roach vomiting clear fluid

L

likebugs

Eighth Instar
It never bothered me that some of my surinam roaches vomit up clear fluid when disturbed. Sometimes I can see them do it through their container when I pick it up to look at them, they like to press themselves against the sides for some reason.

One of my hissers has done this a couple of times when I have attempted to handle him. I have never seen the discoids do it, but I haven't had either the discoids or hissers very long.

Is this a normal roachey thing to do because they don't want to be bothered? Or is there something wrong with the roach? :unsure: I only have the 2 male hissers, and I have never seen the other one do it. The vomiting hisser doesn't do it on me, he has only done it after I put him back in the container. I feel bad for bothering him when it happens, :( but I got the hissers because I thought that they would be more handleable than the other species that I keep. I have only had them out for a couple of minutes at a time and I am gentle, I try to get under the roach so it does the stepping up, but the hissers like to hold on tight to the sides of the container. It takes me forever to gently coax them off the sides if they are not in the substrate. :mellow:

 
Hissers have a lot of saliva and drool on their food while eating to help start the digestion process.

A lot of roaches will regurgitate or poop when they're picked up because even though you haven't harmed them per say, they can still smell you as a threat, and it doesn't hurt to err on the side of caution, even if they don't do their normal full-on defensive maneuvers. Spitting up helps make them lighter so they can escape faster, and the odor/presence of poo is a deterrent in case something is trying to eat them. I've been spit up on by just about every roach out there. A lot of the time they don't do it and all goes well but when they do I just wipe it off. Nothing to worry about for you or the roach.

 
O.K. I feel a little better now. :rolleyes: I usually get spat on by grasshoppers and surinams when I use them to feed. I much prefer the roach spit, it is usually clear and not gross like the hopper spit. I just got worried when a pet roach did it, but I still feel bad for frightening him. I did see that the hissers cleaned the dish of greens and banana that I put in last night,(I can't believe how much they can eat). I suppose he was engorged and that didn't help matters.

 
likebugs said:
O.K. I feel a little better now. :rolleyes: I usually get spat on by grasshoppers and surinams when I use them to feed. I much prefer the roach spit, it is usually clear and not gross like the hopper spit. I just got worried when a pet roach did it, but I still feel bad for frightening him. I did see that the hissers cleaned the dish of greens and banana that I put in last night,(I can't believe how much they can eat). I suppose he was engorged and that didn't help matters.
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Don't feel bad at all, they do it because they have extra spit (+ what zephyr said)!

 
Yeah, pretty much all of mine do this. I put a male discoid in my desert hairy scorpion tank today and it spit up like 5 big drips of fluid on to the ground before it got mauled, lol.

My Americans both poo and spit, it's kinda stinky too but not like the discoids smelly defense odor, yuck.

 
Does that mean that my B. discoidalis will make a stink? I have one Periplaneta americana nymph, thanks to my daughter :lol: , and 13 Discoids. That American nymph makes an awful stink, but I haven't noticed anything with the Discoids. :huh: I suppose I will soon find out, if the Discoids ever decide to multiply. <_<

 
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likebugs said:
Does that mean that my B. discoidalis will make a stink? I have one Periplaneta americana nymph, thanks to my daughter :lol: , and 13 Discoids. That American nymph makes an awful stink, but I haven't noticed anything with the Discoids. :huh: I suppose I will soon find out, if the Discoids ever decide to multiply. <_<
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If you bug the adults enough they will put out a stink similar to orange heads, just not as strong.

 
O.K., here I was expecting a horrible stench. :blink: Hopefully the rough play will be at a minimum in my home. :lol: Does this rough play involve humans, or do the roaches stink eachother up if they are not getting along? :unsure:

 
likebugs said:
O.K., here I was expecting a horrible stench. :blink: Hopefully the rough play will be at a minimum in my home. :lol: Does this rough play involve humans, or do the roaches stink eachother up if they are not getting along? :unsure:
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I've never noticed a stink until I disturbed them, even when the males are fighting.

 
I think I noticed the Discoid odor today. :unsure: I have smelled it before but I thought that I was "smelling things again"( I often smell things that others can't smell). :rolleyes: It smelled kind of like urine, I have smelled it before when I have opened the container. The only thing is that I can only smell it for a second, and then when I stick my nose in the container, the smell is gone. Weird.

Is the odor some form of communication to the other roaches like, "There is a monster coming to get us, HIDE!"?

I just don't see how it could deter a predator from eating them. Or could it be species specific, like the horned lizard's blood that squirts out of their eyes, but only seems to bother canines?

 
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likebugs said:
I think I noticed the Discoid odor today. :unsure: I have smelled it before but I thought that I was "smelling things again"( I often smell things that others can't smell). :rolleyes: It smelled kind of like urine, I have smelled it before when I have opened the container. The only thing is that I can only smell it for a second, and then when I stick my nose in the container, the smell is gone. Weird.

Is the odor some form of communication to the other roaches like, "There is a monster coming to get us, HIDE!"?

I just don't see how it could deter a predator from eating them. Or could it be species specific, like the horned lizard's blood that squirts out of their eyes, but only seems to bother canines?
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It's really useless. It's like certain ant's jaws are big, but what can a anteater do? They breed fast enough to make up for any losses, so.....

 
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