[HPforGrownups] Roaches Was: Animagus Snape? Was: Re: Who would love Snape?

[An'nai Jiriki]

No: HPFGUIDX 107136

WanderingStar wrote:
Oh yes, and since I too was very curious about what
Potioncat brought 
up about cockroaches (who DOES think cockroaches are
funny?) I 
wondered if wolves eat cockroaches.  I couldn't find
anything that 
says they do.  Also, why (as Potioncat brought up)
does Snape keep a 
jar of these in his office, when (according to the
Harry Potter 
lexicon) they are not used in any spells?  All the
Lexicon says 
about "cockroaches, dead" is that: "Snape keeps a jar
of these in his 
office"??

Well, here is what I found out about what animals can
eat 
cockroaches:  "Unfortunately, cockroaches have a
chemical defense 
that makes puppies and kittens throw them up. Other
animals that do 
eat cockroaches include scorpions, wasps, toads,
hedgehogs, and 
BIRDS, which probably led to the evolution of their
instinct to hide 
out of sight."  
(http://www.anglophile.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8778/roaches.html)

Now, I don't know if this means puppies and kittens
can't eat dead 
cockroaches as well, but it definitely means that
birds eat 
cockroaches, probably live and dead, lending more
canon evidence to 
the theory that Snape could be a bird animagus.  Why
else would he 
have dead cockroaches, unless there is some kind of
potion we haven't 
learned about?  Of course that is possible, but still,
more food 
(literally, since they would be bird animagus snacks)
for thought.  


Me:

I know this is a little off, but when working as an
intern in an environmental lab, we had a pest
proceedure.  The top of the list was roaches and
spiders. It was stated that if web got into the
chemicals (provided the chemicals didn't kill the
spider) then the top layer of chemical be discarded.
If a roach was found in, or even suspected in the
chemicals, then we throw the whole vat away. 

As it turns out, roaches emit a chemical that breaks
down simple chemical bonds quite readily (I don't know
what). This is probably one of the reasons little
animals get sick if they eat roaches:

H2SO4 (a component of stomach acid) -> H+ (what makes
ulcers) + HSO4- (mildly toxic, but bacteria in the
digestive line counteracts)

Also, in old alchemy books, roach parts were in lists
of ingredents. If it was because of the chemical or
just the observed nature of the roaches, I don't know.
Even as far back as 2500 BCE, roaches were cited as
health problems and used in protection 'magic' (Ledyen
Papyrus). There is also supposed documentation of dark
ages healers using roach parts in medicine (word of
mouth, don't know how true this is).

There is a history of using roaches as part of potions
and remedies. It makes sense that JKR would use them
in a potions room. 

Then again, 99% of the public think roaches are icky
and reading that makes us go 'eww'. Maybe that was
what she was going after?

=====
"You irritate me. Kill me now." ~Javert, Les Miserables


		
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