# Cockroaches that fake death



## SuperSky (Feb 16, 2011)

These guys are insane. Walking around, then as soon as they realise they've been caught, they flip themselves and lay still in the hope that you think they're dead... Just waiting for you to move away when they quickly un-flip and run for cover.

Anyone else seen cockroaches do this?

This was probably the 4th or 5th actor roach I've ever seen. The first time I saw one I only caught the end of the performance so it got away and I thought I may have hallucinated the whole thing. I don't fall for that **** anymore.


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## typemismatch (May 30, 2012)

Sounds like an insurance scam to me.


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## bubbles81 (Jan 9, 2015)

SuperSky said:


> These guys are insane. Walking around, then as soon as they realise they've been caught, they flip themselves and lay still in the hope that you think they're dead... Just waiting for you to move away when they quickly un-flip and run for cover.
> 
> Anyone else seen cockroaches do this?
> 
> This was probably the 4th or 5th actor roach I've ever seen. The first time I saw one I only caught the end of the performance so it got away and I thought I may have hallucinated the whole thing. I don't fall for that **** anymore.


LOL :rofl

Yes! Hate it when they fly towards you also


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## SD92 (Nov 9, 2013)

I've not seen many cockroaches (The UK climate is probably too cold and wet for them), but the few I have seen haven't tried that trick. They ran as quick as possible to get away as I tried desperately to get them. The last thing I want is a cockroach outbreak.


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## absreim (Jun 19, 2012)

bubbles81 said:


> LOL :rofl
> 
> Yes! Hate it when they fly towards you also


Seems to be a little known fact that American cockroaches can fly.


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## wolf32 (Dec 6, 2014)

Australia seems to be a place with lots of smart bugs. Almost every Huntsman Spider video I've seen on YouTube shows how good they're are when it comes to evading capture or being killed. Maybe the roaches are learning some tricks from them. 
This video comes to mind.


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## SofaKing (May 9, 2014)

^ what an *****. I hope that spider is okay.


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## visualkeirockstar (Aug 5, 2012)

Get a knife and chop it in half. That's what i do. Can't fake that anymore.


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## thomasjune (Apr 7, 2012)

I would play dead too if I was about to get stomped.


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## Lizzie Lee (Dec 30, 2014)

I smashed one flat with a shoe once, thinking it was dead. When I came back into the garage, it was gone. If you don't see it's guts, it's probably not dead.


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## AngelClare (Jul 10, 2012)




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## markwalters2 (Mar 18, 2013)

Found one in my bathroom and sprayed it with the shower at full 'Hot', complete with steam coming out of the water. It slowed the roach down.


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## Lizzie Lee (Dec 30, 2014)

Can you imagine all the terrible, tortuous ways we treat these cockroaches! What kind of society are we for God's sake!!!   :kma


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## InfiniteBlaze (Jan 27, 2011)

What's worse is when you stomp on them or chop them in half and the little pricks can still move their legs.


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## sajs (Jan 3, 2015)

SuperSky said:


> These guys are insane. Walking around, then as soon as they realise they've been caught, they flip themselves and lay still in the hope that you think they're dead... Just waiting for you to move away when they quickly un-flip and run for cover.
> 
> Anyone else seen cockroaches do this?
> 
> This was probably the 4th or 5th actor roach I've ever seen. The first time I saw one I only caught the end of the performance so it got away and I thought I may have hallucinated the whole thing. I don't fall for that **** anymore.


I never saw a roach be able to flip back.

I actually do not kill them, and when I see one I took them outside. f they are worried enough to do what you say, I think they deserve to live.


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## Raeden (Feb 8, 2013)

I've never seen that happen. They always just try sprinting away any time I come close usually. I tend to either crush them or douse them with soapy water and then dispose of their corpse in the toilet.


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## Blue Dino (Aug 17, 2013)

absreim said:


> Seems to be a little known fact that American cockroaches can fly.


Also a little known myth that when they fly, the next day would rain.


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## Fruitcake (Jan 19, 2012)

W A N D E R L U S T said:


> How ****ing dare they! That's disgusting!


I bet that's what that cockroach was doing when it let your cat lick its butt off. Later it flipped back over, grew a new bum, and began its revenge plan. I feel a lot better now, thinking about it all safe and snug and cosy in your bedroom. :')

The pet cockroach I have in my kitchen never does this because it knows we are friends.












sajs said:


> I actually do not kill them, and when I see one I took them outside. f they are worried enough to do what you say, I think they deserve to live.


:heart


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## sajs (Jan 3, 2015)

Fruitcake said:


> I bet that's what that cockroach was doing when it let your cat lick its butt off. Later it flipped back over, grew a new bum, and began its revenge plan. I feel a lot better now, thinking about it all safe and snug and cosy in your bedroom. :')
> 
> The pet cockroach I have in my kitchen never does this because it knows we are friends.
> 
> ...


lol, they are living organisms that do nothing to you and they do not kill other insects to feed and survive, I really feel bad about killing such a creature, its not fair, like someone killing you just because or because you "disgust" them.

Thank you.


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## nubly (Nov 2, 2006)

I've foundthat having a car or dog as a pet well take care of a roach problem.


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## Farideh (Nov 13, 2011)

I read that cockroaches think humans are filthy like when a cockroach touches a human, it runs to safety and cleans itself. Filthy humans.


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## Bert Reynolds (Dec 18, 2013)

Roaches still move even after decapitation.


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## Awkto Awktavious (May 11, 2011)




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## Fruitcake (Jan 19, 2012)

W A N D E R L U S T said:


> Awh, such sweet words! But this is the part where I have to break your heart and tell you that it was in my cousin's room, at her place which is 16 hours away more or less so no more romantic run ins with each other happened. Isn't that great!
> 
> How do you know it's not some master cockroach that's using you for your free food because it knows you won't hurt it so it's basically stealing from you with your permission and really talks about you behind your back with his little cockroach friends? Yeah, fall asleep to that happy thought tonight.


I was happy that the cockroach is safe and snug so that is still great.

I don't know that and it's okay if that's its plan. It does have my permission to take anything it wants. I'm sure all it would have to say about me is that I'm loving and sweet and really big. It might also complain about how I mistook it for an earwig and used it in a demonstration to teach my mum about how and why earwigs have two penises. But that's okay. I forgive it.

I'm actually so glad I saw this thread yesterday because today I found it on the carpet in the lounge, crushed and with three of its legs separated from its body. If I had seen that two days ago I would have freaked but now I'm wise to its tricks. I'll go and check on it again and I bet it'll be back in the kitchen eating my bikkies with all six of its legs or even seven or eight, the magical little *******.


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## keithp (Mar 13, 2007)

I've got pet hissing cockroaches in my room


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## tonyhd71 (Jul 27, 2014)

I highly doubt cockroaches have the intelligence to actually do that.


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## visualkeirockstar (Aug 5, 2012)

One thing i always do is make them run into the sticky trap i bought. I also put it everywhere. The cockroaches population has been reduce a little bit.


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## Zyriel (May 20, 2011)

"Fact or Fiction?: A Cockroach Can Live without Its Head"
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-cockroach-can-live-without-head/

"The hardy vermin breathe through spiracles, or little holes in each body segment. Plus, the roach brain does not control this breathing and blood does not carry oxygen throughout the body. Rather, the spiracles pipe air directly to tissues through a set of tubes called tracheae."

"Insects have clumps of ganglia-nerve tissue agglomerations-distributed within each body segment capable of performing the basic nervous functions responsible for reflexes, "so without the brain, the body can still function in terms of very simple reactions," Tipping says. "They could stand, react to touch and move."

"And it is not just the body that can survive decapitation; the lonely head can thrive, too, waving its antennae back and forth for several hours until it runs out of steam, Kunkel says. If given nutrients and refrigerated, a roach head can last even longer."

"Still, in roaches, "the body provides a huge amount of sensory information to the head and the brain cannot function normally when denied these inputs," explains neuroscientist Nick Strausfeld of the University of Arizona, who specializes in arthropod learning, memory and brain evolution. For instance, although cockroaches have a fantastic memory, "when we've tried to teach them when they had bits of them missing, it's hopeless. We have to keep their bodies completely intact."

That is just amazing @[email protected] Our insectoid successors of this planet are quite the tenacious breed :b


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## SuperSky (Feb 16, 2011)

tonyhd71 said:


> I highly doubt cockroaches have the intelligence to actually do that.


Ok, but don't say there was no warning when they take over the earth one day.


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## wallenstein (Mar 27, 2013)

Some spiders like the huntsman do this. Its even more terrifying, one moment you think they're dead and look away and the next they're gone.


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