Plastic Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

Our Hissing Cockroach

This engaging, realistic-looking plastic hissing cockroach is made of hard, flexible plastic. It is 3 inches long and 1 3/4 inches across from leg tip to leg tip. Our cockroach comes from Madagascar and is large with orange and black stripes. Our hissing cockroach replica is a little disgusting, but promises not to bite. It works well for a shoe box diorama or other school projects. It also makes for an interesting party favor or for a gag. Check out our other cockroach toys and gifts. Just to clarify, our toy cockroach does not make any noise - that's the species name of the real cockroach.

About Cockroaches

Hissing cockroaches are of the genus (Gromphadorhina portentosa) are found in Madagascar and are among the largrest cockroaches in the world.They are wingless and are often 2-3 inches long. They live in rotting logs and feed on rotting material and last for about five years. It gets its name by forcing air through its breathing pores in its abdomen, whereas other insects make sound by rubbing legs together.

Plastic Toy Australian Crocodile

Our Plastic Toy Australian Crocodile

This engaging, somewhat realistic-looking plastic crocodile miniature is made of somewhat flexible plastic. This replica has a detailed face and body and is painted in one shade of green, although the freshwater and saltwater Australian crocodile is more gray in color. It has detailed scales. This plastic crocodile makes for a nice pet, fits into a shoebox diorama, or serves as a great collectible. Check out our other crocodile toys and gifts.

About Australian Crocodiles

There are two kinds of Australian crocodiles, the Freshwater Johnsons Crocodile and Saltwater Estuarine Crocodile. Crocodiles have long narrow snouts, and the 4th tooth of the lower jaw is outside when the mouth is closed. Their scales have modified to form thick tough skin. All crocodiles have eyes and nostrils are on the top part of the head so that they can lie in the water almost completely hidden from view. Crocodiles have very strong jaws. They do not chew their food. They swallow it in large chunks. In the stomach the food is broken down. They feed on a large variety of prey such as small mammals, birds and even cattle. Crocodiles grab their prey and move to deep water, where they roll over to drown the animal. They can leap high out of the water to reach their prey if necessary.

Crocodile School Mascot?

As it turns out the crocodile is the school mascot of Nancy Ryles Elementary School in Beaverton, Oregon, about two hours from our home location in Astoria!

The Beaver: Mascot of Oregon State University

BEAVER

Mascot* of

OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

With school about to start, it might be fun to do a series on animals used as school mascots that can also be found at Tapir and Friends online Gift Shop. Let's start with the beaver, since we're located in Oregon, and the beaver is the mascot of Oregon State University. Here you can see all five of the beavers (stuffed and plastic) that we have online for purchase as of this post date.

The beaver was not the OSU's first mascot. It began with a coyote named "Jimmy," progressed to a human mascot, John Richard Newton Bell, a bulldog, and eventually between about 1910 and 1916 to the beaver, a native animal of Oregon. You can read about the interesting evolution of Oregon State University's mascot here.

Meanwhile, what better place to get a toy beaver for a memento, gift, prank, reunion decor and souvenirs, prizes for work well done, or a nice, soft snuggle buddy than from a store that supports wildlife conservation as its main goal?

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* Note: This particular stuffed beaver toy is not an offical mascot, but is a lifelike stuffed animal made by Hansa.

Two new plastic toy great white sharks!

The 6-inch plastic great white shark toy above and the 9-inch plastic shark below have joined our school of plastic sharks for your fun and enjoyment!

Both shark replicas squeak when you squeeze them, and they float in the bathtub or pool, but I have to warn you, they float on their sides. They were not meant to fool anyone, only to have fun with. They actually look kind of dead in the water when they float. However, the hollow inside keeps them from sinking, so you can find them easily and keep on playing. These sharks are made of flexible plastic and are guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of your shark-loving kids, grandkids, or friends. If you like toy sharks or enjoy studying real sharks, check out our plastic sharks in Tapir and Friends online toy store!

Popular panda eyelass holders will be gone before Christmas

Carved wood animal eyeglass holders (Peeper Keepers) have been some of our most popular and successful products ever! To our dismay, they have been discontinued by the manufacturer and there are only a few left. The animal types have been disappearing over the last few months, and many that we have in stock today will be gone before the Christmas/Hanukkah season.

Three that we are sure will be sold out well before the holiday season are the panda peepers, the gorilla peepers, and the hippo.

Come visit our Animal Peeper Keeper page and order online. They are only available while they last, and your order will be shipped as soon as we get it. If we are out of stock in our location, we will contact you about the availability in the warehouse. In that case, shipping could take up to two weeks, but we will let you know ASAP what the status is on your order.

Tapir and Friends Wildlife World has been doing business online since 1997. Check out the many realistic (or nearly realistic) animal toys and gifts on our extensive web site!

New plasic sea life and sea life accessories

PLEASE NOTE that these plastic replicas are not made to be put in the tank with your live fish. You can use them as toys or to decorate a fake fish tank with fake fish. A lot of people use our plastic sealife replicas as decor for parties or as part of shoebox dioramas for school ecology projects.

Above is our new plastic coral, which could be part of a coral reef display.

Next comes our plastic model scuba diver. And what might he or she be looking for besides fish?

How about a nice plastic treasure chest? All of these sea life toys can be found on our Aquatic page at Tapir and Friends Wildlife world. You'll also find lots of other sea creatures on this page. Fish and sharks also abound in our store, and can be found by following links from the Aquatic page.

Plastic mystery monkey - can you identify our new primate?

Lee has done a fantastic job of identifying our new plastic primates. In the process he learned a lot about Old World monkeys, New World monkeys, teeth, claws, paws, brachiation, prehensile tails, short tails, lack of tails, tufts, etc. But he was unable to match characteristics of this plastic monkey to the real world. If you have an idea, please let us know! If you're the first and we use your identification, we can work out an appropriate gift! We specialise in realistic animal toys and gifts, and we do care about the species names! Sometimes it's impossible to get toy animals that are true to life, but we do the best with what's available. Sometimes they are very accurate, and when they aren't we usually comment on it. Many of our customers are animal-lovers, and many use these animals in school projects for dioramas or for show-and-tell with their reports.

Come see our expanded collection of plastic primates!