In its native range, the brown recluse is a very common house spider. A colleague in Missouri found 5 in a child's bedroom one night, a person in Arkansas found 6 living under his box spring in his bedroom, during a cleanup at the Univ. of Arkansas, 52 were found in a science lab that was being used everyday, a colleague found 9 living under one piece of plywood in Oklahoma, a grad student and I collected 40 of them in a Missouri barn in 75 minutes, and would have collected more, but we ran out of vials to house them. The most amazing story is an 8th grade teacher in Oklahoma checking up on his students avidly collecting material by some loose bricks around a flagpole on an insect collecting trip. In about 7 minutes, 8 students collected 60 brown recluses, picking them all up with their fingers

Les blattes constituent un apport important de nourriture pour les arachnides. Faciles à élever, peu exigents, prolifiques, ces insectes ne constitutent cependant pas la solution idéale pour plusieurs raisons. Les blattes peuvent être facteurs de réactions allergiques importantes, surtout pour les "gros" élevages ou sur une durée prolongée. Ensuite, elles peuvent selon les espèces s'échapper (certaines espèces volent, beaucoup grimpent aux vitres), voire se propager. Enfin, beaucoup d'arachnides rechignent à les manger en raison de leur carapace chitineuse et de leurs substances répulsives.
Cependant pour l'éleveur disposant de peu de temps ou ayant d'importants besoins, elles constituent un excellent compromis tant elles sont économiques à élever que ce soit en temps ou en argent.

Cockroach eater, world record attempt
 
Cockroaches from the island of Madagascar off the coast of Africa can be more than eight centimetres long, and they hiss. John LaMedica puts them in his mouth.  
 
Jungle John, as he's known in the daredevil trade, will try to break his own world record by stuffing seven of the cockroaches between his lips during a party organized by the Philadelphia Wings before their National Lacrosse League game Saturday night against the Calgary Roughnecks.  
 
The stunt will be replayed on video screens inside First Union Centre during the game.  
 
LaMedica set the record when he slipped six of the cockroaches inside his mouth during the Ricky Lake Show in a New York television studio to earn inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records.  
 
So, how does that feel?  
 
"Really gross," Jungle Jim said Thursday from his Newark, Del., home. "Sometimes they defecate in your mouth but you can't do much about it.  
 
"It's a bitter taste. Plus, they have spikes on their legs that cut the inside of my mouth. There's always the chance of accidental choking, which hasn't happened yet."  
 
The cockroach fetish began three years ago when he covered his body in 20,050 of Madagascar's finest for a Guinness World Book of Records television show. That gave him the first of his two Guinness records.

GET RID OF COCKROACHES NOW!  
Once you've seen roaches in your living space, odds are there are many more out of view. You can begin an active stance against the roach by getting rid of those who have made their presence known to you. Try:  
1. sprinkling a small amount of boric acid where you've seen roaches travel through your home. The roach will poison themselves by ingesting the acid during their regular grooming routine. Be sure to sprinkle in dark, damp areas, too, like under bathroom and kitchen sinks, behind washers and dryers, and around the refrigerator, and behind appliances. Note: The ingestion of boric acid is also toxic to humans. Do not use in areas where small children or animals play, sleep, or eat.  
2. You can make your own insecticide by mixing equal parts of baking soda and powdered sugar and setting up a mock bait plate for the roaches. After mixing your sugar and soda, eave the mixture in a shallow dish where roaches have been seen or are known to travel. The combination of sugar and soda is lethal to the cockroach.  
3. Roaches hate the taste of bay leaves. You can naturally and safely keep most roaches at bay by placing the leaves anywhere you've seen roaches moving. Using bay leaves is a great way to keep roaches out of the rooms and play area of children.  
4. Don't water the roaches! Cockroaches can survive for months without eating, but they need a daily source of water to thrive. Never leave water in the sink, in dirty dishes, or other areas of the house. Check other sources of water as well, such as leaky plumbing, under-refrigerator dampness, and concrete sweating. Wipe all traces of water from the sink after you've done the dishes and wipe down the bath area after use, as well.  
5. Clean, clean, clean! Cockroaches naturally gravitate toward areas which are littered with cockroach droppings. Use a detergent or disinfectant to thoroughly clean the area and deter a re-infestation. On concrete floors and walls, you can use a mixture of bleach and water to disinfect the area. Other services can be cleaned with everyday cleansers or antibacterial soaps and scrubs.