Hello, I’m curious to find out if there are other insect enthusiasts around. I keep many different species of invertebrates as pets, such as beetles, millipedes, roaches, etc. If possible, can the incredulous posters please don’t post how shocking they think this is? It’s kinda boring these days meeting so many people who just can’t fathom keeping insects as pets. I’m hoping to meet some people who seriously enjoy this hobby.
I have a pet spider in my bathroom. He pretty much keeps himself to himself though.
I’m not taking the piss … He’s been there for months now and keeps unwanted flies under control. I didn’t know spiders lived that long. He doesn’t seem to have much personality, though, so, genuine question: why do you enjoy looking after insects?
Must be kind of tiring keeping up all those insects … they have a pretty short lifespan … all the grief you must have when they pass away …
I have a Taiwanese colleague who’s into insects. He has a whole colony of these giant (and I mean really giant) beetle things that he’s breeding and raising as pets, all in little plastic boxes in his office. They freak the hell out of me, but I go by to have a look every so often just to inure myself a little. But if I ever encountered one of those things without a box between me and it… 
Here … something to scare the heck out of you …
I have a pet toad who would love to meet your bugs. If you ever want to bring them over to play, I’m sure he’d be very interested.
I once tried to keep a couple of http://www.southbank.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Animals+of+Queensland/Insects/Keeping+insects+at+home/Giant+Burrowing+Cockroaches I found in the wild but they died.
I just keep them in the wild and make pictures of them … I hate goodbyes …
One of the best pictures I’ve ever seen. We speculate about the possibility of extra-terrestrial life while surrounded by these bizarre, terrifying lifeforms that we are completely oblivious to.
To zyzzx: Can I contact your colleague? Sounds like my type, ha…
To finley: I like insects because they are cool looking. Plus they are very easy to keep, and have minimal space requirements.
To Belgian Pie: Well, some of them live for a few years, not so terribly short. When they die, I’ll sometimes preserve them in my collection. Or respectfully add them to my compost outside.
To Charlie Phillips: So I take it you’re an Aussie… there are some mega-extreme-super-heavy export restrictions on some native wildlife there, including that species. This one happens to be the holy grail of roach enthusiasts. Everyone wants to get their hands on some. Only in the past few years have they started to become more available in the hobby stateside, but we’re talking several hundred dollars a pop. Consider yourself lucky! As for your toad, actually I imported a few species commonly used as feeders in the US but currently unavailable in TW. I’m planning to breed them and introduce them to the invert scene here. That is, if I can find this “scene”… ha…