Courtney: Hey! Courtney here with Da Green Show. I’m here with Nancy, and she’s holding some very creepy, crawly creatures. This is a hissing cockroach. And this is a millipede. Now tell me more about these.

Nancy: Okay, so this hissing cockroach comes from Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa. So, I’m trying to get Courtney here to hold one. She may never have this opportunity again.

Courtney: Do they bite or sting?

Nancy: They do not bite or sting, they don’t have teeth. But this is an important study tool, that’s what we use them for. She’s going to go for it.

Courtney: How do you use them to study?

Nancy: Well, they’re important with anatomy. So, it’s a true insect. Easy to handle, easy to maintain. They’re actually pre-historic, so these were around when dinosaurs were around. Pretty interesting.

Courtney: No way! That is interesting.

Nancy: So they, you know, they have their purpose in the world with, you know, just—they might survive longer than humans. So, if there’s a living species, you know, there’s still that chance, I guess, of evolution, whatnot.

Courtney: It looks like there’s little organisms crawling on the cockroaches.

Nancy: There will some mites. These do make good pets, but they do get mites. So, we’ll dust them off for you, and I will take it back from you for you.

Courtney: Sorry! I dropped the cockroach!

Nancy: That’s okay, that’s okay.

Courtney: Sorry!

Nancy: They’re almost indestructible. It’s okay.

Courtney: Now, I heard that you’re not supposed to step on cockroaches because the babies—eggs will spread all over the place. Is that true?

Nancy: Yeah, I mean, I bet that’s partly true. Like with the German cockroach, that’s the pulsing one, and they do have an egg sac that forms. You would probably see the egg sac, so if you did see it, definitely don’t crush it. But don’t crush it anyways.

Courtney: Right. Because they’re living creatures. So, tell me about this little guy over here.

Nancy: So our intern just woke up our giant millipede. He’s kind of still sleeping. So this guy’s from Africa, and these are interesting because they have, um—they’re decomposers, for one. So they’re going to make our ground nice and fertile. These are the reason the tropical forests are so lush.

Courtney: Thanks, little guy.

Nancy: So they eat, eat, and eat, and poop. So that’s the thing. This guy—they’ll have 150 to 300 legs, and in captivity they can actually live 7 to 10 years.

Courtney: Wow. Um, I don’t think I’m going to hold that one.

Nancy: No? Little guy?

Courtney: Uhh… maybe the little guy.

Nancy: So they’re just waking up. This one tickles.

Courtney: Okay.

Nancy: You will find millipedes in Illinois, but they’ll be much smaller than this. But they are beneficial to your garden. Definitely want to keep them in there.

Courtney: Yeah. They help compose. Well, thank you so much for chatting with us.

Nancy: Thank you, Courtney.

Courtney: Can you just say, in the camera, “Peace, love, and green” for me?

Nancy: Peace, love, and green!

Courtney: Peace, love, and green!