| Archive for scabies.myfreeforum.org Southern California Arachnid, Bug, Invertebrate, Entomological Society |
| DeniseCasey |
Say Hello to my Hisser friends.Help me know-I can not believe that I own 4 different species of roaches. I would have never dreamed of "allowing" roaches in my house.I am currently training and conditioning these hissers for the next race. 
|
||
| a1_collection |
Beautiful.
I love these little critters. |
||
| Celeste |
Hahahahaha! Addictive, aren't they? ;-)
I had 7 different species at one point... They are such great pets! |
||
| DeniseCasey |
They are actually pretty cool. They sure are hissy though. I do not remember hearing much hissing at the BBQ. Mine will hiss at every chance they get.
Of course these guys came in at work yesterday and everyone was screaming asking my why I bought roaches when I could have gotten one out of the mens bathroom! 
I was told I was nuts. I told them that they are the "nutty" ones, not me! Some people just don't get it!
|
||
| Celeste |
Mine will all put on a "hissy-fit" if I turn on the lights in the middle of the night. :->
You have yours at work??? |
||
| DeniseCasey |
::lol:: no I had Ken send the package to work so I could sign for them. I opened the box to inspect to make sure they arrived safely. Of course, there were people around-more specific, grown men that scream like girls. Any time I get a box, everyone automatically assumes that I received bugs. I am not sure where they got that silly idea from! 
|
||
| Celeste |
 
|
||
| BugMom |
Haha! I think roaches are wonderful. I know what you mean -- the delivery guy laughed the other day when delivering a box full of silkworms that everything we get is either bugs or car parts! | ||
| DeniseCasey |
They do kind of grow on you don't they? I was "hand" feeding my hissers apples last night. The largest hisser is very shy and hisses but the medium sized hisser will take food from my hand. I have a small nymph that is shy but once it gets a little bit bigger, I will start handling it and "training" it for the races! 
I know there are alot of care sheets out there but I like Ken's care sheet: http://www.madagascarhissingroach.com/ |
||
| DeniseCasey |
the NymphI found the only nymph I had dead this morning-its the one you see it the background of the photo. It was doing fine last night. Not sure what happened. My male and female are fine. 
Just one of those things that happen? |
||
| Celeste |
I don't know, since I had so many I was not able to keep track of individual nymphs... But in general, I don't see very many carcasses, so I don't think they tend to just up and die for no reason. They're pretty tough critters.
However, I sold a few Tiger Hissers to a1_collection and he said the biggest female died within a few days. So I wonder if they get stressed by a change in environment or something? |
||
| Jules |
Your Hissers are SO CUTE!! I need to take some pics of mine as well. I just love them!! Who knew?!?!?! | ||
| Jules |
Re: the Nymph
Oh, that's too bad. I just have the 3 that Dave Ogershok was kind enough to give me and I check on them daily. I occasionally lose a dubia now and then but there are so many dubia it doesn't feel like such a loss. I'd be really crushed if one of my hissers died. I don't think either of my females have had babies yet. I've got them really warm up on top of the dubia bin. I'm not sure how long it normally takes for them to have babies. One of the females in particular is especially huge and has been since I brought her home. I really thought she would have had babies by now. I even bought them gourmet fish food! I noticed in your pic that your hissers have substrate. How deep is it. I don't give my dubia any substrate, I kept the substrate too dry for my domino's. What is the preference for hissers? Oh wait, I'll read Ken's care sheet first! My bad! |
||
| DeniseCasey |
Hi Jules
I keep them on 1 1/2 to 2 inches of substrate. Mind do not seem to want to burrow. I have a piece of cork bark that they hide under so I think they are happy with that. I have not lost any dubias yet but mine are still young. the ones you gave me are still going strong. I do scrub my fruit and only try to give organic if I can. I keep them humid as well. I basically followed Ken's care sheet. It could have been stress from shipping. I know that happens. |
||
| Jules |
I think I will switch mine from egg crates to cork bark so I can keep their substrate a little more damp; at least part of it. I was nervous about the egg crates molding. Maybe that will help my female decide to have babies. They should definitely be warm enough according to Ken's care sheet. They're about 85 - 87 degrees. | ||
| DeniseCasey |
Good idea Jules. I keep the hissers on substrate because they are my pets and I only own 2 right now. The cork bark will also produce a nice hiding place with adequate humidity.
I do keep my feeders (dubias and lateralis) in the egg crates just because I have so many. I have read different care sheets but most of them recommend not using substrate for the feeders due to the mess they make. If you use the egg crates, keep very warm temps and keep a good amount of water crystals that should enough humidity for reproduction. I seem to be doing ok with this set up and they are thriving like mad. If the roaches want humidity, they will go hang our around their water crystals. You should see all the babies I got from from your dubias that I bought from you. They are so wonderful. Thanks again! Your adults really got my colony going!
|
||
| Celeste |
Jules: my hissers only produced babies (live birth from egg case carried inside the mom) about once or twice a year, and only about 20 babies each time. Their reproductive rate is fairly low for roaches...
I keep my hissers fairly dry on bark chips and just mist them every night before I go to bed. (The other roach species get substrate). However, for a higher reproductive rate, a heating pad under one corner of their enclosure helps. |
||