BlattaAnglicana

Thanks all for the tips and reassurance - I am sure they are much hardier than I give them credit for but as I am very new to this (i've only had them five weeks) and started from a base of zero knowledge, other than what I've read on the internet and forums like this one, plus I have already had a bad experience with the female who died of a prolapse, I guess I am just a little over-protective! lovebugfarm - I only have the two remaining adults, a male and a female (although I am hoping to get a replacement for the female who died soon) so I will leave off cleaning the enclosure out for a while. How old are they when they stop eating frass?

Thanks pannaking22, yes I was a bit worried as I thought many spiders could probably catch prey much bigger than themselves. However now the spider is out and running round the house rather than my hisser enclosure, I am a lot happier and I will be more than glad if it kills some of the little flies I get in my house! So a win-win situation for me, for the hissers and for the spider! I sterilised the bark when I got it (put it in the microwave for a couple of minutes and poured boiling water over it) so I would be very surprised if a spider that was already there could have survived that, so I am assuming it must have come in from the house somewhere. As I mentioned the perforations in the metal grille over the top of the enclosure are about 1mm or so in size so I would not be surprised if the spider got in through there maybe when it was a bit smaller - it now has to try and get through an old pair of tights if it wants to get back in though, so I doubt it will succeed! The only thing I am a little worried about is if the one that was there was female and had laid eggs which then hatch. I'm not a spider expert by any means so I don't know whether this is likely without the mother spider around, or if they would survive on their own anyway even if they did.

OK I have got rid of the spider - here's what I did: basically I moved the adults out into a small container to make sure they couldn't escape, and then tried to persuade out the nymphs gently with the artists' paint brush. I managed to get two out this way and put them near the food (which pleasingly I saw them both eating) but the others hunkered down and moved further inside the bark, so I had no choice but to bash the bark until something came out - and in fact eventually it was the spider that fell out onto the substrate, and thankfully I could then remove it from the enclosure. Unfortunately the spider scuttled away under my radiator quickly once I'd picked it out of the enclosure so I didn't get a chance to see it properly, but it was a bit bigger than I'd thought at about 1.5-2mm, and very black and shiny, so I am quite concerned that it was big enough to have killed the nymphs if I'd left it there. However what I don't know is whether there are any more spiders (I don't think I saw more than one) or whether the spider was female and might have laid eggs in the bark. It is going to be nigh on impossible to get the other two nymphs out as they basically scuttled as far into the bark as they could, so I think I am going to have to leave the bark in there and hope that was the only spider. I've now spider proofed the cage by putting an old pair of tights over the top - the top has metal mesh ventilation which is too small for the nymphs to get out of, but I am not sure if the spider might have been able to get through, so hopefully this will keep it from coming back in, although I will be keeping an eye on the humidity levels to make sure it doesn't make the enclosure too damp. I just hope I haven't stressed the nymphs or the adults too much in the process - I am trying not to handle the adults (especially as the other female is gravid and I don't want her to suffer any problems in birth like the first one did) or disturb the nymphs too much but in this case I guess it was a case of needs must, so I hope they will all be OK.

Hello all, some advice please! I was just looking for my 4 day old hisser nymphs in the cork bark I have in my enclosure (which has a lot of small hidey holes) and I spotted a small money spider type spider (about 1mm or so in size) in a web in one of the holes. I have no idea where it came from although I do have money spiders in the house which I have previously seen as harmless as they kill the fungus gnats and fruit flies that I get. However, could a money spider this size kill a tiny (4 day old) hisser nymph? I am not sure I can get all the nymphs out as they are so tiny and the holes in the bark are big enough to hide them well inside, so I don't want to put the bark in the microwave if there could be a nymph still inside that I've missed. What should I do about this spider? Is it safe to leave it there or should I somehow try to get the nymphs out and re-sterilise the bark? Or should I try to get the spider out somehow? I have already poked a small artists' paint brush into the hole and destroyed the web, but the spider retreated inside so I could not get it out. If I need to get the nymphs out to sterilise the bark, does anyone have any tips for doing so? Bear in mind these are the only four (that I've seen so far) nymphs from my female that died, so I really don't want to lose any if at all possible!

As you might have seen in the topic I posted on feeding, I had a female hisser give birth to a small brood of about three or four nymphs, then have a prolapse, and she died this morning two days after the birth. I am a complete newbie to roach keeping so forgive me if these questions are basic or silly!! My question is, are the nymphs likely to have missed out on anything vital with her dying so soon after their birth? I have read that female roaches feed their newborn nymphs with a "milk" from their brood sac (as I didn't see the birth itself I don't know whether this happened with these nymphs or not, and I don't know whether the prolapse might have prevented her from doing so), then that they are generally guarded and fed by the female for a few days after the birth before dispersing. Obviously in this case the mother has died very soon after their birth and she would not have been in any fit state to feed them after the prolapse as she went down hill health wise very quickly. Will that be a problem for these nymphs and is there anything I need to do in terms of food / heat / humidity to mitigate the loss of their mother so soon after their birth? Also a couple of questions re. temperature and humidity: The current temperature in their enclosure is around 23-24 celsius / 75F on most of the substrate with some areas of the cage being cooler (21 Celsius / 70F) and others warmer (26-27 Celsius / 78-80F). Is this warm enough for the nymphs? The ambient humidity is around 50-60% and there is one corner I mist regularly, which I assume will be higher, but the rest of the cage and substrate are dry. I have also read that hissers need quite a high humidity to moult successfully - do I need to increase it from the current value?

Thanks everyone for your help - I have now buried my dead female in a plant pot in the garden this morning. I felt i just couldn't throw her in the bin as she was a pet, even though I didn't get to keep her as long as I had hoped. There is a tiny silver lining today in that I am sure I saw a fourth nymph in the cage this morning - I found three hiding in various places in the cork bark but then I am sure I saw a tiny pair of antennae waving deep inside another crack in the bark, so it looks like she may have had more live babies than I thought In fact there are so many crevices for them to be hiding in that piece of bark there may even be more than four - I guess I will only know for sure when they start growing and get too big to hide in there any more! And by that time the other female may well have given birth too (hopefully without any of the unpleasant complications) so I am still hoping I will end up with a healthy colony even though one of my founder females has died earlier on than I had hoped. Let's hope so anyway

Thanks Hisserdude, yes I am glad she wasn't in distress for long. One rather morbid newbie question - what do people do with dead roaches? Being completely new to this I don't really know what to do with her body. I have seen that people have "clean up crews" that will eat dead roaches but I don't have any of those. I don't want to leave her in the cage but I'm not sure the local waste disposal guys will appreciate a dead roach in the bin either, and if they saw it they might call the exterminators in which I obviously don't want! I'd like to take her out in the garden and leave it to nature, but I'm not sure whether she might be harbouring any exotic microbes that might not be good to release into the UK - we have a lot of problems with invasive species here and I wouldn't want, inadvertently, to introduce some hisser-specific Madagascan microbe into the ecosystem that might cause harm either.

just a quick, sad update, my female with the prolapse died I found her dead when I came in to check on them during the night. I had seen her drinking and taking a few bites of food last night so i had hoped she'd pull through, but sadly not. I guess at least she wasn't in distress for very long, but it's sad for me to lose her this way. At least she did give birth to (I think, as they hide in the tiniest cracks!) three nymphs and so far the other female and the male look healthy, so I am just hoping the same doesn't happen to the other female now.

Thanks all for the sympathy :-) yes it's been a bit of a rollercoaster to be so happy to find the nymphs but then to find out that the female is probably now dying :-( She is still alive this morning but her behaviour is very different from before - she's sat on top of the log and seems to have been there all night. The others too are behaving differently - the male is sat outside the log away from the other two females (before they were all huddled together under the log by this time in the mornings) and now the other female is with the one with the prolapse on top of the cork bark. I don't know how much roaches 'know' (on an instinctual or chemical level I would assume) that one of their colony is sick but it's certainly an interesting observation that their behaviour is totally different now. Pannaking - I hope she recovers too but I probably will put her out of her misery if she carries on for too long with the prolapse still there. Whilst I know insects probably don't suffer or feel pain in the same way as higher mammals do I still think it would be cruel to leave her alive but in a state which distresses her or makes normal life functions like eating and drinking difficult, even if she isn't actually aware of the situation.

I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't a fairly old female, although I can't tell as I got her as an adult, but she was much bigger than the other female and seemed to be a bit "battered" with a couple of bits of damage to her exoskeleton so that could indicate she wasn't a young adult. Having said that the guy who sold them to me said they were fairly newly moulted adults so I just don't know. It doesn't make it any easier to lose her though even if she is old anyway. I guess the one consolation is that even if she dies I do have her babies now - I have found two of them hiding under the bark but I am sure I saw another one when she was first walking around trying to get rid of the prolapse. The prolapse seems to be drying off quite quickly and I hope it does fall off soon, but there was quite a lot of "stuff" hanging out of her when I first saw her, so I really don't know. I really hope she pulls through too but I guess I have to be prepared for the worst, in case she doesn't. I did see her eating some fresh carrot I put in the cage jut now so at least her food and watering instincts are still there. I just don't know whether she is too damaged internally now to survive :-(

I've just misted the cage and now she seems to be drinking desperately.... I don't know if that's a good sign or not?

:-( :-( oh no, I really hope not, poor little thing :-( I hope she doesn't suffer :-( It does seem to be drying out and at the moment she is still alert and moving around OK - how long before I know whether she will recover or not? I feel really sad for her, I've only had her a few weeks and even though I have tried not to get attached I will be upset if she dies :-(

No it doesn't look like eggs it looks more like a piece of "skin" and she is dragging it along the ground. Here is a photo - should I be worried?

Thanks Maijan2. I am a little worried about the female though as she seems to be wandering round trying to pull the remains of the egg case out of her tail end, but it doesn't seem to want to come out completely and I am concerned that this might actually be her insides that are coming out :-( Has anyone seen this before? Should I just wait until the morning and see whether she has got rid of it? I'll see if I can post a photo....

I was wrong!! There are some live nymphs! :-D I haven't been able to count them properly yet but I have seen at least three live nymphs, they were huddled in a crevice in the cork bark which is why I didn't see them before! So I now have some little hisser babies :-) Now I need to know whether there is anything special I should be doing for them, especially in terms of feeding.....

Well one of the females was certainly gravid as I found her pushing the ootheca out this evening, but sadly it looks like she aborted all the eggs as there is just a whitish/brownish oozing "thing" coming from her tail end :-( As far as I can see there is not a single live nymph :-( Is there anything I should do for her at this point as it seems not all the ootheca has come out of her yet, although she still seems to be pushing - should I just leave her be or should I try to remove what remains? Will she be OK? I don't want to cause her any damage or stress her out at this point, so any advice welcome. The other female is still as fat as she was, so I am hoping for better luck with her.

Thanks Jesus - well I am certainly hoping I will get babies from them!! :-) I haven't seen any sign of nymphs as yet though, and I haven't seen any mating going on either (though as I've said they seem to be a lot more active at night than during the day so who knows what they have been up to whilst I have been asleep!). However both the females are looking quite fat and I assume they came from a mixed large colony before I got them so I am guessing they are carrying eggs and it will only be a matter of time before I see some nymphs! :-)

Thanks HIsserdude, it's good to know that it looks like I'm doing things right, they don't look thin or undernourished anyway, although they aren't very active at least during the day. I have seen them wandering around a bit at night though and they can shoot remarkably quickly back under the bark if I shine a light on them when it's dark (though I have been trying not to disturb or handle them too much in the first few weeks so as not to stress them out) so I assume they are healthy. However being new to this, are there any specific "warning signs" I should look out for if they aren't healthy?

HI all, I have just (about 4 weeks ago) got three adult Madagascan hissers (as pets) - a male and two females. They are being kept in a small glass terrarium with a locking mesh top, at between 21 and about 28 Celsius (I think this is about 70-80F?) with the floor of the terrarium being at 28 and the top at 21 (I have a small heat mat under about 2/3 to 3/4 of the base as the temperature in my house is generally no more than 20 Celsius in the winter). They are on a coir substrate (about 1cm thick) which was damp when I initially put it in but which has dried out with the action of the heat mat. I am now misting one corner of the enclosure about once every couple of days to give them a bit more humidity but my house is fairly humid anyway (ambient humidity is around 50-60% and in fact I have to use a dehumidifier to stop it getting damp). They have a toilet roll tube and a piece of cork bark in the enclosure as hiding places and are almost always to be found huddled under the cork! My question is basically - how much should I be expecting three hissers to eat? I have seen very little eating going on in the first few weeks and am wondering if this is normal. They are being given crushed dried dog biscuits mixed with crushed organic oat biscuits as dry food, plus a range of organic fruit and veg cut up into small pieces which I leave in the cage a couple of days and then remove and change as it starts to go off, and there is always food in there for them. However until the last week or so I could see little or no sign of eating at all - a couple of bite marks on the fruit and veg maybe every few days and I think a little of the dog food/oat biscuit mix was being eaten although it's hard to tell. Interestingly in the past couple of days I have started to see them eat more - a small slice of carrot and a 0.5 cm square piece of apple have disappeared from the fruit dish in the past day or so and I have also caught two out of the three of them nibbling on the cork bark. Has anyone else seen hissers eat cork bark before? And more importantly is it safe for them? I did put the bark in the microwave for a couple of minutes (until it started popping and smoking!!) and also poured boiling water over it as recommended by the guy I bought it from (at the AES insect show) before I put it in with them but I am concerned that there might be things on or in it that could be toxic or bad for them. And could the stress of being moved from their original colony to the AES show (a large UK insect trade and entomological fair where they were basically on display in a very small tub under artificial light all day) to my home and a completely different environment have caused them to stop eating for a while? If so and they start eating better now will this have caused them any lasting harm? Or is it simply normal that three hissers just don't eat much? Sorry for so many questions but I am a total newbie to keeping roaches (and insects / invertebrates in general) so it would be good if some of the more experienced roach keepers could let me know if what I am seeing is normal or whether I need to change something about the way I am keeping them!

Hi all, just a quick post to introduce myself. As you might have guessed from my user name I'm from the UK, London to be precise, and have joined this forum partly because I love insects in general and it's nice to find a group of people who share that interest, but more precisely because a few weeks ago I went to the UK Amateur Entomologists' Society's annual fair and exhibition for the first time, and came home with, you guessed it, some pet roaches :-) They are Madagascan hissers, I am assuming probably hybrids, and I have three of them, two females and a male. This is the first time I have ever kept roaches, or indeed insects of any kind, so I am very new to this, very worried about getting it right so my new little pets can thrive, and have lots of questions which I am hoping the experienced keepers here will be able to help me with. I'll post the questions on what I hope will be more appropriate forums later, but in the mean time this is just to say hello!