Cockroach Questions
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USING
A T-MAZE TO STUDY COCKROACHES:
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Email |
I am a junior in high school about
to embark on my first project with
cockroaches. I hope to discover, using
a T-maze, if cockroaches are attracted
or repelled to the smell of dried
catnip. What I had planned was to make
a T-maze out of PVC pipe with about a
5 inch run for the base of the T where
the cockroach would enter the maze and
then the head of the T would be about
2 inches long. On each side of head of
the T would be a plastic bag, one
filled with 1 tablespoon of catnip and
the other filled with nothing which is
the control. My question is this:
would the smell of the catnip diffuse
throughout the tube very quickly and
move into the control side of the
tube? I was hoping if an entomologist
had some experience with this type of
apparatus he or she might give me some
advice. I would be greatful for any
help anyone could give me on this
problem. (Mon, 22 Jan 2001) |
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Answer |
I have never worked with a T-maze
but I would suspect that your T-maze
is going to be to short and become
diffused with the odor of catnip. I
have included a reference for a paper
on classical repellency work with
cockroaches using a wagon-wheel
system. Also, you will want to be
concerned with light, as cockroaches
are not phototatic but infact they are
repelled by light (negative phototaxis).
You can use red photo darkroom lights
for conducting your experiment. The
species of cockroaches is an important
consideration as well. I would
recommend using male American roaches
(Periplaneta americana) for several
reasons including size and ease of
control of escaped roaches. Also, the
references in Dr. Rust's paper might
be of some help to you. I don't know
where you are in the development of
your experiment, but I hope this
information helps you. (Rust, M.K. and
D.A. Reierson. 1977. Using pheromone
extract to reduce repellency of
blatticides. Journal of economic
entomology, Vol. 70(1): 34-38) |
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