BugmanPrice

A good question would be, when deciding the lower limit of temperature, is how they overwinter in their temperate climate. Maybe Orin or somebody would know whether they are inactive adults or ootheca that is surviving during the winter months. It seems I read a paper where they were out collecting some sort of ‘roach (maybe Parcoblatta spp. or Ischnoptera deropeltiformis) as inactive adults during fall, but who knows what happens during winter…

@ MattK: I noticed on your tub that the vents are towards the bottom... I was wondering if you put them down there for a reason or if that just happens to be where you stuck them? I'm just curious.

Neato picture! You can see the heart under the dorsal surface and the tracheae. Reminds me of those models with the clear skin so you can check out the anatomy.

It's a nymph for sure. Probably going to adulthood next molt.

Welcome aboard! It seems there are a few members from Spain that may be able to help you obtain some neat species (probably a few we don't have in the U.S.).

A lot of it depends on what you personally need. Say if I were going to do it, with my low ambient humidity, I’d want small ones (maybe 3”X3”) to hold in moisture by decreasing ventilation. If someone in FL were to put in ventilation they could put in huge vents to help ventilate and decrease any chance of mold. Really it just depends… and I doubt you have to worry too much about suffocating them unless it’s pretty air tight. So if it’s working then it’s right. I used to worry about that too.

Hmmm... You don't have a problem with grain mites or anything? Good to know.

If you can post a pic of a female when you get one that'd make ID really easy.

Goes to show there isn’t a statistically significant difference for most of the things they tested for.

I take a knife and cut the bottom inch and a half off a plastic drink cup. They're cheap (or free if you pick a few up after they've been tossed out, you may get weird looks though) so it you have food that goes moldy you don't have to bother getting all the nasty food stuck to the bottom out. You can just chuck it and go for a new one; plus, the 'roaches won't try and eat the cup.

It’s just an odd joke; it’s probably not even worth your time. It’s a proven fact that there is high correlation between the level of inbreeding a hillbilly has and the better his banjo strumming and jug blowing abilities may be. Are you familiar with Jed Clampett? Sorry…I’m sure it’s just not even worth the time or energy.

That's one of my favorite things about hissers, watching the male-male competitions. They are probably "sparring" to set up new territories since you (if I understand right) put them in a new enclosure. Once a male has a territory he is less likely to be battled and the intruder is more likely to run away.

My guess is that for an invert a 'roach is a 'roach. If you were to offer other prey as well (meal worms, grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, etc) then that is where there maybe would be a difference. My opinion is that for predatory inverts really diversity in diet doesn't do much. Think of all the tarantula breeders have had tons of healthy livestock some from generations of eating nothing but crickets... If you are worried they are missing trace minerals and vitamins you can feed your ‘roaches something different the day before your feeding day (e.g. switch between bananas, oranges, dry food, grains, greens). That’d be an interesting experiment though, seeing if you can increase growth rate or adult size by “fortifying” their diet.

Do you here that? ...I think it's little banjos

Reading back through the post I’d guess 60% would be sufficent for many of them…

The only reason I ask is because some species don’t, and this based on my observations, need a high percentage of humidity (like you stated, hissers do fine in a fairly dry condition) while other species seem to need pretty high humidity (seems like the non-livebearing spp. need it in particular, I couldn’t get harlequins to reproduce to save my life). It seems like you have your long running hisser colony and some Blaberus spp. ...?

What spp. are you getting?

This pic was also put up on this Japanese cockroach forum. It's hard to tell what's going on sometimes but it's still fun to look at some of the pictures of stuff we don't have, at least in the states. Japanese 'roach site

Alright, update… So I removed one of them today. It’s a nematode for sure but, of course, I can’t ID it. I wanted to get pictures for you all (to illustrate the process I used) but the batteries in my friggin’ camera died unexpectedly after I already had the snake in the restriction tube. Since I didn’t want to put any more stress on her I just quickly did it and got her back in her enclosure. I might be able to get some pictures of the parasite in a few days though with the microscope however. I ended up having to cut about 1/8 of an inch long to get the little #$!&@ out. It was inside a fascia like covering that I had to get through too. Ugh, it was pretty nerve racking! I was so scared I was going to hurt her but she did well; in fact, within an hour of putting her back she came out to bask by her ceramic bulb at the top of the enclosure. I’m going to call a vet in Las Vegas Tuesday to see if they would recommend an anthelmintic or mechanical removal (or one than the other). And a hearty thank you to Peter for his suggestion on a reptile topic area.

I'd be really surprised if they'd eaten much of it at all... that's a lot of protein and fat for a 'roaches meal.

That was interesting. I'm glad the article author made a couple of comments at the end to set some things straight (although not entirely correct). My head was about to explode by the end and I thought I was going to need to stay up very late tonight making a ranting post on the inaccuracy of the article. But I can deal with that level of mistakes given the authors editions. Interesting all the same though…

There is A LOT more red tape and agencies to go through to import our six legged friends (even though they don’t care about eight legged ones… go figure) then fish, reptiles, mammals, birds, probably humans… My BEST advice would to be just forgetting about it. Even when associated with research at a university, it’s so beyond ridiculous I can’t begin to describe it. It vexes me to the point I can’t see, it’s a totally F’ed up situation (I can’t think of a better word to describe it really) but still; all you can do in the end it just walk away. There is one was a thread around here somewhere involving ‘roaches in California…

Thanks for the additional info guys!!! I'm going to talk to a vet today to see if he can hook me up with the "drugs". I doubt most vets in the area would even administer them to the animal since it is technically venomous. I'd rather do it myself though, I don't need a scared doctor trying to fix my snake and screwing up! Thank you so much for the info again! Hats off to Roachman26 for the reptile topic idea (and the mods for putting it up)!

Welcome! I have to say even though hissers get kind of a mundane reputation they really are quite beautiful in their own right. Of course there are some exceptionally beautiful hissers as well, tigers and black & white morphs especially in my opinion. I’m sure no matter what species you choose (I also really enjoy the peppereds) you’ll be enthralled with your new pet!

I'll try to get some pics, I can't get them to tun out. Who knew taking a picture of something under the skin of a black animal would be hard...