A while ago I woke at 3:30 in the morning, hearing a strange buzzing noise outside of the mosquito net on Erin´s side of the bed. I lay for a second or two, my sleep cloudy mind groping in vain to identify the sound. Was it nocturnal predatory wasps? A Cloud forest rattlesnake perhaps? Maybe it´ll just go away I though but the noise persisted, becoming more urgent if anything. I nudged Erin and in seconds, we were climbing out of the net on my side of the bed, fumbling with head lamps. My light illuminated a very strage creature indeed thrashing around on the floor next to the open window. For a second my mind couldn´t contain what I saw, the legs moving, the insectile buzz and then it all came together, and I understood. Infront of us on the floor was a completely harmless although potentially horrifying animal. I was partially thrilled and a little bit scared by it. A giant cock roach had flown in through our window and somehow ended up helpless on its back. I quickly captured it in a large jar next to the door specifically for catching arthropods in and released in on our front porch, taking some photos next to my lens cover to show how large the roach actually is. After a bit of research, it seems likely it´s a cockroach from the Blaberidae family.
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