It is summer vacation here at school and the kids are gone. My normally very efficient and prompt custodial service is off working in other parts of the school and will give my classroom its annual fix-up in July. Therefore, the trash sorta piles up and things get a bit messy.
Anyway, a cockroach expired on the floor. His little body did not appear to suffer any trauma or anything. I assume that either a pesticide or some sort of natural cause led to his demise. I did not bother to pick up the corpse and dispose of it. Since I first noticed it, the roach has become a bit of a science experiment. Each day, the body becomes a bit more damaged. First, the wings fell off. The body was moved a bit. Now, one wing is some distance from the body and the other wing is gone. The body has been moved about twelve inches from its original point of expiration. The body is also now on its back, rather than feet-down as it originally was. This has all taken place in the time span of about two weeks.
No students have been here and maintenance hasn’t worked on my building. What could be causing this late cockroach’s disintigration? Is this some natural decomposition that the body goes through? What is the mechanism for this deterioration? It seems that some larger animal must be moving the body around. I have seen no signs of mice, though I obviously get a cockroach from time to time.