A Cockroach Orange

Do cockroaches mate for life? I'm talking about cockroaches in Texas. Not those puny little things that pass for cockroaches up in the midwest. Down here in Texas, these creatures are of significant size. When you step on one of these Texas cockroaches, and this is no bull, some of the cockroach sticks out from both sides of your shoe. Even if you're walking around on size 10s.

But I digress ...

This morning I observed, at the very bottom of the stairs from the parking garage in our building to the main lobby, two cockroaches. One was extremely large and fairly aggressive. The male of the couple, I believe. He was upright and on his feet. He looked like he was guarding the other. He scuttled around and put his body between me and the other cockroach as I walked past. The other cockroach was the female of the couple, I believe. She was flat on her back, struggling. His devotion was touching, so I let him live. Plus I didn't want all that cockroach goop and guts on the bottom of my shoes. That is disgusting.

We get a few of these cockroaches in the house every month. Everybody down here does. They don't infest the place. They just show up from time to time. Generally when you find one, they're lying on their back and they lie there motionless. Sometimes they're dead when you find them, but sometimes they're just lying there motionless. When it's that option (i.e., they're just lying there motionless), and you go to scoop them up into a dustpan or a trash bag or something, it's always startling. If you accidentally flip 'em back onto their feet, they make their move - survival instincts - and they are very speedy. And (again) disgusting.