I swear to you, the cockroaches that have found their way into my unit have started playing possum! I have no idea how (or why) they’ve learnt this, but now I’m curious. Is it just me? Is there some kind of super-intellectualizing chemical in the stuff I use to clean the floor or is this the next evolution in roach survival tactics?
Walking into a room overnight, or even early evening, I’ll occasionally find a single solitary roach upside down in the middle of the floor, dead still (pardon the pun). Initially I’d walk away, only to find coming back a minute later it’d be gone. So I started pulling out the spray to make sure. I tell you, they come back to life pretty darn quick when the Baygon hits them!
I started asking some of my friends, and they hadn’t noticed it themselves, but in the words of one “it wouldn’t surprise me – they’ve probably evolved!” Now some of them are going to test out my theory and let me know if their cockroaches, are playing possum too.
Please comment, and let me know how widespread this is! I hate the things, so if they’ve evolved a new trick then I’m going to use the power of the web to spread the word and get the advantage back for our side…
So, do your cockroaches play possum?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
you are not alone. i actually sprayed a roach with raid about a day ago and left it to die so i could vaccume it up later. it was on its back, i left it for like a day thinking it was still dead and all of a sudden it starts wiggling its legs. its evolving raid now
I think my friends – and family – suspect I’m crazy too…
Most of them just let ’sleeping roaches’ lie.
Having seen them disappear a few too many times, though, and watched them come magically back to frantic activity when you hit them with the spray, I just can’t do it.
Veni, Vidi, Exquassi, I say! (I came, I saw, I squished)
Crystal
Okay so I’ve been doing a search to see if anyone else had seen roaches do this as well. I rarely get a roach in from outside, but when I do, they seem to know if they play dead most people won’t bother to smush them, I am crazy and do it anyway, plus a little raid. I have bug issues. It’s been a while since you posted this, lemme know how your friends responded…