Okay - I’m a grown man, and I’m scared of bugs. I freely admit it. If you had DC bugs, you’d be scared of them too. They’re big, and they jump, and they don’t seem to fear anything.
My mom always told me when I was young that there was no need to be scared of bugs, because they’re more scared of me than I am of them. That seems like nonsense to me. First of all, I’m sentient and bugs are almost certainly not. Further, bugs (at least these ones) can usually outrun me by jumping away. I don’t pose much of a threat. And finally - I’m so much bigger than them that I doubt I even fit inside their frame of reference. I mean, as John Q. Cockroach, how much of a meaningful interaction do you ever have with humans?
So, my question - are bugs scared of me? More scared than I am of them? And can I exploit this fear to get them to stay the hell out of my house?
As anyone who’s taken a swing at a fly or aimed a shoe at a cockroach, bugs certainly recognize and attempt to avoid imminent destruction (not counting flying towards bright light bulbs and the like).
That’s not the same as “fear”, though. The dread of looking at an run-down, empty house and imagining ghosts and ghoulies, or of What May Be There In The Dark, or of picturing walls teeming with creepy-crawlies behind the drywall… That takes imagination.
On the other hand, in any mano-a-mandible confrontation, the bug (if it is aware of you at all) is certainly wired to act to escape detection or to run away. Even the big ol’ flying waterbugs that seem to fly RIGHT AT YOU do not have it in their tiny little neurons that this might set you on the run. Except for the ones genetically modified by the Israeli Army that fly in concert, of course, but I’m not really allowed to talk about that.
When cockroaches in NYC see you they keep three legs on the ground, flip you off with two of them, and grab the intersection of thorax and abdomen with their last leg and say “I got your Raid right here buddy”.
This is almost literally true. About 10 years ago, I saw a humungous cockroach on the subway platform (where the people are, not down on the tracks where they usually are), it must have been at least 3 inches long not including antennae.
I worked up the gumption to go over to it (everyone else was giving it wide berth). It didn’t run. I worked up the nerve to stomp on it. (I’m 6’2" and 200 lbs.)
There was a definite, loud slapping sound of the sole of my shoe hitting concrete – I didn’t pull back at the last instant or anything. But no exoskeletal crunch. And when I lifted my foot, I swear that somehow, despite having NO NECK, the cockroach seemed to be peering up to give me a disdainful look, as if to say, “Is that all you got?”
Then it sauntered off under the platform. That’s right, sauntered, to make clear it wasn’t in any particular hurry or anything, it just wanted to go somewhere clearly of its own volition and not at all because I just tried to murder it.
Aside from the matter of them not experiencing emotions such as fear, I’m not sure they are even able to perceive you in a way that would give rise to fear.
I mean, many bugs have good eyesight (I believe dragonflies are at or near the tops) and of course they are sensitive to pheromones and countless other chemicals.
But if they managed to sense an object coming towards them they would generally attempt to avoid it without distinguishing whether it was animal, vegitable, or mineral. And if the light goes on quickly they may scurry because being exposed in light = greater chance of being eaten.
They don’t “fear” you. But they are strongly motivated to survive and reproduce. The chances of which are enhanced should they take steps to avoid being smooshed or eaten.
I swear I saw that same roach. It was calmly walking down Broadway as the evening shows were letting out. Tens of thousands of people and that roach is sautering la-de-dah-de-dah.