Completely fascinated with these guys! Maybe I’ll have a few one day.
Yep! The bark scorpions found here are absolutely beautiful, but hold the crown for most potent venom in America. Why do all the cool animals have to be dangerous or hard to take care of? 
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I’m curious…do people who have continued exposure to aquatic crustaceans like crab, shrimp, lobster, etc., also develop an allergy to it over time? Like commercial fishermen, people who keep them in aquariums (either hobbyists or professionals), marine biologists, chefs, etc.? In other words, people who come into frequent, prolonged contact with those sorts of animals for any reason. I’ve never heard of that happening…but I’d also never heard of exposure to roaches causing shellfish allergies, so my knowledge on this topic is clearly lacking.
And thanks for making this a dedicated thread! I’d been hesitant to post more about it in the previous thread because I didn’t want to move things further off-topic. 
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I’m the same way with centipedes. I like millipedes and, frankly, most insects, arachnids, and other arthropods, but centipedes are a big giant NOPE for me. There’s just something about them that freaks me out in a way few other creatures do.
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Nope, not usually, if they aren’t injesting the shell by eating or breathing fine dry particulates. If you have a preexisting allergy it can and will grow worse over time with continued exposure, but people rarely develop one out of nowhere from just eating the shellfish or handling them.
The problem with the roaches is from breathing the fine dry dust of the shells when cleaning the enclosure. The dust is so fine, it will go right through a simple paper mask, also getting it in your eyes might do it as well. Proper PPE would likely consist of a sealed respirator, sealed eye protection, gloves, and a full change of clothes and proper full body wash afterward. You would need a sealed room with a really good wet hepa filter and a pressurized air system to keep the dust in the air from spreading as well. Basically bio hazard 3 or 4, maybe 5 if you really wanted to avoid any exposure at all (moon suits, yea!
). That’s the problem with really fine particles that suspend in air (it’s why the anthrax spore scare was so bad, they went everywhere, even traveling on people’s clothing:scream:).
A simpler, and while helpful still far less effective, protective measure that may help somewhat reduce the development of the allergy would be to take an antihistamine before exposure. It is the repeated inflammatory histamine response that causes the developing allergy. By taking the antihistamine ahead of time, you will block some of the receptors and attenuate the respose, thus reducing the severity. You will likely still develop the allergy over time, it will just take longer.
My mother and her father are both allergic to shrimp and crab and lobster, etc. My grandfather’s allergy is at a level of being life threatening, while mom’s can be handled by a fast application of an antihistamine. Both avoid shellfish and have even found that the steam or liquids from boiling and cooking shellfish can sometimes trigger the reaction at their level. I on the other hand don’t have much reaction at all to just eating shrimp and crab, but there is still a slight reaction. Eating the shell or breathing the steam will cause a more noticeable response for me. At its worst, my level of respose can be handled by a couple of benadryl, so I can still have shrimp, just not often, and I dont steam it myself with the shell on.
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Yep, generally the frass and pieces of chitin will be the main cause. I think lobsters, being in water most of the time will not get expose you to any allergens.
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Sort of off topic, but someone needs to change the thread picture from the math lady. 
EDIT: Ok, fine. A lot off topic. But it needed to be addressed.
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Lol! I second this though. 
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I find it funny scrolling past and seeing that
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This is the last living female from my Dubia colony. I have a much more prolific program going with redrunners, and they’ve about all but died off, as far as the producing adults go. But there’s smaller ones in there, and she lasted two weeks with a large uninterested scorpion, so she’s back to the breeding program, if she survives.
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I don’t suppose anyone here knows if this is the case for isopod enclosures too? It might make me rethink my desire to start an isopod addiction just a little bit, even though I only eat breaded popcorn shrimp regularly out of all seafood lol
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Never heard of an allergy from isopods myself! I keep them and so far so good, though I’m Vegan 
But never heard of it
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I think we should leave it and give it the featured tag so it hopefully shows up on the main carousel for everyone to see. 
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Hahahah. Well. It’ll definitely get confused views that way
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I’m confused you’re confused math lady is confused. We’re all confused!!!
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Im gonna admit that when i first heard someone pronounce “Dubia Roaches” i was like do all americans say the City “Dubai” in such a funny way…?
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Honestly in some places in the US that is how someone would pronounce it. There’s so many random regional accents not to mention people with different backgrounds not to mention different ways to spell stuff I’ve heard a lot of ridiculously funny things and I’m a native. Lol. Though my phone always tries to autocorrect dubia to Dubai
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For a long time I pronounced it Dubai roaches. Until I went to an expo and after talking to people everybody pronounced them Dubia roaches.
When I typed Dubai roaches my computer wanted to correct it to dubia roaches. I guess since I type it so often it’s learned.
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This is some good information! Though I am curious as to how exactly it works, because if it’s breathing in the chitin and frass and it causes a response in the lungs wouldn’t that mean it would make it hard to be around the roaches and not shellfish since you aren’t breathing in the shellfish? 
I’m not exactly sure how allergies work in that regard
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