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Why do roaches die on their backs? Login/Join 
Smarter than the
average bear
posted
We have large roaches around here. They occasionally appear in the house, and sometimes I can smack them. But sometimes I’ll just see one dead, lying on its back. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one dead right side up. I’m guessing they died from contact with insecticide/roach spray.

I just saw one this morning, and I realized they are always dead on their backs. Any ideas?
 
Posts: 3563 | Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Registered: June 20, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
A Grateful American
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High center of gravity.
Once they are flipped and dying, they are no longer able to right themselves.

Or it is because their tits are not on their back.




"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
 
Posts: 44594 | Location: ...... I am thrice divorced, and I live in a van DOWN BY THE RIVER!!! (in Arkansas) | Registered: December 20, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Dramatic effect.

Like guys getting shot in old cowboy movies.


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I Deal In Lead
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Otherwise you couldn't say they were tits up.
 
Posts: 10626 | Location: Gilbert Arizona | Registered: March 21, 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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As a PSA from an experienced landlord, the easiest way to deal with a roach infestation is to spread diatomaceous earth underneath your range, refrigerator, and cabinets. It's cheap, effective, and harmless to pets and humans. It works by locking up the roach's joints to eliminate their mobility.



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D.E. kills scorpions, too by infiltrating their exoskeleton or through ingestion.
 
Posts: 10626 | Location: Gilbert Arizona | Registered: March 21, 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Smarter than the
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quote:
Originally posted by sigmonkey:
High center of gravity.
Once they are flipped and dying, they are no longer able to right themselves.

Or it is because their tits are not on their back.


I figured they can’t right themselves, but don’t how they end up on their back. I have seen them fly from ceiling or wall to ground, but have always landed successfully when I’ve seen it. I can’t figure one on it’s back in the middle of the floor.
 
Posts: 3563 | Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Registered: June 20, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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If they didn't die on their backs, there would be no reason to put military basic trainees in the "Dying Cockroach" position.





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Posts: 7343 | Location: Arkansas  | Registered: November 06, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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That's how the cat leaves them. Or their legs can't balance and support their relatively big bodies anymore. Or something. I'm sorry, I wish I knew.
 
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Monkey- always a joy to read your posts. Top notch humor.

quote:
Originally posted by sigmonkey:
High center of gravity.
Once they are flipped and dying, they are no longer able to right themselves.

Or it is because their tits are not on their back.
 
Posts: 1076 | Location: Ohio | Registered: August 22, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Maybe they got upside down somehow and then couldn’t get flipped right side up so they died.
 
Posts: 4041 | Registered: January 25, 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
A Grateful American
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"It's a well known fact that the cockroach originated in Australia, and then was transported buy the Qantas, an extinct bird very closely related to the Dodo, except able to fly long distances that migrated to the norther American continents several thousand years ago, where they were quickly trampled by wild buffalo, leaving no skeletal or other remains to identify them.

But, the cockroaches were transported by them as a snack, some of them were able to flatten themselves and survive the stampeding.

And that is why they flip over when they die. It's in their genesis."




"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
 
Posts: 44594 | Location: ...... I am thrice divorced, and I live in a van DOWN BY THE RIVER!!! (in Arkansas) | Registered: December 20, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Void Where Prohibited
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quote:
Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
As a PSA from an experienced landlord, the easiest way to deal with a roach infestation is to spread diatomaceous earth underneath your range, refrigerator, and cabinets. It's cheap, effective, and harmless to pets and humans. It works by locking up the roach's joints to eliminate their mobility.

I think it actually clogs their breathing pores and they suffocate.
That's what was presented in my college entomology class.



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Diatomaceous earth is the fossilized remains of a certain kind of plankton (diatoms). Their exoskeletons are made up of silica, basically jagged glass which mechanically cuts up the bodies of the cockroaches, then draws out moisture until they die of dehydration.

No idea why they die star-gazing.



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Posts: 17125 | Location: SF Bay Area | Registered: December 11, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by sigmonkey:


"It's a well known fact that the cockroach originated in Australia, and then was transported buy the Qantas, an extinct bird very closely related to the Dodo, except able to fly long distances that migrated to the norther American continents several thousand years ago, where they were quickly trampled by wild buffalo, leaving no skeletal or other remains to identify them.

But, the cockroaches were transported by them as a snack, some of them were able to flatten themselves and survive the stampeding.

And that is why they flip over when they die. It's in their genesis."


Thanks, Cliffy!!!
 
Posts: 4586 | Registered: January 01, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
It's a well known fact that the cockroach originated in Australia, and then was transported buy the Qantas, an extinct bird very closely related to the Dodo, except able to fly long distances that migrated to the norther American continents several thousand years ago, where they were quickly trampled by wild buffalo, leaving no skeletal or other remains to identify them.

But, the cockroaches were transported by them as a snack, some of them were able to flatten themselves and survive the stampeding.

And that is why they flip over when they die. It's in their genesis."


when I read that to myself, I hear it in Cliff's voice -- weird, huh


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Posts: 2064 | Location: Florida Panhandle | Registered: June 25, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Exceptional Circumstances
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Sigmonkey is correct. High center of gravity and inability to get upright as legs get weak when dying.


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Posts: 5952 | Location: Hampton Bays, NY | Registered: October 14, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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This is a matter of physics. As the bug nears death, normal blood flow ceases, causing the legs to contract inwardly. Without the support of the legs, the body becomes top-heavy, and usually falls upside-down.
Gary F. Hevel
entomologist, Natural History Museum
 
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