American roaches do have some kind of charm that most other roaches don't ^_^

gross sorry

hooray for pointless rude comments~ <3

lol well if you like them good for you

It should be named!....Cock-a-roachie.

<3 I saw my first real life cockroach yesterday actually (at least my first real life one thats alive) when I came home with my grandparents from Vegas. We're down in Nevada, so there are quite a few outside. I've yet to see one in the house, though, for which I'm grateful.

My grandpa tried to convince me it was a cricket. I laughed and said "no no no, grandpa, thats a cockroach, i'm sure." And then it scurryscurryscurried away and i was like "D'aww!" However, my grandma didnt understand my excitement for seeing them or my very apparent fondness for the one on the wall outside that I started talking to. >__>

I'm not sure I'd qualify them as exotic. But, maybe because there is no shortage of them around here. :P

That pair looks rather healthy. :)

These don't really live in filth or squalor like many roaches AFAIK. They call them tree roaches around here and they're QUITE plentiful. If I can ever manage to catch some I'd be happy to send 'em your way, haha.

The ones you run across infesting buildings is usually the German Cockroach, but you probably already knew that.

In roach species like this where both genders have full-length wings, how do you determine males and females? Is there any kind of visible dimorphism at all?

Underneath the roach is an extra segment at its butt if it's a male. The females have a wider segment. I know there are probably more SCIENTIFIC methods of sexing them, but I find this one to be easiest for me. :3

Ah, I see. Mantises can be identified in a similar fashion; males having an additional abdominal segment and (usually) slimmer abdomens in general than the females.

oh, I didn't know you were looking for some! I live next to a forest, so these wander in our house quite often. I don't care for them, but also I don't believe in hurting little things are probably just lost, so I always just scoot them back outside. It's funny. I'll never pass up a chance to pet a praying mantis, but these things, I prefer not to touch. There really is no difference, is there?

They really are kind of pretty. How do they handle? Are they very crushable? I always fear picking up bugs because they're so tiny and fragile, and I'm so big and clumsy!

They're lovely, I just wish I weren't direly allergic to them (A 5/5 on a blood test, and a welt the size of a marble on skin test) I love their wing colors, especially in good light.

eek! I applaud you for being able to stand those/see beauty in them. They scare the fuck out of me. D:

D: I was sleeping in my room on my bed, and i felt a tickle on my hand. I thought it was one of my birds because they sometimes wake up early and fly down onto me. then I opened my eyes and there was this HUGE adult american cockroach just chillin on my hand looking at me like "oh.. hai"

I freaked out and flung him onto my bed and he was all "@_@" so then I scooped him up in a jar and threw him outside where my chickens ate him.