No final molt?
- Thread starter DonaldJ
- Start date
No, they'll reach maturity sooner or later, unless they are sick for some reason and die.
Why Blatta orientalis? Did you collect them yourself?
DonaldJ
Third Instar
It's not something that was planned. I found a big female in my kitchen last summer after new windows were installed; it probably hitched a ride on some packaging material.
My initial impulse was to squash it, but it would have made a big mess. And then I had this strange insight that, in the cosmic scheme of things, we were both on the same level of existence and killing it no longer made no sense to me.
Releasing it outdoors seemed a death sentence exposing it to poisons and predators, so I decided to give it a happy home and see what happens. She dropped six ootheca, only two of which produced nymphs.
I've enjoyed watching them develop while I've experimented with different habitats and food, and have learned quite a bit. Their movement and social behavior are of particular interest to me. They are not feeders and I don't plan on collecting any other species; I don't consider them pets.
They are a fine, basic bug worthy of study and an interesting topic of conversation at the local tavern ;-)