Hey, you didn’t say it had to be a mammal

How can I have a favorite? Animals are life, and all life is sacred.

It kinda shows. Pets outnumber humans 5:1 in my household. So I’ll talk a little about one of my most misunderstood pets – Fester. He is a Madagascar hissing cockroach.

Some people think it’s weird that I keep a bug as a pet. He is actually not my first cockroach.  I got my first (Cladwell) in 2016. I was in a production of Urine town at a local community theater. One of my cast mates was an entomologist at the Michigan Science Center. She knew I liked bugs – especially beetles (I had my only tattoo at the time – a scarab). She asked me one day if I would like a Madagascar hissing cockroach.

I was initially taken aback. It’s nothing I ever considered.  How are they cared for? What do they eat? What temperature do you keep them at?

It turns out they are very easy to care for. They often make good first pets for kids because they can take a bit of neglect without consequences. They should be kept warm, but they only need to be above 85°F if you want them to mate. Having only one, I don’t  want it to get all randy, so I don’t use a heating pad like most people use. I just keep his tank in the warmest and darkest room in the house. This happens to be the kitchen.

One major misnomer about the MHC is that they eat meat. Nope! They can’t even bite you. In nature, you will find them on tropical forest floors eating rotting vegetation. Still, they are often used in Hollywood for scenes with decaying  corpses. They are big and docile, so they film well and are easy to handle. They are also only indigenous to Madagascar, so it’s unlikely that you will find one crawling a dead body in Costa Rico. I always have to point these things out when I see my favorite buggy in a movie.

They also aren’t very bright. You can’t keep a water dish in their tank. They will fall in and drown. Some people keep a damp sponge in the tank for hydration.  You can also place stones in their water dish so that they have something to stand on. I typically just give the tank a good misting once a day. That, and a few apple slices, always keeps Fester happy.

So, if you are ever in the market for an “exotic” pet, consider the humble Madagascar hissing cockroach.  They are easy to care for and will equally amaze and disgust your friends. 😉