# Roaches at PetSmart



## LeilaNami (Nov 28, 2009)

So we have plenty of P. americana running around at the store I work at.  Well my predicament is this: they are *pretty*.  Every mature adult I've found has had gorgeous color and for some reason a really laid back attitude (as in it just chilling on my hand for a while).  I really want to take some home but my customers keep looking at me funny when I'm caught playing with them


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## rvtjonny (Nov 28, 2009)

ah yes the common cockroach, hey make sure you shake off before you go home though i dont think you will find them so cute when they are running around in your house


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## gvfarns (Nov 28, 2009)

Some people do keep them.  They can climb, of course, and fly, but I think the main problem with them is they stink more than other roaches.  I don't recall if it's a defensive odor or they just have nasty BO.


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## Sarcastro (Nov 28, 2009)

they just stink and they breed like mad they also carry loads of parasites and bacteria.


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## blazetown (Nov 28, 2009)

Definitely change clothes before you go into your house lol. One of my friends has been renovating a house infested with german roaches which are alot more annoying because of there tiny inconspicuous size. He had been changing and even vacuuming his clothes at his shop before going home and he still found some adults in his van.....watch out for those tiny nymphs.


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## Exo (Nov 28, 2009)

You can always start selling them as feeders....


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## LeilaNami (Nov 28, 2009)

Exo said:


> You can always start selling them as feeders....


Lol I have to check the crickets I bag for people since they get into the cricket containers and eat their food...I accidentally bagged them one time and the lady freaked  

It's funny when I turn on the lights in the morning and fifty of them scatter across the floor.

I did have one roach that lived in my house.  Just one really big individual that perched on my ceiling every night.  One time a roommate I was planning to evict was sleeping on the couch and "Superman" took a plunge and landed on his head.  Needless to say it solved the roommate problem.


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## burmish101 (Dec 2, 2009)

I do have some aussie Periplaneta austrailasiae(sp?) they look almost the same, but the nymphs have really nice bright yellow spots. If you'd like I can send you some but this genus is very hardy and can infest so beware. Adults make great feeders for arboreals as they cant seem to hide lol, and theyre almost 2 inches long, and reproduce like rats on viagra. Also they do have a defensive stink, not bad if you dont put your nose to it, and my T's dont seem to mind. The humidity in ohio is bad so I have to keep the cage moist like my lats for the eggcases to hatch, having a moist cage of roaches does have an odor but both colonys smell the same pretty much.


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## Matt K (Dec 2, 2009)

Sarcastro said:


> they just stink and they breed like mad they also carry loads of parasites and bacteria.


Incorrect.  Roaches have never been proven to carry any parasites or bacteria that are harmful to anyone or anything in a typical American home or petshop.  Most roaches are actually cleaner than any cat or dog, and many people too.....


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## Aurelia (Dec 3, 2009)

Matt K said:


> Incorrect.  Roaches have never been proven to carry any parasites or bacteria that are harmful to anyone or anything in a typical American home or petshop.  Most roaches are actually cleaner than any cat or dog, and many people too.....


True, the only problem with them is that some people are allergic to their saliva and feces.


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## Sarcastro (Dec 6, 2009)

Matt K said:


> Incorrect.  Roaches have never been proven to carry any parasites or bacteria that are harmful to anyone or anything in a typical American home or petshop.  Most roaches are actually cleaner than any cat or dog, and many people too.....


I don't know where you got that bit of information but it is "Incorrect" it has been "PROVEN" by the CDC and many other health organizations around the globe that some species can carry and transmit disease's like dysentery, typhoid and poliomyelitis, as well as gastroenteritis.


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## Andrew273 (Dec 6, 2009)

LeilaNami said:


> So we have plenty of P. americana running around at the store I work at.  Well my predicament is this: they are *pretty*.  Every mature adult I've found has had gorgeous color and for some reason a really laid back attitude (as in it just chilling on my hand for a while).  I really want to take some home but my customers keep looking at me funny when I'm caught playing with them


FYI Corperate doesn't like things like this posted... Trust me.


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## OntarioNative (Dec 6, 2009)

Andrew273 said:


> FYI Corperate doesn't like things like this posted... Trust me.


Hahaha I hear that! It should be "Roaches at XXXXMart"


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## mitchnast (Dec 14, 2009)

if roaches are getting into the stores  feeder crickets, then it is possible your crickets could contract parasitic mites from them, and therefore transfer them to your customers Ts.
All it takes is one infected roach, and your whole lot of feeders is contaminated untill you purge it.

And parasitic mites are very bad for t'S


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## snappleWhiteTea (Dec 15, 2009)

you work @ petsmart? my dogs goes wild for the balls under every thing.

but back on topic, if you keep them be prepepred for lots of babies.


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## jezzy607 (Dec 17, 2009)

Sarcastro said:


> I don't know where you got that bit of information but it is "Incorrect" it has been "PROVEN" by the CDC and many other health organizations around the globe that some species can carry and transmit disease's like dysentery, typhoid and poliomyelitis, as well as gastroenteritis.


Do you know how they "proved" this? What I have heard/read is that they actually contaminated the roaches to see if the diseases could survive on the exoskeleton for any amount of time. These roaches weren't just randomly captured in the field and tested. Have you seen how often a Periplaneta sp. grooms itself? Very frequently! So the chance of a disease remaining on the exoskeleton decreases rapidly over time. I recommend that you don't play/eat with any cockroaches that have been hanging out on human corpses and feces, and you should be fine!

The protocol they used in this study could show that anything large and small could transmit disease. Also, humans carry and transmit disease as well, does that mean we should stay away from all humans?


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## Elytra and Antenna (Dec 17, 2009)

Sarcastro said:


> I don't know where you got that bit of information but it is "Incorrect" it has been "PROVEN" by the CDC and many other health organizations around the globe ....


 Studies show, organizations don't prove. Provide a link to a study.


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## LeilaNami (Dec 17, 2009)

As far as keeping it hush hush that there are roaches at PetSmart is ridiculous.  Walk into the store and look down.  That's all there is to it.

As far as roaches carrying diseases, I'm pretty sure it's the environment that people are exposed to (and just happen to be roaches there) that end up transmitting a lot of the diseases but EandA is right.  Studies show, nothing is ever really "proven".


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## JPJ (Jan 15, 2010)

The above post is true.
A study isn't really needed to tell us that a roach in a wheat field is cleaner than a roach in a dumpster... it's all about the environment with roaches.
Most people just think roach and think it's nasty.
A cricket can be germier than a roach depending on what its been in.
Winged, glass climbing roaches are a bit difficult to manage as food for pets, but aboreal T's love em, and they are by far the favourite food of the Tokay Gecko.


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## Nomadinexile (Jan 15, 2010)

Sarcastro said:


> I don't know where you got that bit of information but it is "Incorrect" it has been "PROVEN" by the CDC and many other health organizations around the globe that some species can carry and transmit disease's like dysentery, typhoid and poliomyelitis, as well as gastroenteritis.


I am just asking this.  I really don't know.  

Are the roaches carrying these diseases internally?  

Or is it a matter of the roaches walking through open sewers and having it on their legs when they walk into your place looking for a snack?


*Again, I don't really know....  But I read decades ago that they didn't "carry" them internally, but that because of where they walk, they get stuff attached to them.  Again, this was a long time ago, and we all know how much mis-info is out there, but that makes sense to me.


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## Nomadinexile (Jan 15, 2010)

jezzy607 said:


> does that mean we should stay away from all humans?


That's the best idea in the thread yet!

Seriously though, for those of you in an urban or suburban location, with concerns about roach "cleanliness" or disease, I would recommend this:

read online microbiology reports of swabs taken from restaurants, floors, bathrooms, shoes, door handles, and most recently, elementary schools and Soda fountains at Fast food restaurants, (that stuff will kill you without parasites!),....

Then read about the chemical analysis of your local water supply from an outside source, the water companies hide stuff, and call things whatever they want.  For example, there are only 2 types of fluorides added to water supplies.  Yet there are over 64 "fluorides" used in some locations tap water.   There are not 64 different fluorides that can even be put in water!!!

So anyway, back to my point....
Roaches are exposed to all of this and more in an urban setting.
I don't want them crawling on my silverware, and I'm not feeding them to anything, but as far as spreading disease everywhere, I don't think they can compete with people.  Not even close...


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## Galapoheros (Jan 15, 2010)

I have noticed an odd smell when I've caught them.  It's a smell that some would think is bad and some others wouldn't.  I've fed them to my inverts too, you can smell it right when they get caught.  And does anybody know what the sticky stuff is made up of they can secrete from around the head area?  Or is that from a diff species I've caught, I can't remember.  I know where I could get 100's of them and thought about raising them as feeders but they are so fast and nimble, it's pretty impressive how they can escape when being chased down.  If they couldn't climb, they'd make great feeders imo.  I bought my house almost 14 years ago, never used pesticides and never a roach problem, too many spiders in the corners.  I just have to clean up the bodies they drop now and then.  I wouldn't worry about the roaches carrying diseases, I just think and try to recall when that's ever been a problem, I can't think of any time that's been a problem and hit the news, not that a story hasn't been in the news about it.  It's a good thing for the "pest control" biz to flash it around though.  Also it seems to me that when some people hear an animal carries diseases, it's as though they assume the animal is born with the disease.  They have to come in contact with it first, somewhere.  If the disease doesn't exist where they are, they will not carry the disease.  I know that's obvious to most but I think some get the wrong idea when they hear an animal carries diseases.


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