Little experiment

ledzeppelin

Arachnobaron
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Jan 8, 2013
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433
Today I was feeding my juvie female GBB and came to the conclusion that it is in premolt. I offered it an adult dubia and it got defensive and tagged it good twice. I removed the roach after she began to flee from it and put it in a cup. The two bite marks are clearly visible on the roach. Now I'm waiting if the roach will die because of the bite or not. What do you think?

I'm not really sure myself. There is a chance of them being only dry bites, but those roaches are resilient as hell. Also GBB venom isn't really much. We'll see :D
 

ledzeppelin

Arachnobaron
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Jan 8, 2013
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Update:

This little experiment was stupid :D Despite having 4 holes in its back the roach seems completely unaffected by the bites :D

Idk what i thought was going to happen haha
 

tetracerus

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May 16, 2016
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I recall reading somewhere that cockroaches can sometimes live for weeks after having their heads cut off :anxious:
 

kevinlowl

Arachnoknight
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Aug 21, 2015
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Do you have any good old potent venom old worlds to try this out? I'd like to see the comparison.
 

GingerC

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The resilience of some bugs really surprises me sometimes. I tried to kill a mealworm with a razorblade once, and all I achieved was getting worm juice on my face.
 

Caseyface

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Feb 23, 2017
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@ledzeppelin - You shouldn't say that it was a stupid experiment, it's how we learn! :shy:

I agree with a lot of others, the resilience of some insects is truly extraordinary. There's a reason they have survived on this planet for as long as they have.
 

Spidermolt

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May 29, 2015
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I think there was a headless chicken named Mike that lived for a few years too lol
I heard this story before apparently it was still alive because part of its brain stem was still intact. I think it actually ended up choking to death on a kernel of corn.

Do you have any good old potent venom old worlds to try this out? I'd like to see the comparison.
I fed a Chilobrachys huahini three small dubias once and after biting each one it dropped it and went after the next. Needless to say those roaches died almost instantly.
 

CWilson1351

Arachnobaron
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Jan 23, 2017
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Do you have any good old potent venom old worlds to try this out? I'd like to see the comparison.
I have more than enough adult male dubias, need to adjust my colony M/F ratio, and a P. fasciata. You're welcome to swing by and give it a shot. I'm not brave enough to try it myself :wacky:
 

sasker

Arachnoprince
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Oct 9, 2016
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And? Is it dead yet? I am very curious about the experiment :)
 

Xafron

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Apr 5, 2017
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That's only because their brains are inside their abdomens. Eventually the roach starves/dies of thirst.
Even then I still find it impressive. Our brains are in our heads. Cut off our bottom half and you won't see our top half hanging on to life for long at all. That goes for...the majority of animals.
 

Trenor

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Jan 28, 2016
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I'D imagine unless the damage is severe it'll live. They can take a lot of punishment without dieing.

That's only because their brains are inside their abdomens. Eventually the roach starves/dies of thirst.
Well... that's not really correct. Their (Cockroach) brains are located in the heads. However, a lot of their body functions are controlled by ganglia located throughout their bodies. So without their head their bodies can still move and react somewhat but not actually work correctly or cohesively. You see this every time you crush a dubia's head before you feed it. It still tries to move around but doesn't really respond to things like it normally would. The systems are still firing but no one is behind the wheel. So though it's moving it's not really alive anymore.

Where as with humans all out major functions are controlled directly from the brain. So no head and everything stops rather quickly.
 
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