes in. You may have seen these guys on TV, like on Fear Factor or something. The hiss is loud and scary, and sounds like it comes from a cat or a snake. Even though we know that they're harmless, Jed and I still get scared if they hiss while we try to pick them up. It is a pretty crazy hiss. Even if I'm sitting here working at my desk and they hiss, I get pretty startled and jump back. Same deal happens if they hiss while I'm asleep; I wake up and immediately think there's something dangerous in my room. Thankfully, they don't hiss very often, and they haven't been waking me up every night I'm certain this is the kind of thing that people get used to after a while.
I haven't named them yet, because I've never seen all five of them at once (as most of them hide most of the time), so I haven't been able to determine unique identifying features of each one. I don't even know how many males and females I have!
EDIT: Until I get more comfortable handling them, I'm not gonna bother trying to identify and name them. Instead, I shall collectively refer to them as "The Intrusion" ("intrusion being the proper collective noun for cockroaches)
Here's the tank (that's the aforementioned lamp in the foreground). The foodbowl is an upturned honey-jar lid.
Cockroaches like to hide under wood (pardon the flash-on-glass)
They're so armoured. I don't think I could ever stand to step on one of these.
A side shot. A lot of people are scared of cockroaches, but when one can see underneath and see that it's just a plain ol' six legged insect, one is usually at least a little more comfortable with them.
I think they're cute, although I'm still getting used to the antennae-under-the-eyes thing (apparently it's pretty common)
When I first got them, they weren't very active, and didn't seem to be eating very much, so I started to get a little worried. I read up a little bit and realized a couple things: that my room wasn't warm enough, and probably wasn't humid enough either. To rectify this, I shine a desk lamp on half of the tank (to give them an option of heated or not) and I sprinkle a little extra water on their hunk of wood whenever I fill their water dish. The water dish is pretty funny actually... my prof told me that they can have issues with a pool of water, so I put a sponge inside an upturned jam-jar lid, and just moisten the sponge every day or so.
They are quite interesting cockroaches. They're big, slow, have no weapons, and are absolutely flightless. How on earth do they survive in the wild? Well... that's where the hissing comes in. You may have seen these guys on TV, like on Fear Factor or something. The hiss is loud and scary, and sounds like it comes from a cat or a snake. Even though we know that they're harmless, Jed and I still get scared if they hiss while we try to pick them up. It is a pretty crazy hiss. Even if I'm sitting here working at my desk and they hiss, I get pretty startled and jump back. Same deal happens if they hiss while I'm asleep; I wake up and immediately think there's something dangerous in my room. Thankfully, they don't hiss very often, and they haven't been waking me up every night I'm certain this is the kind of thing that people get used to after a while.
I haven't named them yet, because I've never seen all five of them at once (as most of them hide most of the time), so I haven't been able to determine unique identifying features of each one. I don't even know how many males and females I have!
EDIT: Until I get more comfortable handling them, I'm not gonna bother trying to identify and name them. Instead, I shall collectively refer to them as "The Intrusion" ("intrusion being the proper collective noun for cockroaches)
Here's the tank (that's the aforementioned lamp in the foreground). The foodbowl is an upturned honey-jar lid.
Cockroaches like to hide under wood (pardon the flash-on-glass)
They're so armoured. I don't think I could ever stand to step on one of these.
A side shot. A lot of people are scared of cockroaches, but when one can see underneath and see that it's just a plain ol' six legged insect, one is usually at least a little more comfortable with them.
I think they're cute, although I'm still getting used to the antennae-under-the-eyes thing (apparently it's pretty common)