I know this is not at all amphibian related, but I'm hoping someone here can weigh in.

My 8 year old daughter is a budding entomologist. She's been interested in bugs since she could crawl and her interest has only grown over the years. She has a pretty extensive invertebrate collection and now wants some live bugs (beyond the woodlice I've bred for my frog tank.) She is an incredibly responsible child, especially when it comes to knowledge and care of invertebrates. She originally wanted a blue tarantula... I have no idea what species this is, but I am terrified of spiders, no matter how I've tried to work through it, so it's not happening and I will not do any research on it. She also wanted some kind of giant centipede, that fear factor for me ranks close to a tarantula, not happening.

Now she wants either and African Mantis or a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. Those I can tolerate and even help her with. She would prefer the cockroach, but I have some hesitation there. Firstly, my landlord is convinced it will somehow cause a mass cockroach invasion in the duplex. I think I could talk her into it but it would be a lot of work. Secondly, I'm very allergic to the common cockroaches found here in the US. Is there a possibility that I would react to this species also? She's only 8, so she'd need guidance with their care (even if she does know more about them than I do.) Would it be better just to go with the African Mantis? I seem to have a harder time finding those other than online, where the cockroaches seem to be available at nearly every store in the area.

Any input? I personally am not that interested in bugs as pets, but she is. (Except for ants, she's terrified of ants. Arm flapping screaming total freak out)