Dubia roaches are cute

[poison]

Are these your feeders or your pets?

[yoshimi]

Are these your feeders or your pets?

2nd time I've been asked that! Surprised it's only been twice. The babies are feeders, or sale items that I pack up and ship off, waving g'bye, but since I'm only feeding a little toad, the adults are almost pet-like. I take care of them like pets, but I haven't handled one in a really long time, since I was taking pics of their final molts. I don't take them out for walks or anything. (love your animation)

Recently, packing up some babies, one somehow got onto the back of my neck. No idea how it happened, maybe it was on my hand and I felt something on my neck and came away with a baby roach. Maybe he climbed a strand of hair. I don't know. It wasn't cute, AT ALL, but I didn't squash it. Now I check my hands and forearms, front and back, after every encounter.

Heather, I bought romaine lettuce when store was out of kale the other week, and I ate that too.

[Lija]

Crystal you know we are supposed to be all scared of roaches according to stereotype lol

[yoshimi]

Crystal you know we are supposed to be all scared of roaches according to stereotype lol

I was! Was so hesitant to open 1st box of baby dubia, and when I did, I backed away... but after I'd dumped them from cup into a small bin, they didn't seem so bad. When I won the adults, I almost declined. I tried to bargain, once I'd decided to accept, to get LESS roaches (still at same ratio), because I'd seen youtube videos. But again, emptied into a large bin, they didn't seem so bad. And feeding and caring for something, anything, eventually breeds fondness. Even if you're trying to get them to breed so you can feed their babies to something else.

[JeffreH]

<3

They are precious. Not gunna lie, I'd probably still want to snuggle with a bin full of kittens before a bin full of roaches, but I agree that they are cute in their own way!

Just wait Crystal - we'll get you hooked on some other super awesome species and you'll become a full fledged "blatti-enthusiast" haha

More noms! [Elliptohina javanica nymph]

[yoshimi]

More noms! [Elliptohina javanica nymph]

Is that a hisser? And a bananana?

Bin full of kittens > bin full of baby roaches, in terms of cuddles. It's the crawling in my ear canal that would turn me off of that. Among other things.

Doubt I'll get hooked on anything else, might have to move back in with my bf, which means giving up on toad and her bugs and my 2 cats (he has a 14yr old de-clawed male cat, and my girls are sharp as knives and 4-10yrs younger.) I'm bumming hard over this, especially since another guy has been trying to give me his gorgeous female toad (same kind as mine). I have food and housing enough for them both and I want to adopt her SOOO much, but we can't all live in a tank or plastic bins. But don't I wish. Sucks especially, as new litters of dubia are approaching and this whole endeavor of selling them to strangers has been profitable. Not quite profitable enough to save my independence, such as it is, with all these critters. I'll never live with better souls than the ones I live with right now. Bugs included, tho maybe not the mealworm beetles. Even those, for all their raping and mauling each other, are the best room-mates I've ever had.

Plan is to hang in there as long as I can, especially since Banjo just pooped, which I need to snap of a pic of and update a post in another thread where I was worrying myself silly(er) about this very thing.

Til then, I'll be here, blathering on about bug care. Literally, sometimes, in my case.

[yoshimi]

Lady and a large-ish nymph:
Dinner date:
Aww:
Those were taken yesterday, I don't know what it is about me opening lid that makes them hungry. Maybe they go running to hide, run over the food, say "hey, food!" and stop and eat. My cat does that. Had to move the food cuz every time she walked by it, she'd eat.

This was taken just now: There were more babies under 1st roach when I went to get camera.
Using a flash, you realize how much they poop. They poop everywhere. Aww.