Why does a poisoned roach recklessly run around aimlessly?

I can't answer this really dumb question. But hear me out. I live in poverty. I won't deny it. But my apartment has a bit of a cockroach problem. I wouldn't say I have kicked in the nest, but...

I have some cockroach poison that I have placed in a few areas. It has been eaten, but none of these tum tablets have been completely devoured yet.

However.... The ones that I see... Or better yet hear.... They seem to be running endlessly. Like... They can't even climb up anything... I have turned on lights.... Shined the flashlight on them and they have no reaction what so ever. In fact I have smashed a few of them... And they continue moving no matter what. Each limb continues to move radically. And they still move at the same pace. They continue to run around in circles until they finally flip themselves over. And they still move radically.

So seeing this behavior, and watching some YouTube videos of random drug addicts caught on film who have had more than they can handle....

I asked myself a dumb question...

What is going on in the cockroaches mind for the two plus hours of it running around and finally #ing dying?

Honestly in my case I have set some tarp on the floor.... Well it is bunched up in a corner, and all I hear is the cockroach endlessly running around on it. It doesn't stop. It's like a toy hotwheel windup car that never stops going.... Until it stops going.... And since no one gives a # about this... I figured I'd ask.

Is it desperately trying to find water? Is it going completely mental? Does it make it bite other cockroaches? Do other cockroaches bite back? Is it suicidal? Is it just asking for death? Has it been hijacked by a bacteria that is trying to take over its entire body so it can Bloom its spores to infect more cockroaches like that cordyceps pandemic happening to ants in other countries?

Honestly I wonder what they are going through when they eat this #.

I mean I feel like buying a bunch of white tarp, drawing a bunch of squares on it, numbering them individually, and starting a betting website on where this #er is going to finally.... Stop moving.

One of these days I am going to film this and put it on YouTube... Because the sound these #ers make on the tarp is like none other. It's one of those head turning sounds. It grabs your attention like a magnetic field suddenly bursting out attracting all of the iron out of the sand all at once.

a reply to: GiulXainx

I mean I feel like buying a bunch of white tarp, drawing a bunch of squares on it, numbering them individually, and starting a betting website on where this #er is going to finally.... Stop moving.

Better get a really big tarp! My neighbor, 3 doors down and across the street had an bug guy come out the other day, and spray all around his property. All the cockroaches ran down and across the street and were flipping on their backs and dying in my carport! I imagine more of them didn't die and are taking up residence under my house! DAMN! Now I have to get a bug guy to chase them further down the street!

Possibly the poison affects their nervous system? Or the poor things are in severe pain and have no other way to express their agony and distress.

When I lived in the city we had a cockroach problem for a while. I got good at hunting them. I'd seek them out, scoop them up with a dustpan and brush and hoick them over the balcony.

We were four floors up, but they're so light I figured they'd easily survive the fall onto soft grass.

I'd catch easily between 20 and 30 each night. It was the most humane way I could think of to deal with them.

I remember finding a sick one once. My housemate was aghast to see it resting on the bed of flower petals I'd made for it, right beside some food and water.

They're only fair game if they're fit for the fight

Maybe they feel like they are on fire? Cooking on the inside.

A woman died last year from taking online diet pills that contained dinitrophenol (DNP) and she basically burned up from the inside.
I think it's used in pesticides and explosives.

I once said to a mate, "You know, if you take the head off a roach, it can still run around for 7 days?"

his reply "Yeah, well it's looking for it's head."

I think roaches are more smart than we give them credit for. I accidentally smooshed one once, and another one came out and was just .. almost talking to it, antennas wiggling over it.

Another time I saw a dead baby one out the back, and there was this large female one with it. Next morning, it was still with it. made me think they are certainly aware of death, pain, but being muck eating bugs, that is all we see..

Oh and if you do smoosh one, they smell like almonds. it's not a good smell, coming from the guts of a bug.

When I find one in the house though, well, home invasion meets the same fate be it a bug or a thief. and they freak me out when you sprat one and 10 minutes later it's half way up the wall like some deranged mountain climber dropping off and just running in circles. It's the nervous system as Pyrethrins "delay the closure of voltage-gated sodium ion channels in the nerve cells of insects, resulting in repeated and extended nerve firings"

Sounds horrendous...

a reply to: GiulXainx

They are probably running trying to get their heartrate up so they can sweat out the poison.
Like a good work out thingy.


cheers!

IIRC the toxin affects their nervous system.

Most people are told by their exterminators once a place is sprayed the roaches will be running all over and pouring out of every nook & cranny.
It's expected and pretty normal.

a reply to: GiulXainx

It is the toxin. In the apartment I had in college, the landlord had exterminators come several times and this would happen. The building was very old and connected to a couple of restaurants, so the problem never completely went away.

The ways I found more effective were keeping the insides of cupboards wiped out, counters clean. Clean under stove and fridge. Not that you are messy, but a tiny crumb is a lunch for one.

I started filling in and cracks and crevices around pipes and baseboards. AVOID any sort of tape for crevices or stick on shelf paper. They eat the glue, I found that out the hard way.

originally posted by: berenike
Possibly the poison affects their nervous system? Or the poor things are in severe pain and have no other way to express their agony and distress.

When I lived in the city we had a cockroach problem for a while. I got good at hunting them. I'd seek them out, scoop them up with a dustpan and brush and hoick them over the balcony.

We were four floors up, but they're so light I figured they'd easily survive the fall onto soft grass.

I'd catch easily between 20 and 30 each night. It was the most humane way I could think of to deal with them.

I remember finding a sick one once. My housemate was aghast to see it resting on the bed of flower petals I'd made for it, right beside some food and water.

They're only fair game if they're fit for the fight

Insects tend to have a "distributed" nervous system. So there are neural clusters to control leg motion, flying, running, turning and selection. These are in turn driven by sensory input like vision, smell and vibration and prioritization. If the sensory neurons die off, the poor things are just going to keep running round in circles until they flip over and lose energy.

almost all of the bug poison is neurotoxin- it's dirt cheap as toxic waste.

The toxin breaks down the nervous system- so they can't connect touch, smell, sight to movement. I'm sure it's not a pleasant way to go out.

I was looking for another thread about roaches or insect infestation but couldn't find but this on will do. Anyways we have had a small problem with roaches this winter, I was seeing maybe 20 inside a day and I read or heard somewhere that bay leaves deter roaches. So they other day I brought home a big branch of bay leaves and dumped them on the table in the kitchen and yay the next morning I couldn't see any roaches.
So have a go with bay leaves, by the way these were fresh off the bay tree. Also good for getting rid of moths in the pantry. Any ways GIVE IT A GO KIWI.