Disgusting Find In Siphon Tube

[Teelie]

Cochroaces aren't actually filthy, they spent 25% of their time cleaning themselfes, it's what they can't clean of them selves that's the problem.

I don't mind roaches, but that just plain isn't true of the species you commonly find as pests in homes. Ever swabbed a roach and tried growing the bacteria on it in a petri dish? We did this in one of my science classes in high school, as we were testing various items in the school for bacteria and happened to find and kill a roach.
Most of the petri dishes, even the ones with samples taken from inside toilets and such, only had small colonies of bacterial growth after a 24 hour period... in the roach sample, many kinds of bacteria had completely taken over the dish to the point that the growth media had been sapped dry and cracked.

For the record, the only other thing that came even remotely close to comparing with the roach sample was air coming directly out of the overhead air duct. I wonder how long it had been since they cleaned the filters??

I think it's like they say, "cats aren't clean, they're just covered in cat spit"

Externally, you might not have found much on the ones you had, which were most likely not caught in your house or in "the wild" but grown specifically for medical or experimenting on and were healthy. It's also internally where they carry all kinds of diseases and chemicals as well that is the real concern. Thanks to their adaptibility, they can withstand all kinds of nasty stuff and unfortunately, they do spread it to other places and organisms, including us.

 

[SnowyzMom]

Believe it or not, and I have seen it on a tv science show, scientists are training cockroaches. They glue tiny cameras on their backs and they plan to use them to inspect the insides of pipes that otherwise would have to be dug up to be inspected. It's a rather cool idea. The cockroaches don't seem to mind the extra weight at all.

Either I've got very smart spiders in this house, because I've never seen one floating in any of my tanks, ever, or the black neons took care of them very fast, they love ANYthing alive on the water surface. Thankfully we're just too cold up here for cockroaches to naturally live here. But there's other critters that make up for it, like pine beetles...UGH. Inside the house it's just spiders. At least no dock spiders yet, they can reach the size of a man's hand. They swim and catch and eat fish in the lakes here. Double UGH! My dad saw one on a pier once. He left the dock to the spider.

 

[Lynden]

I believe you, as i too observed a science program on cockroaches.

The world would indeed be a much dirtier place without our "pest" friends. They are responsible for cleaning up the dead small animals in many places, and they devour all kinds of garbage and waste.

I watched a show on phobias of animals, and some of these people were pitiable. "Why are people afraid of these animals?" I asked myself. There is no need for it. If you are going to pick an animal to fear, i would pick a mosquito, as they are responsible for more human deaths than all other animals combined. Surely a poor little cockroach or spider cant compare to that.

My parents often become perturbed at my inability to kill insects who have taken a refuge in our home.

 

[SnowyzMom]

Chestnut moray you sound like my oldest daughter. Nobody would DARE squish a spider when she lived here. She'd rescue it and either put it outside in summer or give it a home in her bedroom! I'm not that fond of spiders, though I stroked a tarantula once, called Elisabeth. Though her body was rock hard, the black hairs covering her were silky soft, as soft as rabbit fur, what a surprise!

They used to let her out to run around the apartment and she loved it. They have good sized hooks on their legs and trying to get her up off the carpet was a losing battle. She'd dig in all 8 legs. You'd get one side unhooked and go for the other side and the first side would reattach again. You had to catch her on the linoleum, then you could return her to her terrarium.

We get very tiny ants in our house during the summer. They aren't overrunning the place and I've never found their nest inside or outside. Frankly if they're not bothering me I look upon them as tiny helpers...they're making off with all the spare crumbs and gunk I haven't cleaned up!

My attitude is, if it's out to take a piece out of me, it's history. Otherwise it lives.

So that means horseflies, deerflies, pine beetles, mosquitoes, blackflies, noseeums and anything else with a yen for my red blood cells is in deep doo doo.

I've always thought those 10 inch long millipedes from the jungle make cool pets. B)