The Terrible Trio of Nymphs

It’s baby cockroach time! I don’t breed my hissing cockroaches, so sometimes it’s time for some new ones. I ordered two and got an extra free. All of my cockroaches have come from Virginia Cheeseman. They’re always well-packaged and healthy, and I like being able to choose the general age (a lot of places only sell mixed tubs, which isn’t suitable for non-breeding pets). I also bought some woodlice this time, but that’s a tale for later.

The first nymph has a slight kink in their antennae, but this shouldn’t cause them any issues. They’ll also get new ones when they moult.

They’re one of those rarer few who like water enough to wade in it. Most of the cockroaches avoid going in the water at all, but I have had a small number before who will go in on purpose. They’ll only do that when it’s shallow enough that they can hold their abdomen over the water. This can also be filed under why I don’t worry about having open water bowls, because hissers are smart about water. I do use stepped reptile bowls, so they can easily climb in and out.

A hissing cockroach nymph

Image Caption: A top view of a hissing cockroach nymph in a clear plastic tank. They’re brown with some white at the edges of the abdomen segments. One antenna has a noticeable kink in it.

The second nymph has been pretty average in behaviour and looks so far. They’ve spent most of their time in their egg box.

A hissing cockroach nymph on cardboard

Image Caption: A hissing cockroach nymph on a yellow cardboard egg box. They look very similar to the previous nymph, but have more white on the top of their legs and straight antennae.

And the third escaped. I always open packages over an empty tank, so that any escapees will just end up in the tank. This one had other plans. They jumped from the pot to my arm, then jumped to the tank wall, then went over the top. This is like being the jumping spider of cockroaches. Most just try to crawl out, rather than setting up a multi-point jump to get out. They’re not good jumpers, as they tend to make a rush for it and hope the momentum carries them, but it was enough to get out in this case.

Inside a set of drawers

Image Caption: A view inside a set of drawers, with the drawers removed. A plastic tank, egg box, and kitchen roll, have been placed on the floor in the space. An envelope leans up against the wooden board at the back of the space, making it harder for a cockroach to climb out that way. A green arrow points to the corner of the space, where a cockroach nymph is hiding.

Before I could grab them, they climbed under the shelves under my bed. Fortunately, there’s a backing bit to the shelves, so they stopped at that point. I managed to coax them onto some kitchen roll and then got them in a tank.

A dusty hissing cockroach nymph

Image Caption: The escapee cockroach nymph in a plastic tank. They look much like their companions, apart from a layer of dust from running around under the drawers. The edge of an egg box is in view. Through the tank sides, two other plastic tanks can be seen.

Excitement aside, all the nymphs are doing well. They’ve all been drinking water directly, which isn’t a surprise given the heat. I noted before that I have a lot of nymph pictures, but not as many of adults, so I will try to be better about photographing them when they’re older. They’ll most likely be a solid dark brown, as the white markings don’t last to adulthood.

I haven’t named them yet. Suggestions are welcome!

Book Launch: Werecockroach – Science Fantasy Novella

It’s launch day for my new novella! Werecockroach is a tale of aliens and werecockroaches. I’ll talk a little bit about the book, including a few story notes with background on some of the themes. But first, here are some quick links if you want to skip all that. The book is available at Amazon US, Amazon UK and Smashwords. Other retailers are listed on the official book page. The page also has links to cover merchandise and a brief content guide.

 

Book Description

Rin moves into a new flat on the day the aliens arrive. Their new flatmates are laid-back Sanjay and conspiracy theorist Pete. It doesn’t take long to notice some oddities about the pair, like hoarding cardboard and hissing at people when they’re angry. Something strange is going on, but it’s not all due to the aliens.

The book also includes a bonus short story, from the perspective of one of the supporting characters from the novella.

 Werecockroach  Cover

 

On Cockroaches

The idea for the book came from having hissing cockroaches as pets. One of the biggest misconceptions when people find out about my pets is that they’re like the cockroaches that invade people’s kitchens. There are a lot of different species of cockroaches. Hissers aren’t one of the ones that people will see in their homes (outside of being pets).

They’re from the forests of Madagascar and eat things that have fallen to the forest floor. Pet cockroaches are fed mainly on fruit and vegetables, with a little meat protein here and there. They don’t smell strongly, they don’t fly, and they tame easily. All round, they’re very hardy and easy to keep.

They hiss in various different ways. The one people typical know is the loud disturbance hiss, but they make a number of other hisses. A common one is a soft hiss that accompanies normal daily activities. They’ll sometimes hiss to themselves and sometimes they’ll hiss back and forth with another cockroach. Some are more vocal than others. I’ve had some that hardly ever hiss to some that hiss softly for most of the time they’re awake.

The biggest thing I’ve learnt from keeping them is how much personality they have. Each cockroach is different. They like different foods and they react in different ways. They learn and remember, which is why they soon get to know that I’m not a dangerous predator who wants to eat them. They’re funny little critters, and if they could turn into humans, I’d be happy to invite them round for tea.

 

On Identity and Time

The characters in the novella share aspects of my identity, though it doesn’t mean that they have identical life experiences. One thing I had to consider was how age would change things. When I was younger, being androgynous was the only way that I’d heard to describe being non-binary, long before I’d ever heard the term non-binary. It also wasn’t uncommon for anyone who didn’t quite fit in a gay/straight divide to end up in the bisexual community, so that was primarily how I described myself when I was younger, rather than aromantic and asexual.

Rin wouldn’t have grown up with those experiences. Information has been much more available since the internet, as well as giving people better access to communities. This isn’t a bad thing, but it is a different thing, so the book was partly an exercise in considering how things might have gone differently if I’d been born a little bit later. Would I have chosen agender instead of androgynous to describe my gender? Would I have gone directly to aroace? I won’t ever really know, but it was likely enough to say that’s how it went for Rin.

My experiences of dyslexia (Rin) and sensory processing disorder (Pete) were also influenced by age. There was some awareness of dyslexia when I was younger, though it mostly didn’t go beyond maybe giving someone a bit of extra time in tests. I didn’t know SPD existed until I was well into adulthood. Before that, I was treated as being picky, because no one really acknowledged that those sensory things caused a lot of discomfort and pain.

Hidden hearing loss is probably the most influenced by time, as the studies that identified it were only in the 21st century. Even Rin would have been born before anyone knew about that. But I liked the idea of them knowing what was going on. It would have helped me to know a lot earlier than I did (I was obviously aware that I had tinnitus once I was old enough to realise that not everyone had loud sounds in their ears, but hidden hearing loss was a later thing).

What has stayed about the same is my experience of race, because people react much the same way now as they did when I was younger. Not everything is progress.

The Cockroach Invasion (Video)

Baby cockroach on an egg boxA common question raised by my bio is, “Do you really keep cockroaches?” As though it might be a quirky thing I invented just for the bio. Yes, I really keep cockroaches. I started with one cockroach (Sparkle), then got two (Ash and Gem) and this time ordered five (but I have eight). Mostly because I used to have a community fish tank. Now I don’t, I’m filling that space with cockroaches.

Other things people often ask:

What type are they? Madagascar hissing cockroaches. (There are several species called this, which interbreed, so most likely they’re a bit of a mix.)

What do they eat? I give them dry stuff (fish food, cereals, nuts, seeds) and fruit/veg (most stuff, except they don’t like cucumber and I avoid irritant things like onions and chillies). Sparkle was an odd one, in that he’d only eat dried food (and wouldn’t eat if it’d been moistened). Most of them like their fresh stuff though.

What are they called? I’ve named the one bigger nymph. They’re called Pancake, because they’re unusually broad for their length. My guess is Pancake is a bit older, as they’re hanging out on their own more and look less nymphy.

Do you breed them? No. Cockroaches breed a lot, being cockroaches and all, so that’s a lot of babies to handle. A lot of people also have reptiles, so feed unwanted babies to those… but I don’t have space for lizards.

How do you avoid breeding? Keep males and females in separate tanks. For the batch this time, I’ll split them as they get a little bigger, then sort out their final tanks when I know what they’ll be.

Do they get lonely (when kept in a tank alone)? No. Cockroaches live in colonies, but they’re not attached to each other like bees and ants. My biggest concern with the new babies is they’re rather small and the weather’s hot, so they’ll help retain moisture by staying together. I won’t be splitting them until they grow a bit (except Pancake, who’ll move after some settling time).

Why?!!!!? They’re clean, friendly and easy to keep. They tame well and live about as long as a hamster (in approximate ages, my previous ones reached four, one and a half, and three). I love their little antennae!

Can I see them? Here’s five minutes of my cockroaches being cockroaches…

Baby Cockroaches (Photos)

This post has sad news and happy news.

As some of you will know from Twitter, Sparkle (my pet cockroach) died recently. At just under four years old, he was an elderly cockroach, so it wasn’t entirely unexpected.

The result in writing terms is I’ve shelved my NaNo project for now, as writing about pet spiders was a little too close (I have been writing other things, including my main novel and a steampunk short).

I’d initially intended to wait a bit before getting another cockroach, but the weather’s only going to get colder* and the supplier is closing early this year for Christmas. So I’m now the owner of two baby cockroaches. They’re in a temporary tank for now, while I sort out their permanent homes.

And in the spirit of baby animals, baby cockroach pictures…

Gem is the boldest of the two. They went to explore the tank soon after arrival and quickly found the heat pad. Gem jumped the first time I stroked them, but wasn’t bothered the second time. I think they’ll tame pretty quickly.

Gem

Ash is rather shy, and didn’t leave the kitchen roll they arrived in for hours (and when they did, panicked and hid as soon as I came in). Ash was very skittish about being handled, but I did manage to get them to come out for long enough for the photo**.

Ash

They’re both active and some of the food has gone, so it’s a good start.

* Cockroaches arrive by mail order. Though this might seem a little odd, as you wouldn’t mail a puppy, insects don’t really mind being mailed if they’re packed properly. My experience has been they mind being disturbed on arrival far more.

** You might think the flash would bother them, but I haven’t found that to be the case. Scary monsters that pick them up are far more worrying.