can I ask a possibly controversial question??

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every time i end up injuring a feeder by mistake i always end up feeding bad, and if i find some sort of bug in my house it pretty much always gets released. even then, i do still feel a bit more empathy towards predatory insects. i feel that a lot of herbivore insects like feeder roaches tend to be somewhat less intelligent than predatory insects because evolutionarily speaking it takes a lot less brainpower to munch on a plant or eat detritus under a rock than it does to actively hunt other arthropods. from my on personal experience id say that mantises and other predatory insects seem to be far more aware of their surroundings than any feeder roach. i have also done a bit of research and mantises, jumping spiders, and dragonflies seem to all have relatively larger brains than other insects, and while much of that is probably dedicated to flight coordination and vision, i do often wonder if they would also have a greater capacity for thought than a roach. i also feel this way about bees, and despite likely being great for mantids, they are so intelligent that i don't want to feed them to a mantis as it just seems cruel.
 
thehelepolis said:
every time i end up injuring a feeder by mistake i always end up feeding bad, and if i find some sort of bug in my house it pretty much always gets released. even then, i do still feel a bit more empathy towards predatory insects. i feel that a lot of herbivore insects like feeder roaches tend to be somewhat less intelligent than predatory insects because evolutionarily speaking it takes a lot less brainpower to munch on a plant or eat detritus under a rock than it does to actively hunt other arthropods. from my on personal experience id say that mantises and other predatory insects seem to be far more aware of their surroundings than any feeder roach. i have also done a bit of research and mantises, jumping spiders, and dragonflies seem to all have relatively larger brains than other insects, and while much of that is probably dedicated to flight coordination and vision, i do often wonder if they would also have a greater capacity for thought than a roach. i also feel this way about bees, and despite likely being great for mantids, they are so intelligent that i don't want to feed them to a mantis as it just seems cruel.
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So your selective compassion favors the more intelligent.
 
Introvertebrate said:
So your selective compassion favors the more intelligent.
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well not exactly because they are more intelligent but rather because i feel like the prey may have less mental capacity to suffer/feel pain and fear if that makes any sense. i have seen feeders roaches walking around with horrible injuries due to cannibalism seemingly acting normal, calmly walking around, eating food, etc. meanwhile, if you shut a mantises foot in a deli cup lid by accident, it will stop using that foot completely and hold it off the surface until it next molts like using it is irritating.

don't get me wrong however, i still have compassion for all other bugs, and if i don't have a hit mantis up to the task i cant bring myself to kill even a stinkbug. so what do you think? would you say that most insects feel pain similarly or would some be far less bothered by it than others?
 
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hibiscusmile said:
Roaches and any thing that has breath will have poop (frass) and as such without keeping their containers clean you will have frass along with their dander building up to potentially cause allergies.
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There's no easy way to clean my dubia bin. You more or less have to sift through the frass and pick out the nymphs.
 
That's commendable that you have chosen not to eat meat for the past 20 years and that you have a love for predatory animals.
 
OrchidMantis said:
That's commendable that you have chosen not to eat meat for the past 20 years and that you have a love for predatory animals.
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Thank you. They are fascinating, strange and intensely beautiful. The way they can be so fierce yet so docile. Honestly it’s truly a privilege to be able to care for them.
 
Synapze said:
So... anyone have tips on how to convince your spouse to let you start a roach colony? 😀
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My hubby knows I have 5 adult hissing roaches:ROFLMAO:
Those I won't feed to my mantids. But their young I will. Last year we had a heatwave to they mated and got young, my mantis of last year lived on them.
We have had a heatwave again, so free feeders in the winter because I don't know what to do with them. I don't know of ppl in my family who loves insects.
 

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