An Update on the Cockroaches

I've mentioned my pet Madagascar hissing cockroaches before (on three different occasions ), and here they are again. Unfortunately, two of my adults, Louise and Frankie, have now both died. I blame age, since I have had them for so long. So, I'm down to only two adult hissers. Another of the females gave birth, but, miraculously, the last adult female is still pregnant! I'm expecting yet more babies any day now. I still can't get past how amazingly fat they look when they're expecting.

A very fat Lola, full of babies. She was not at all happy to be handled.

In contrast: Brigite, who gave birth a couple of weeks ago

The first set of babies has more than doubled in size, and the second set is not far behind. The next time I clean their terrarium I'll be gathering together all of the babies, and I'll give you guys one crazy picture of them gathered together. My best guess is that there are about twenty-five, not counting the five that died, probably as a result of the move. The terrarium fell over, even though I tried my best to pack it so that it wouldn't shift. I honestly haven't had a chance to count them yet. They're also horribly difficult to photograph because they're tiny speed demons. I dropped one of them during my attempts and Ebon tried to eat it! Luckily, I was able to catch it and it's back safe and sound with the others. .

One of the younger little ones in the egg crate

An older baby, about one half inch long

Ironically, the condo has a bit of a cockroach problem, but the pests look nothing at all like my hissers. For one thing, they fly.