My obsessions: Shelby, the cockroach's closest friend

Shelby loves cockroaches as they helped her overcome a difficult period. Her obsession has made her the famous bug girl.

Transcript

00:00I have around 4,000 roaches and around 12 species.

00:04Some of the species I have are my dubia, Madagascar, extinct in the wild, and my deaf heads.

00:17These guys are like mice, they squeak.

00:20My name is Shelby Counterman, I'm 14 years old.

00:24When I was 18 months old, I first got interested in insects, and I asked my mom for some roaches.

00:30She told me no, but when I was 3, she finally caved in and gave me 5 males.

00:36As I've gotten older, the collection grew.

00:38My favorite species of cockroach is extinct in the wild, otherwise known as the Simundu cave roach.

00:47In 2017, my spine collapsed and I had to have a surgery to fix that.

00:52And then in 2018, I needed to have a brain tumor removed.

00:56Coming home after each surgery was really hard for me, since it was hard to keep food down.

01:01And I also found myself in pain at times.

01:03However, having my roaches often helped cheer me up.

01:16This is the extinct in the wild, or the Simundu cave roach.

01:20One thing I find about them that's really neat to see is...

01:25They have a bit of a zebra-like striped pattern on the back.

01:29This is a deaf head.

01:32One thing about a deaf head that makes it look special is some of them have a pattern on their head that looks like a skull.

01:37Others have said it looks like an owl face or a cat face.

01:40One thing about cockroaches that attracts me is how unique they are to the ecosystem.

01:44They are some of the biggest decomposers in the world.

01:48Without cockroaches, the world would have a lot more garbage.

01:56One of my future goals about my roaches is to help more people understand how good they are for the environment,

02:01and that most of them are not harmful to humans.

02:05When I grow up, I want to be a doctor, and I hope I can use my knowledge forensics to help treat diseases that are caused by some insects.