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Why do these exist?
MantleJackal
Posts: 373 Member
For the life of me I can't figure out why cockroaches exist and what purpose they serve other than being terrifying. If you're wondering what spurred on this post it's because I just saw a full-grown, giant, cockroach in the middle of the night. It was one of those American cockroaches, aka, flying roaches. I never saw one fly before so I thought this one would fall on the ground, but no. It flew. In my direction. And you want to know the worst part?
I have no idea where it went.
I just needed to share this, that was by far the worst experience with a cockroach I had.
I have no idea where it went.
I just needed to share this, that was by far the worst experience with a cockroach I had.
2
Comments
for some reason they seem to want to crawl just past my face lately like excuse me what is this? silk road? chamber of secrets? I'm not gonna follow the spiders why can't you just stay outside
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> I do not know gladly they're not common here but I've been having similar trouble with spiders lately
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> for some reason they seem to want to crawl just past my face lately like excuse me what is this? silk road? chamber of secrets? I'm not gonna follow the spiders why can't you just stay outside
I agree with you! Some spiders are really cute but others just make me want to bash my head into a wall. Why can nature be so gross??
@haisin The "Daddy long legs" with round or oval bodies are harvestmen and not spiders. They are more related to ticks and mites than spiders, but are beneficial and nice. Cellar spiders are also called daddy long legs by some, and they are real spiders and make webs.
Spiders that hunt cockroaches are mostly the larger ones that are clever hunters instead of web builders, like some wolf spiders.
Here's a pic of a friendly jumping spider:
Jumping spiders are amazing! They are intelligent and curious about the world around them. They have excellent vision and see in full colour, and they can move their eyes to look around, almost like we do. Watch this video:
They also have very good hearing and sense of smell and touch. It's really cute when they look at you when you talk to them, and sometimes they tilt their heads like dogs do.
Here is a video of a cute jumping spider girl. She is trying to reach something, but can't. The small hairy "mini-arms" covering her jaws she is wiggling are called pedipalps. They are good for many things, like wiping her face clean, holding food, and they have smell and taste receptors. Wiggling them forces air to the smell receptors, so it's like sniffing. They also function almost like a dogs tail, and can express emotions. (Yes, spiders have emotions, not to be confused with feelings. They have emotions like "this is good, that is bad", "I want to do this", "this is scary". Simple things like that.)
At 1:15 she sees something, and notice that she stops wiggling her pedipalps. Her mind concentrates on what she sees. It's like when a human stops chewing on the food in the mouth when he/she hears or sees something. And notice her double-take.
These spoods are like mini-cats or puppies.
You know, I think I might have seen a jumping spider in the front yard before. It's full of flowers and other plants so it's not unusual that insects made their homes there. I remember seeing something small on the leaves and when I looked at it, it looked a lot like a jumping spider. I'm not 100 percent sure since it was small and black, but it was pretty neat to look at. It was outside, too, so I wasn't as worried or freaked out as I might have been if I seen one indoors.
Kind of like this.
I had to tilt my phone in reaction to picture above too just so i would not have to see it
(still struggling to not throw my phone away as i write this and page jumps up to give me peeks)
whole struggle
gladly i live in country where spiders are so small that making out such detail as their face is impossible without some fancy science tools
i just get lowkey heart attacks by turning wrong tv channel showing them and I cannot for life of me read/hold anything with spider face on it (well not that i can hold anything with whole spider on it)
the legs are obviously scary but those are on par with all other bug like things and crabs etc which are btw just sea spiders so i would probably rather die than see crab irl either even if they chopped it up (don't invite me to your seafood parties I will simply not show up)
and yep if i see small spider indoors they have appointment with my flyswatter or otherwise i shall have no peace of mind
and if theyre too big for that i will simply fleeeeeeeeeeee and never go in that house again
bees and wasps and butterflies i try to direct back outside if they lose their way and enter my room
other buggy things are more likely to meet flyswatter as well
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Cockroach
unknown author in book Llama Who Had No Pajama
Is there nothing to be said about the cockroach which is kind?
Praise or admiration is impossible to find.
No one seems to care for it or welcome its approaches.
Everyone steers clear of it except for other roaches.
If people treated me that way, I know that I should mind.
Is there nothing to be said about the cockroach which is kind?
Is there nothing to be said about the cockroach which is nice?
It must have done a favor for somebody once of twice.
No one will speak up for it in friendly conversations.
Everyone cold-shoulders it except for its relations.
Whenever it is mentioned, people's faces turn to ice.
Is there nothing to be said about the cockroach which is nice?
Is there nothing to be said about the cockroach with is good?
I can't avoid the feeling that it's quite misunderstood,
But all that I can tell you is it does keep very quiet,
And if you've got some bedbugs, I will add them to its diet.
I'd like to be more positive; I really wish I could.
Is there nothing to be said about the cockroach with is good?
I got to say, despite the subject of the poem, it's pretty good. There is only one time where I saw someone love, and I mean, love cockroaches and it was on a reality tv show of all things. It's called My Kid's Obsession and they had an episode called The Girl Who Collects Cockroaches. I kid you not, she keeps them all over her room and in her bed. https://youtube.com/watch?v=L9W7J7iW39E
Why wouldn't spiders have feelings, though? It was once part of traditional "Western" thought to presume animals of all types with the sole exception of humans (who were likewise assumed not to be animals at all) didn't have self awareness, emotions, feelings. Perceptive people always knew better, and science has vindicated them. And strangely, at the forefront of mathematics and physics, the idea that consciousness is contained by, limited to, or generated by just brain cells, is increasingly questioned.
Loved learning more about spiders from you!
As for those big flying cockroaches, they are startling, annoying, but of the two, I would rather see one of those, than even one of the small German cockroaches, because there is never just one, and they can be very hard to eradicate once they infest a home or building.
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Oh my gosh...grosssss! The poem made me laugh, so it was memorable and easy to find, but to love roaches EWW. I can't imagine.
All living beings have their traits and function in different ways, and many animals are very different from humans. Yes, it's possible that spiders can have feelings, but if they do they are feelings they have use for. A little anthropomorphism is good, so we humans can feel compassion and care about other species, but we should also learn to know the other species and how they function.
Spiders certainly don't have human values and morals. They don't mind cannibalism, so females sometimes eat the males, and spiderlings can eat their siblings if they aren't separated in time. I saw one example of a jumping spider mother who caught one of her spiderlings, but touched it with her pedipalps and probably sensed by either smell or taste (the palps have taste and smell receptors) that the spiderling was her child, and let it go.
The absolute majority of the spider species aren't social, so they live as loners. The males go through lots of trouble to mate, and they are often in danger so they have to be very careful. I have seen two mating rituals by two different spider species irl. One was successful, but the other male got slapped really hard, but he survived.
Their mating rituals can be complex. Jumping spiders have their strange dances. The male first need the female's attention, then it seems like he is trying to impress her by doing the "right moves", and lastly he "hypnotize" her into a trance so he can mate. Some crab spider males lightly tie up the females' legs before mating. Some nursery web spider males wrap a present for the females to open and then they mate with the females while they are busy with the gifts...
Here's an article about jumping spider intelligence: https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10/spiders-are-much-smarter-than-you-think/
Oh! One of the funniest mating rituals ever!
Well you know what they say: They're more terrified of you than you are of it.
Doesn't make it any less startling when you turn on the lights and see one, lol.