You want to see a big isopod?

Troubledluna80 · Dec 7, 2021

Snuits said:
Omg .. I would freak hearing their legs lol. I freak out changing their food too. I need to do a cleaning. & omg I don't want too hahaha. I need to order more bugs next week & I'm terrified lmao. Every morning I hype myself up. I need like a pep talk lol like okay here we go here we go. You got this. Lmao.
Anyways I'm glad you can relate. I know it gets easier for some but having OCD. (Germaphobia) this is like my worst nightmare. I don't know what I was thinking getting into this. But I'm trying to be strong. Last night I had kind of a break down. Cleaning his cage & over thinking the he'll out of it. But I'm better this morning.

I totally understand the fear. I have a colony of Dubai roaches. When I first got a chameleon I was all about saving money and having healthier bugs. The small Dubai’s at pet store looked more like isopods than roaches so I was like I can handle this and set up a tote. I order adults and when I opened the package I screamed. Holy fuck was I not prepared for how big and Terrifying they looked. I couldn’t leave them in the box so I threw them in the container. I still haven’t gotten over being scared of them but I added isopods and springtails that help keep the cage cleaner so I don’t have to clean it as often.

PlanetRemulak · Dec 7, 2021

Troubledluna80 said:
I totally understand the fear. I have a colony of Dubai roaches. When I first got a chameleon I was all about saving money and having healthier bugs. The small Dubai’s at pet store looked more like isopods than roaches so I was like I can handle this and set up a tote. I order adults and when I opened the package I screamed. Holy fuck was I not prepared for how big and Terrifying they looked. I couldn’t leave them in the box so I threw them in the container. I still haven’t gotten over being scared of them but I added isopods and springtails that help keep the cage cleaner so I don’t have to clean it as often.

You’ll get there! I promise, lol. Bugs usually never got to me too bad unless they were either one of two things - a black widow spider (okay, technically not a bug) or a roach. When I first got my pantanal roaches out of the box they were shipped in, I was NOT prepared. Lots of “oh god oh god oh my god” on my end haha. Now, I hold them bare-handed. The huge nymphs that are one or two molts away from having adult wings still creep me out the tiniest bit, but that’s because they still look like massive, brown roaches. What has really helped me with these guys, and the same applies to dubias too, is reminding myself that they can’t:

- bite
- climb up walls
- fly in my face
- give me diseases. They’re captive bred.

You may not ever get to a point where you feel comfortable handling them, but eventually you’ll stop feeling like you’ve stepped into a horror film the moment you take the lid off their tote

JacksJill · Dec 7, 2021