The first post

Firstly, thank you so much for visiting my sight. I'd like you to get to know me!

My name is Dianna. I'm currently 28 years old and I'm a native southern New Jerseyan. I attended Stockton University for my bachelor of arts in Sports Management. I wanted to study biology, as my dream is to be a wildlife conservationist, however due to mental illness I wasn't able to perform to the best of my ability and had to settle for something that could just get me by. For three decades I've been fighting a war with depression, anxiety, and my adhd. All I've ever known was sadness and the feeling of alienation, but with personal courage and my stubborn will to live, I'm still here. The name "Off the Fent Roaches" has double-meaning: 1. It's a reflection of my humor, and 2. I have to rely on substances to function properly, but much like the drug fentanyl, these substances help me "feel good" at a price; they will never cure me, and I will always be dependent on them for my happiness. So, I might as well go off while I'm on them!

The roach hobby has given me the platform to live my dreams. I never thought it was possible to work with animals, care for them, conserve them, and educate the public about them without a degree and a science-related job. But I realized, after being given the opportunity be one of the first to bring a new roach species to the U.S hobby, that I was performing wildlife conservation in my own home, and I have the freedom to work on my own schedule and not have my ideas rejected. I'm still fairly new to this hobby and the community, but I hope taking these small steps will nurture me into the person I've always wanted to be. I'm afraid of failure, but I'm confident this hobby will teach me to accept failures and apply what I've learned to future projects. I'll always need to remind myself that even the most experienced roach keepers have colony crashes and other set backs sometimes. I'm looking forward to this journey. :)

I'm always open to talk to you if you have questions or just want to chat about roaches. Places you can contact me are via email offthefentroaches@gmail.com, Instagram @offthefentroaches, and Discord @thalassodromidae.