“Bonding?”

M

MarcusTheRoach

Second Instar
My girl Layla seems to know my scent, and when I walk up to her, her antennae go crazy! It seems weird, considering that cockroaches really have an awful memory from what I have heard. Does she smell something she likes on me? I set up a camera to see what she does when I am NOT around. Well, she is just her usual self. Is she “bonding” to me?

 
Where did you hear the "awful memory" thing? It smells like a myth.

It seems likely that your roach detects edible residue on your finger. The same thing has happened to me with wild pillbugs after I handled old dog food, after all.

 
Agreed. Some “experts” are just myth machines. BTW I eat lunch right before i come home... I didn’t think of that before! She prolly just wants to eat. (As usual)

 
Bamboo said:
My roaches forget me every time unless I have food. 
Click to expand...
Disclaimer: Not trying to argue; comments below are for the sake of myth-prevention

Periplaneta americana, the American roach, has been proven to have an excellent memory. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.2108/zsj.18.21&ved=2ahUKEwi-v8y4uuraAhXPtVkKHaZJAt0QFjAAegQICRAB&usg=AOvVaw2R56gPNwnVV_UMJIwIsV_h

Research has also shown that Blattella germanica (German) has long-term memory and the ability to remember cage landmarks for visual navigation.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255641206_HOW_DO_BLATTELLA_GERMANICA_L_AGGREGATE

I don't know what species you keep, but:

These two houseroaches belong to different superfamilies and are built similarly to most roaches; it is thus rather safe to assume that other roaches with "typical" habits have similarly good memory capacity as well (of course, some roaches with extremely unusual biology might have reduced memory capacity to improve biological fitness).

Conclusion: Your roaches' apparent poor memory is probably not a poor memory at all. One likely possibility is that they are simply just being instinctively paranoid (better to err on the side of caution) and are thus too timid to habituate to your handling when you lack food.

 
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