This always makes me think. Cockroaches don’t bite, are not venomous, basically can’t do us any harm. I’m not afraid of wild dogs, spiders, tarantulas, scorpions, snakes, wolves, hyenas, wild hogs, bears (encountered them all) but I might actually scream if I get surprised by a cockroach.

I think this collective fear of cockroaches that we have cannot be without reason and must have an evolutionary reason.

  • velma@sh.itjust.works
    1071·
    2 days ago

    Disease. Cockroaches do spread disease.

    Studies show that cockroaches are responsible for the spread of 33 types of bacteria, six varieties of parasitic worms, and seven types of pathogens. Cockroaches can spread germs and diseases including:

    • Diarrhea
    • Cholera
    • Typhoid fever
    • Leprosy
    • Dysentery
    • Plague
    • Poliomyelitis
    • Salmonella
    • E. coli
    • StickyDango@lemmy.worldEnglish
      44·
      2 days ago

      This, and cockroaches are associated with allergies and respiratory issues. I can 100% confirm this because whenever I go in to a restaurant, if I start sneezing, I know they’re there. Then I go looking, and I will find them because I can also smell them. 🤢

      Also, I was reading this a few weeks ago: The Cockroach and Allergic Diseases.

      Living in Australia, they are unavoidable, so yes, they do come inside the house sometimes. The American and German ones are the ones that reproduce very fast and can take over very quickly.

      • Rawrosaurus@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        6·
        2 days ago

        I came here for this post. I’ve worked a lot with cockroaches as an extension of working with animals to which cockroaches are a great source of nutrition and food… Actually dealing with the cockroaches required facial masks, because you do not want to breathe in the crap that ends up in their enclosure when cleaning. As said in your post, allergies and respiratory issues can happen.

        • StickyDango@lemmy.worldEnglish
          10·
          2 days ago

          Everything about cockroaches is bad - sheddings, poop, eggs, everything. Same with rodents! When I see rodent droppings in restaurants and storage sheds, and I always warn the staff to wear a mask and gloves, and to give the poop a good spritz of water before doing a bleach sanitise. Aersolised rodent droppings = hantavirus. I think we’ve had enough of that this year in the news already, let’s not add to it.

      • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialEnglish
        151·
        2 days ago

        The American / German ones are the ones that reproduce very fast and can take over very quickly.

        Especially the ones with botched, blond hair transplants that keep getting elected by an army of doofuses.

          • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialEnglish
            5·
            2 days ago

            Haha, true, Drumpf is only a 2nd-gen immigrant… not so German anymore.

            Bonus points for learning about “potato noises!”

        • StickyDango@lemmy.worldEnglish
          7·
          2 days ago

          Good question. I’m not sure about the smell of ants because in public health, we don’t consider them to be a concern because the ones that we find in restaurants and such don’t carry diseases that concern us. (AFAIK, anyway.) They act as indicators that they’ve found unprotected (spilled, spoiled, etc.) food. I haven’t encountered such a huge population of ants that I can smell them, so refer to the other person’s comment.

          Cockroach smell: It’s really hard to explain well because it’s so unique. I liken them to the smell of a grease trap (old oil mixed with detergents, spoiled food, sewage-y kind of smell. This does not bother me whatsoever), except with a distinct meaty, animal kind of smell that makes it horrible. It doesn’t smell like spoiled chicken, beef, pork that’s been in the fridge for too long, kind of meat.

          The words that come to mind are: Heaving, warmth, animal and spoiled… I can usually sense them when I walk in, but when I can smell them, the place is infested = massive heebie jeebies.

        • velma@sh.itjust.works
          17·
          2 days ago

          I can definitely smell ants if there’s enough of them. Sugar ants are common in my area and it’s a kind of earthy, sickly-sweet scent.

    • s38b35M5@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18·
      2 days ago

      I lived in an apartment building with a big pipe leading to the septic tank. Cockroaches were always visible crawling in and out of the gaps between the concrete and pipe, living in the literal shithole. They carry so many germs!!!

      At night, that’s they’d scale the building and come visit us. I woke up one night to my cat staring slightly above my head. I moved a tiny bit, and a big mind momma cockroach jumped off my headboard onto my face, then onto the blankets, where my cat swiftly executed it (with no small level of skill and reflexes). That night left an impression on me.

      I hope this explains both fear and being spooked by them.

      Edit; some fun typos

      • StickyDango@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        2 days ago

        Oh, that’s so gross. The building manager should get that looked at because that’s a public health concern to have sewage exposed like that. When it rains, the water will take up the space in the tank, and when there’s no space for the sewage to go, it’ll spill out in to the open and go everywhere.

        As for the cockroach on your face, I personally would just leave and never come back (from a professional view, put down all the baits and get pest control if it’s too far gone). Cockroaches do bite, so be careful. If you could tell it was a mother cockroach (do you mean it was big, or it had an egg sac attached to it?), then there’s a bigger problem than just one egg sac. You’re either already or about to be a co-parent to millions of babies.

        Just an FYI for anyone else who is currently living in a situation similar. 🪳 ☠️