kawaiiroaches

So I had a few nymphs moult yesterday, and I noticed one looked... Well... Here’s a picture. Will he be okay? He’s a very solid roach, very fast too. He seems to have no trouble with socializing. In almost 200 roach nymphs, I have never seen a deformation quite like this. Is it a deformation? Or genetics? I’d absolutely love to know. I’m really curious, as he’s quickly becoming my new favorite dude.

I find this interesting, because I’ve always felt like hissers smell like a musty closet with moth balls in it more than they smell of vinegar. I actually don’t mind the smell of them at all. The dead ones have a unique funk that is almost... Foul cheese-like. aoikirin, I would say most bug tanks do get an earthy, musty smell, (especially depending on the number of specimens in the enclosure) even when the tank is nice and clean. Perhaps try using a different substrate?

Sadly, my large female hisser Cersei passed away from old age a few days ago. She was very healthy, my tank has no mold or grain mites. I’m absolutely devastated, but oddly enough, my male roach Jaime seemed to be depressed as well? Perhaps I’m projecting, but I’ve noticed behavior changes. It’s not due to sickness, because he’s still eating and walking around, he just seems to show no interest in doing anything but that and sitting in the food dish. He has not been very chatty and doesn’t want to be handled. This situation feels unique because I rescued him, then bought her because he seemed very lonely. If you keep up with my posts, they had two broods of nymphs together. He has her last brood in the tank with him currently. Could he be confused about where she went? Or am I just projecting emotions onto my roach? I’d only like to know in case I should get another female for him. I had been trying to start my own hisser colony. If I get a new female, she shouldn’t bother the nymphs from my deceased hisser, right?

Howdy, roach forum! As my nymphs from my thread in “breeding and nymph issues” grow, I’ve been experimenting with their foods to see what they favor! The other night I made a pasta with some sliced baby bella mushrooms, so before bed, I dumped a leftover handful or so of raw mushroom bits in my feeding dish. I woke up this morning and they were all gone! I only found one small piece that has shriveled up slightly as mushrooms do. I know they’re roaches and can eat about anything but I got to wondering.... So are these mushrooms safe for my bugs? They seem to really enjoy it, more than their normal carrots, apples, celery, etc. but I don’t want them to get some type of disease or fungus from the mushrooms. Not entirely sure that could even happen, but well, that’s why I’m here! Can I continue letting them munch on mush? Or should I limit/not allow them to have it at all?

Update: 33 nymphs have reached their second molt stage! We have been eating celery, dog food, and strawberries and keeping one side of the tank humid while the other is fairly dry. For the holidays they got some peach slices, which the nymphs (and my shameless, fat, fruit-loving adult female) heavily enjoyed.

I find it odd in particular because my male is actually rather chatty! He can get so loud and continuous that he wakes me up at night. He just doesn’t register the sound of the mister as a hisser I guess. I was aware the nymphs won’t hiss for a few more months at least, they just don’t seem to particularly have an aversion to being wet. So far I’ve counted twenty-eight good molts that have darkened, one that’s changing from white, and I see a couple already that are large enough that they will probably molt within the next couple of days. Most of them are still sticking close to mom or each other, but my last brood did this too, so I’m assuming it’s normal. Sorry for the novel post, I just love discussing the behavior of hissers. For bugs, they can have such wildly varying ‘personalities.’

Another update: I’ve been keeping my humidity at exactly 79% and my little ones are molting just fine! I’m very pleased. Just out of curiosity, my female is terrified of the mister and hisses loudly and runs whenever it releases well... Mist. Is she just weird? It doesn’t seem to bother the nymphs or my male at all.

I believe I will go to the pet store today and buy a humidity meter. This may be the problem, actually. One of my nymphs from the last post completed its molt in around another hour and is running around, happy and eating! I believe the other may have skin stuck on its feet... It can walk, but has some trouble. I’ll keep an eye on it. I have another nymph starting its molt today, so I’m going to try to keep my humidity high, around 75-80%. Should I perhaps set their heat a bit lower? I’m currently using Aspen snake bedding, though I know coconut fibers are probably best, this bedding is all I have right now... I would say it doesn’t tend to retain /too/ much moisture. I’d really like to thank everyone a lot for helping me out with this. I’m very passionate about my little pets, so I want them to be as healthy and happy as possible.

I have an egg carton in the 11x7x8 tank, along with two toilet paper rolls and a hollowed coconut shell. They sometimes hide under the plastic dish for their humidity/water sponge. The nymphs still tend to hide in the substrate, is this weird? I wouldn’t consider my cage “damp.” I’ve seen it argued about whether or not the hissers and their nymphs thrive in higher humidity, so do they? I’d always just assumed so. This time, my molts have come much faster, it’s been about 3 weeks since they were born and I’m getting my first molts. One completed, but is now acting strangely, as though it can’t walk. The other has not yet completed, but I’m leaving it completely alone to see what will happen. This brood has 39 now, probably soon to be 37 if nothing changes with the conditions of these two...

Update, other hisser babies died within a day of the bad molts and now I think it’s happening again. What am I doing wrong?! I gave them high protein dog food plus their normal fruits/veggies combo and I’ve been keeping the cage pretty warm.... I really need help, I don’t want more nymphs to die because I’m doing something wrong. Please help me...

The fish food could be darkening their color, but full black hissers are pretty rare as some gene mutations make them ebony. Hissers seem to have somewhat of a random genetic lineup from what I understand, especially if they’re mixed. Experiment with different fruits and veggies and dry puppy food, see what you get. My roaches love oranges, carrots, pineapple, and strawberries.

Honestly, what a huge help. I’ve tried to educate myself as much as I can on hissers, but I suppose I’ll always have something to learn. I have to say, she’s one of the most beautiful roaches I’ve ever owned, that picture really doesn’t do her justice. She also has very prominent horns for a female. Now I’m very curious to see what types of colors their nymphs will develop, as I’m now trying to nurture a larger colony. If some will favor her more than him. This brood was about 40, so we’ll see what color variations happens.

Interesting, thank you! I don’t mind at all that she’s a hybrid, as I won’t be selling her offspring, but I suspected she wasn’t a bumpy hisser because she’s been breeding. As I said, still pretty new to roaches and bugs... 😅 Just begs the question for me of what she’s mixed with.

Help with ID? I’m still fairly new to this hobby, and the other day, I was reading up on hisser breeds. I found that my female looks almost nothing like my male, except for the fact that she is definitely a hisser. Could she be the coveted bumpy hisser or am I just getting my hopes up? She is textured as I hope you can see. I bought her at a pet shop as a MHC. My male is definitely a MHC, he fits the bill. He is pretty docile and likes being handled, while she can be somewhat fussy and picky about food but I believe this may just be personality type A Picture of the roaches So, thoughts? Could she be a bumpy hisser? I don’t care either way, I love her no matter what, I’m just really, really curious.

My female hisser has given birth twice this year. I gave most of her first brood away, but I kept two. This was about six months ago, probably. She just had new babies two days ago Today, both of my previous juveniles molted. Or tried. I’ve been keeping the cage very warm and humid. They seem to be only partially molted on their backs... It’s been hours. Is there anything I can do besides put them out of their misery? They’re barely even moving at cage temp around 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity... What caused this? The stress of new babies since my colony had been so small? Lack of protein in diet? Just... Birth defects? Something else..? I’m heartbroken, but I want to prevent this from happening again if I can. I can add a picture later if it might help. EDIT: Both of my older nymphs passed away, but I’ve only had one casualty from my current brood. I’m suspecting it was something to do with not getting enough protein... I’m going to look for a dog food with more protein than what I’m currently using. I’m also suspecting my female roach is an oblongata instead of a common hisser. She’s colored very different from my little male.

On another post, a user mentioned that hissers do not burrow. However, one of my new immature Hisser roaches is burrowing into the substrate slightly and hiding himself. Is it possible he's not a Hisser? I mean, he makes noise at me... He was sold to me as a Hisser. I can post a picture if that will help. Is this behavior a sign of something wrong with either the roach or his environment? He doesn't look like he's about to molt and he doesn't seem sick. I saw him eating and drinking earlier. Can I do anything to stop him or is it just something he'll work out on his own, so to speak?

I was aware of the roach ban! I checked for sure, and a local pet store sells them. I believe Florida and Louisiana are two because the climates allow the hissers thrive and eventually to become invasive. I've been giving my new roaches a cycle of day night, as well as keeping them slightly less humid than I was. Their substrate right now is a soft sort of dry grasslike bedding, and they have adequate climbing access and hiding places, including a carved out coconut shell which they seem to enjoy.

Hello, I have three male roaches. Well, had. I now have two. The smallest one began to seem lethargic and lazy a day after I brought him home. Then, he turned turn white the other day, burrowing himself slightly into the substrate. I assumed he was molting? However, the next morning, I checked on him(his name was John Snoach) and he was gone, for sure... His legs and antennae weren't moving. He was stiff. He has been buried already, but as a new roach owner, did I do something wrong? My roaches always have adequate food and water, they are kept warm with humidity up, and in the dark 98% (the other 2% is feeding and humidifying) of the time. I did not touch Jon Snoach at all after he turned white. I would appreciate some help as I am wondering what happened and I fear it might happen again. My other roaches seem fine, eating and drinking and crawling and climbing. I feel guilty but I don't know how or if I could have helped him.