Back in Missouri, cockroaches were not uncommon, though we were not infested with them. The occasional one seen was only about an inch long. Spotting one on the back porch floor, I grabbed up my carburetor cleaner spray, which I use on nasty insects, kills in seconds. Gave it a shot, went inside for paper towel to pick it up, and was shocked by what I saw! A few inches from the roach was a squirming, thin, white worm, about 4 inches long! I thought where in the hell did THAT come from now? In my 60+ years, I had never seen anything like it! I realized it had to be a parasitic worm, emerged from within the roach. Impossible. THAT couldn't possibly fit inside it! If you are squeamish, do not proceed to the next post! Frank
Horsehair worm (left) and the cricket from which it emerged. Pretty sickening, I know. To witness it for the first time raised my hackles enough to make me want to run!
Cricket or cockroach?...ether way that worm is disgusting.... I never saw a cockroach in my life until I first went to Spain... I was absolutely disgusted these things were the size of small birds...absolutely HUGE!!! I saw the on a building site..and at night you could literally see them marching down the middle of the newly made road towards the drains...and you couldn't dare leave a door or window open and the light on or you would be infected with them flying in...*ugh*.. revolting...than God this was all happening in my friends' newly built house where we stayed for a week while looking for a house to buy ourselves.... we knew then where to look and where not to buy and it was nowhere near where my friends' house was situated.....!! https://www.fantasticpestcontrol.co.uk/pest-profiles/cockroaches/
ewwww.....just gives me the willies looking at the picture. I would be horrified looking at the real thing. In my early days I worked in restaurants. Some, if you turned on the lights at night would have a veritable cockroach family reunion.
There is a tv show on cable called Monsters Within. It is about people who have traveled to a foreign country and somehow a parasite worm (larva) has crawled into their body and is living off of the human blood and flesh. It will show a surgeon taking the parasite out, sometimes more than one, of a persons body. Talk about sickening! But, it does happen.
@Holly Saunders Very interesting link. Thank you! These Horsehair worms also invade the human body, I've read. I wondered about that after my "encounter" with that one. I figured very few roaches would likely contain one, but actually saw another one other time. One of the absolutely worst, IMO, is the Guinea worm, whose growth in the human body winds up in a large vein of the lower leg. The worm after causing excruciating pain emerges through the skin, and at that point to rid the body of it, they carefully wrap the thin worm around a stick or pencil while very carefully pulling it out, the process taking perhaps several weeks. If the worm breaks during this process, the part remaining in the leg vein decays and will cause very serious consequences, possibly death. Surgical excision is needed. There is a most interesting read about these horrible parasites here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracunculiasis#Treatment Frank
@Holly Saunders Glad you mentioned the roaches' ability to fly. I was going to describe an experience similar, but many folks I've told about it belie the flying ability. We were in a rental house while building our own, sitting in the living room, and from the wall vent emerged what I thought was a bird, which flew across the room. Close check revealed it was a roach! Seriously large. I worked harder at completing our house after that. The scorpions outdoors climbed the house's outer walls, up onto the roof, and found their way into the swamp cooler, which occasionally blew one out into the house interior. Scorpions I can almost live with (well, almost almost), not certain which of these two creatures I dislike more..... Frank
When I went sailing the Caribbean we stocked up on metronidazole or mebendazole tablets and took them 2 or t3 times a year just to clean out the parasites as you never know what you pick up we also would take them when we had signs of amebas which are common in the fresh waters here. Parasites are a common problem in the tropics
Yes, cockroaches can indeed fly. They aren't great flyers and don't choose to fly often but they can do so.
@Ken Anderson FWIW, I read only the females can fly. But, wonder what difference that makes? Early historical accounts of "steerage" passengers in the holds of old sailing ships recall their awakening in the mornings to find their cuticles bleeding from where the roaches had been chewing on them in the night. Painlessly. Or, they had taken plenty of rotgut with them......
Everyone should watch every episode (many can be watched online for free). 'Monsters Within' not only tells you what is possible, it mentions symptoms (and shows how most doctors are thoroughly inept at diagnosing them), plus sometimes tells how to avoid infestation.