Fight in the night

There were some nasty goings on in the Madagascan Hissing Cockroach, Gromphadorhina oblongonota, tank the other night. The juvenile males are reaching maturity, and ready to undergo their final moult, ( six exoskeleton sheds we call instars), before adulthood. We had noted quite a lot of hissing emanating from their tank recently and there is one particular little upstart who is getting very big for his boots. Hissing Cockroaches produce that fantastic sound by pushing air rapidly out of their spiracles. Spiracles are the breathing holes either side of the abdomen. This sound is used for defence and communication in either courtship or hierarchy. Our young contender is also rather good at pushing his siblings around using the pronounced humps on his pronotum which is a part of the thorax. These roaches are nocturnal and it obviously all kicked off the other night as in the morning I found junior on the top spot of the colonies log and his father Clyde underneath. What was worse was that Clyde was missing part of his beautiful feathery antennae and fore leg. Disputes are normally settled without true harm done so this is unusual. My dilemma now was whether to interfere. We have all watched those wildlife documentaries and begged the camera crew to get involved from our arm chairs. The normal stance is to observe only and not interfere. It is after all a dog eat dog world out there in the harsh reality of the natural world. This, however, is in a large tank in my kitchen. Bonnie and Clyde have been with us for several years now and are both regulars on the road show. They are the founders of the colony and I have to say we reinstated the old king and the upstart has gone to a local wildlife park where nature can more readily take its natural course because they do not name their individual roaches or get quite so attached to these magnificent creatures. There will come a time though when the king will fall.....

Happy families, Clyde on the left and Bonnie on the right before the big fight.