I got a pet on Tuesday.
He is a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. Ew! Gross! Nasty! What would anyone want with at cockroach?
Well, to be honest, I’m not insane enough in the pet realm to just run out and buy a cockroach. But it was one of the project options for my Entomology class. Raise a cockroach for the semester. Sounds kinda cool in the gross/creepy/exotic way. Sign me up!
So after Entomology on Tuesday I picked him up. He was inside a tiny SOLO cup about 2 inches high and 3 inches in diameter. He barely fit; I’d estimate his body to be just under 2.5 inches in length. He is a rich brown with yellow gradients to the side of each segment, and little dots down each side of his body. His head nestles underneath his shell; you can barely see it from the top. Above his head (on the shell) are two “horns” (more like bumps). These are apparent on the males and not the females.
So I put him in my pocket and drag the little Dictyoptera home to my dorm (where he is very much not allowed). He looks so sad inside his tiny cage.
It was time to take a trip to the local Petsmart where I got him a nice sized cage and some dried papaya for food. When I got back to the dorm, it was time to put the little bugger in.
Even though he is my companion for awhile, he majorly creeps me out. So instead of picking him up, as I’ve seen my entomology teacher do several times, I too the lid off the cup and dumped him in frantically, eventually dropping the whole thing inside.
After having a pet for a few hours, it seemed appropriate to name him. Here’s a list of the wonderful name suggestions I got
Well, some of these names would have worked well… but not well enough. So it was time to consult my (far superior) E2 friends.
And it was within E2 that I got the answer. From this day forward, my Madagascar Hissing Cockroach will be known as Rohan the Roach. Courtesy of CzarKhan. Wuukiee and mcc confirmed this as an appropriate name. Can’t go against a crowd like that!
Today I was giving him some food and moving around some of the “foliage” inside his cage (dead pieces of plants that have long departed). And I dropped Rohan’s entire cage on the floor. Dirt EVERYWHERE, and worse yet, my illegal cockroach free on the floor. I picked him up (eep!!! With my bare hands!!!) and he hissed at me, but I got him into the cage. I almost screamed, but my floor counselor would have come, and I have wine and a George Foreman Grill in addition to the roach. I picked up all the dirt from the floor and put it back in the cage.
Rohan has sophisticated taste. So far he has eaten papaya, banana, lime, filet mignon, mushroom, and peach.
I plan on getting him some porn for his window. Poor guy has no lady cockroach!