Marrader21

I appreciate the encouraging words guys, but I have more good news. I woke at 630 this morning and found my largest female sitting in the water bowl; when I took a closer look I found that she was giving birth! This is a big deal for me cuz I have never seen a birthing happen live and I got to study how they behave as a new borns... fascinating stuff! I was able to count about 40 nymphs but again there were more I couldn't get a count of. I snapped a quick photo before heading off to work; I'll try to remember to post the pic later tonight.

Hissers are very hardy and can live in a variety of setups. You'll definitely want an enclosure with a latchable/ heavy lid and a 2' petroleum jelly barrier around the top; hissers are good at climbing and are very strong so these will help prevent escaping. As for food they should also have access to protein and a bit of calcium; for this I usefish flakes, cat food, and crushed up egg shells. They can eat a wide variety of foods so it's kinda fun to experiment and see what they like. Mine are big fans of apples, bananas, and bell peppers.

I did a colony cleaning for my hisders and found lots-o-babies; I hand counted 60 but I know there were a few that I couldn't get to. I did a quick sweep 2 days prior so I am sure they were born within 48 hours. That would be a very large litter for one female so my guess is there are at least 2 litters born around the same time. In the last month I have had an aborted ootheca and 2 adult deaths so seeing all the newbies was a relief.

Hello and welcome Cassidy; good to see another fellow Coloradan roach lover. Butterfly Pavillion is one of my favorite places! ?

I know this one is a couple months old, but I'm curious as to how your hissers are fairing? By now there should have been a brood or two if things are going well. These guys are generally very hardy and don't usually die off easily, and it sounds like you are doing all the right things. I've not had a problem due to low humidity; where I live is very dry and for nearly a year my hissers went with very low humidity and they thrived. Sounds to me that your taking very good care of them so my knee jerk assumption to the what is causing all this is bad genetics in the female. I'f your looking for an alternative food for protein you could look into fish flakes; they are usually packed with protein and easy for nymphs to eat due to their thinness.

Thanks for your condolences guys. I completely understand Skyvie; every time I look at a freshly molted hisser and think about feeding my blue toung I feel bad; they look so scared a vulnerable like E.T. when he got sick Mr. House was a Gromphadorhina hybrid; he was named after the guy from Fallout NV one of my favorite games. His favorite spot was the highest point of cork bark where he was always seen; he was also by far the largest male I had at just short of 3.5 inches so House just seemed to fit him. I believe a scuccesor has appeared though; a rambunctious little dark brown I've come to call Bender because of a couple kinks he's developed in his antennae. Sorry for your loss Neverlift, do kenyans normally molt on their back? I though molts usually happen upright.

Love the antennae on this roach. Is that a fecal spray defense or some other chemical?

What herps are you feeding? Like Nadine said above hissers have extremely tough armor and all but the biggest and most voracious herps will struggle with one that is not soft from a fresh molt. Also, hissers as a whole seem to be slow breeding compared to other roaches; this combination tends to make hissers less popular as feeders. I personally only have experience with Gromphadorhina hybrids, but from my understanding; E. chopardi (dwarf hisser) would be a decent choice due to their tendency to be smaller and have less spikes on their legs than most other hissers. E. javanica (halloween hissers) seem to be generally softer bodied than other hissers so they may be a decent choice as well. Both of these species also look really cool and tend to have big personalities. Happy hisser hunting!

It is a sad day; Mr. House was my first male and resident big man on campus. Last night he was sort of haphazardly holding a piece of cork bark and his coloration was very dulled. From time to time he would vibrate his abdomen vigorously; by morning he was completely unresponsive. There is some silver lining though. My wife; who has been terrified or roaches until recently, was surprisingly upset by his passing and has inadvertently become a roach lover . I was also able to observe his behavior in the last few weeks of his life and gained some interesting findings. R.I.P. Mr. House; you will be missed.

I came across some information on the forums saying roaches only need about 4% protein at any given stage. As a staple my roaches get a mix of fish flakes, pellets, and whole dry cat food; I just realised the flakes and pellets are 32% and 28% protein respectively... I'll have to check the cat food when I get home from work. Every 2-4 days I feed them an assortment of fruits & veggies as well. My question is what should I look for when finding a staple food for these guys? What do you guys feed yours? Also; I'm not sure if it's relevant, but my hissers are non feeders.

So; until recently I was one of those people who thought a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach was it; I now know that there are not only different types of hissers but there are even a couple different Genus of them as well. So after some research I have found Gromphadorhina, Ellipthorhina, Aeluropoda, and Princisia; I also hear that the genus will not hybridize with each other. I regularly travel between the 7 or so shops in my area that sell hissers to pick and choose specimen to add into my colony for new blood and color variation; there have been several times I have come across individual specimen of questionable genus. Is there a trait that can be used to tell the Genus from one another or would it always just be a crap shoot? The main one I'd like to identify is Gromphadorhina since I do not want to waste time with one that will not breed with my colony.

Wow, 150 adults is quite a bit more than I expected... My wife pointed out that the cotton balls would get kind of nasty at times and drove me to find an alternative for water That is a good point about how the roaches are actually labeled; it's usually just "Hisser" and are sold as feeders primarily so the employees don't usually know much about them... Next time I thin out the numbers I will ask questions. Colony Update: I side mounted the heating pad and added a couple slits of egg crate which they seem to enjoy; I also added 4 new adults for their dark brown color.

Roger that... so it's not a toxin issue then but an allergen thing; that makes sense. I didnt find any specific incidents but came across a hand full of people who were talking about it... just wanted to clear the air; this was more for my wife's peace of mind. When she heard that people have died from eating roaches she became concerned for our Leo's and blue toung. When I looked into it the words "neurotoxin" and "asphyxiation" were all over the place. Good to know that its not an issue but there are species of cockroach with those defenses. Thank you guys.

So I recently found out that cockroaches have neurotoxins that are released when eaten and it has caused people to die from asphyxiation. I am curious as to why reptiles and other invertebrates can eat them with no ill effects? Do they not eat enough in one sitting, or do the toxins not effect them? Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for this answer lovebugfarm; it's very insightful! To the OP: I smoke marijuana regularly, for me it is a medicinal thing; I am a combat veteran and smoking pot helps when things get "hazy." That being said this could be a very expensive experiment, so here's my 2 cents on this subject... I don't think you could get your roaches passed the odor of the flower. Marijuana usually had a pretty distinct "skunky" smell that is generally not appetizing to anybody. I have never witnessed a person smell a marijuana plant and have an appetite flare... they want to smoke it then the hunger follows Also these days plants are being grown with such concentration that a single plant could smell up the entire house; I almost feel like the smell would repel the roaches and you would have to trick them into eating it. If they do eat the marijuana I'd be careful feeding them to other animals... I have not heard of a human overdosing from THC but I know that it can be toxic to dogs and cats in moderate doses; I'm unsure of any effect it would have on a reptile or other invertebrate. There are many studies on the benefits of THC on humans and even large animals, but to my understanding these are medicinal in nature aimed at treat a symptom opposed to the effects of a diet change.

Hello everyone, I just wanted to get your thoughts on the set up I have for my Gromphadorhina hybrid colony. I apologize about image quality but I am not very tech savy... this took me all morning to figure out My goal is a half pet display half breeding project so I am trying to make the enclosure look presentable and also easy to clean and maintain population. There is a 2'-3' petroleum jelly barrier and the screen lid is secured with metal clamps. The colony started on coco fiber as substrate but I found that it was too difficult to keep track of the nymphs especially during cleanings; I switched to a green pet carpet with several layers of paper towels underneath and a hunk of moss which the nymphs enjoy burrowing in. The heating pad is underneath the enclosure but after reading a few post here I decided to side mount it when I get the adhesive. I am always tinkering with the setup and have a few more plans including covering the sides of the aquarium to make the enclosure feel a bit more closed in. For the water bowl I used to use the the cotton ball method, but I recently came across and article explaining how people can help bees in the wild stay hydrated. The idea is to fill the bowl with marbles giving the insect a surface to walk on while still being able to reach the water. I've also noticed the humidity has gone up a few degrees since I started this, and living in a dry climate like Colorado humidity is hard to come by. I keep between 25-30 adults at a 1:4 male to female ratio with anywhere from 3x to 5x that in nymphs of varying stages. I had many more at one point but cleared out a bunch to reset the colony once I really got into the hobby. The plan was to let them rebuild, but since thinning the numbers I have not seen a single escape attempt in months; I have also noticed most of the individual specimen are keeping their full antennae for much longer. I take this to mean they are happier so I will be experimenting with keeping the population low... How many adult hissers would be too many for a set up like this? I look forward to you thoughts. P.S. I don't know how important this is to the cockroach community but I do not euthanize these guys for population control; they are given to local reptile shops who happily take them and even offer store credit from time to time. This way feels much less wasteful to me.

Hello fellow creepy crawly enthusiast! I am getting back into the hobby after several years of being away; it is a long story for another day. I have a colony of Gromphadorhina that is set up in a 10 gallon aquarium that I keep at around 80-82 degrees. Right now I am in the hobby for behavioral studies and breeding as pets; looking for size, coloration, overall health, that sort of thing. I know there is a negative stigma to them but my roaches are highly hybridized. They were from a reptile store being sold as feeders so lord knows how many generations ago it started. That being said I don't know that hybrid roaches are necessarily "bad" for the hobby; they may not be as vibrant but I have gotten some really cool pattern and color combinations out of them. On the flip side selling hybrids as purebred is wrong and should never happen.... In fact one day I want several breed specific colonies and Id be very upset if I ended up with a hybrid in one. Anywho... I look forward to speaking with and learning from you guys!