I'm the King of the World!!

Last Saturday I felt on top of the world. I overcame one of my biggest fears: BUGS. Yes, bugs. As a child, my parents had to stop taking us on camping trips because of my bug fear. I would freak out about moths!

Moving to NYC has been an experience because of the issues with vermin such as cockroaches and mice. I am proud to say that I can kill a cockroach in 5 seconds flat. Those suckers are fast! I throw books at them and have a can of Raid nearby if needed. I actually haven't seen any in my current apartment, but we had them when I lived in Bay Ridge.

Killing a cockroach is one thing, holding one is completely different. In the Discovery Room at the Museum of Natural History where I volunteer, we have various animals and insects. The only thing we can take out for children to hold are the cockroaches and whenever I was volunteer upstairs, I would have to go get someone if a kid wanted to get one out. Finally, I decided enough was enough, I was just going to do it myself!

So I did!

I started out by touching one. Then Stephanie, another volunteer, took one out and put it in my hand. Then, I put it back in the cage. Then, I picked one up! These are Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches and some of them are very old, so they aren't too fast. Their hissing sound is due to their ability to force air through the breathing pores (spiracles) found on their abdomen.


I call this cockroach Lady CaCa (I name everything in the museum after singers and admit it, this cockroach just screams royalty).

After conquering this fear I felt fantastic! I can do anything now!