oogpister

Re-set-up my main colony of Hissers yesterday. There are 60+ adults in a 20 gal. I used some wheat-type natural cat litter and added a cardboard hide. Most of the roaches are female. I took out many of the beat up looking males (about 10) and a few beat up looking females. I am hoping the litter will help with odor and help make it easier to spot the babies. As a matter of fact, I put them in the enclosure yesterday around noon, and before noon this morning there were several babies evident (~6). There was also a discarded ooth. with several babies that didn't quite emerge, and several more that never got that far. I am assuming that it only takes a few hours to go from little white barely visible thing with eyes to little plump dark baby hisser. This is the second ootheca that I've found like this. I have never seen it before, and was quite surprised at how the whole thing works. Previously the roaches were housed on cypress bedding. There is a bowl of water crystals in the tank and they get misted probably once a day. Why are these ootheca not hatching all the way? Mostly they get fed lettuces and fruits with some chick starter and whatever else I happen to have. There is no external heat source but my house stays fairly warm. Any ideas on how to fix it?

REALLY????!!! GOSH! could have fooled me.... I'll watch them a while and see. I am shocked to say the least. I'll try to get better photos....Thanks for the input! WOW.

I have recently received a gift of several dozen hissers. They were kept somewhat dirty. I pulled several babies out and put them in a separate tank. My question now, are they hissers? they have light colored bellies. very flat. some have a light band that runs around the outside edge. This wouldn't be the first time I have raised a bunch of "regular ole' roaches". But if they are native species, I would just as soon let them go... http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/nSKKLPJK/1/5188325My link

You can get a big bag of cypress mulch at Lowe's for cheap, and it is not dyed. you can look it up on their website i believe it is the no-float kind. I "dry" mine out first in the sun. just recently got a bunch of hissers from someone that was keeping them on corn cobb litter. has any tried that?

Really? How long should that take? thanks for the info.

I just picked up a few new hissers, and one had an ooth. protruding. It is still hanging out, and has been for over 24 hours. What should I do ? Will she eventually drop it?

I'm glad to see that there are people out there that want to keep their hissers in something besides a bin! Right now I have 3 10 gal tanks with approx. a dozen or so mixed sex each. One tank has what I call my "non-breeders" although I saw an ooth just last week.... Anyway, typically I don't have babies in that tank(no supplemental heat,but I live in the Fl panhandle,hot and humid A/c set about 77), they are my originals (or close to it) the second tank has my next generation in it, they breed, although not lots (supplemental heat pad on one end.I have nymphs maybe twice a year... that I know of) the third tank has some of the last brood and a few second gens in there. When I was cleaning the tanks to make 3 instead of 2, I found 2 nymphs. I have found a small number of nymphs before. What I gathered (i.e. read somewhere) is that the adults will cannibalize the nymphs (even if well fed???). Also, my males fight a lot, so I am concerned about injury/death. I also collect Tarantulas (I don't feed my roaches to anything, they are pets)and I could use those 3 10 gal tanks for spiders, so I got a 40 breeder to house my Hissers. If I set up several different "territories" (raised spots for the males to defend) with logs, caves, etc. Do you think the roaches would be better off? or do you think that being in a smaller population is less stressful, even if there are quite a few males?Also, I read somewhere that Hisser females only give birth once in their lives, is that hooey? I use cypress mulch for substrate, but its T-rex brand sold for the pet trade, and I dry it out for a few days first, the roachies don't like to get their tootsies wet.

okay, duly noted. I was unaware of suitable hisser humidity. What humidity do you keep them at and how do you achieve it? I don't know that I have ever had any problems ... they don't breed rapidly, not a bad thing. They seem to live 4-5 years, mostly. I keep them hydrated with topline oasis water gel and lettuces. They don't seem to care too much for the paper substrate. I will change them out when I get by the PS again.

I was wondering if anyone has tried the recycled paper substrate on their hissers? I bought some Fresh World Bedding made from recycled newspaper and magazines, it is color safe, non-toxic and phenol free with baking soda for superior odor control and high density for high absorbency. I am going to give it a try, if anyone know any reason why NOT to use it let me know! The pet store was out of my usual cypress.... they also had some paper substrate with mint, lavander and rose petals. I don't know if the odor would bug the bugs or not.

I appreciate all the advice. I keep them for pets, so I don't need too many, I don't really want them to breed.....much. I need enough to replenish my stock and I like to have some extras to give to people that I can talk in to it. Hissers are such neat, easy pets. I was wondering about inbreeding. Is that a big concern when it comes to bugs?

So the cypress is okay, It seems to me it would be neater than the other mix... I will mist. Once a day too much? I mist my spiders almost every day and can include the roaches with them. It appears she has aborted. the whole oothecae is out, although still somewhat attached to her. It has been about 45 minutes. I will try to add some nutritional variety for them. I'm bummed. I will let her recover tonight and move them tomorrow. Thanks for the info.

AAARRRGGGHHH! I just disturbed a female hisser with an ooth. ! I was going to change the substrate in the tank to a more nymph friendly strate, when I pulled it off the shelf.... there she was... running under the log. how aggravating. Not that I NEED any more roaches. But I did kind of want a new crop. So what brought all this on is... I spotted 3 nymphs the other evening. I searched the tank but that was all I could find. I did find several large hard oothecae. I figure something must be wrong with their living conditions. I have a dozen (2 males) living in a 10gal. on cypress bedding substrate. They eat mostly lettuces with some fish flake. There is also some kibble in there. I use a water gel from Oasis (?). I don't have any heat or light on them. House stays in the 70's. I have had babies before under identical conditions. I wonder what is causing all the aborts? Why only 3 nymphs? I will search the substrate more thoroughly as soon as it is safe to move the expectant female. Anyone have any idea when that might be? tonight? tomorrow? I plan on putting them on a mix of peat and bed-a-beast. would vermiculite be a good addition? I never mist my roaches, is this something i shoud be doing?

very good, thank-you. Definately field greens, etc. on the lettuces. I only buy iceberg for myself

The part about the pesticides was hard to watch for me. I think someone should do some shows on pet bugs.