Career planning in arthropod pharmacology
(RJ has adopted a cockroach that he found outside. It was suspiciously easy to catch… This morning, over breakfast…)
RJ: I don’t think Roachy is sleeping. He just falls over a lot.
LR: He hasn’t fallen over. He’s dead.
RJ: No! He’s moving! See?
LR: I don’t think he’s feeling very good. Cockroaches aren’t meant to do that.
Dad: Hey guys… Yesterday, when I was spraying the outdoor area for redbacks, he might have gotten some of the spider poison on him. I don’t think it’s very good for cockroaches either.
RJ: (nearly in tears) BUT YOU SHOULDN’T DO THAT! YOU SHOULD JUST SPRAY THE SPIDERS.
LR: He’s dying. He’s going to die RJ. We should let him go.
RJ: No! We can’t do that. Roachy can’t walk very well. Something might eat him.
Dad: We can’t keep him, RJ. He’s like all our wild animal pets, we have to let them go after a while. They just aren’t happy inside.
LR: What if we put him in the front yard?
RJ: No. He can’t hide. See? His legs don’t work properly. It wont be safe for him.
Dad: Can we put some mulch or something in the box with him? He’ll be happier then.
RJ: Yes! We CAN do that. And then we can make him some medicine, so he’ll get better.
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February 2nd, 2010 at 12:03 pm
I empathise. Jess made a pet out of a cockroach about eight months ago. She kept it in a small plastic box with a few leaves and a hunk of brie cheese. It was absolutely and totally gack-inducing. It took a week to convince her that the cockroach needed to be among its own kind. Damn thing was flourishing on my Tassie double-brie, though.