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Blind Pet Roach Owner


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I just wanted to post a little bit more about me and my roaches.

As I mentioned on another thread, I happen to be blind..  this of course means that I experience my roaches in a tactile rather than visual manner.  I have hissers, and I find them extremely easy to handle and also fun to listen to when they hiss..  As for care, I feel I must reassure people that my being blind does not impair my competency in providing care to my roaches, or myself for that matter!  If you wonder why I add this, you might be surprised by the number of people who are under the mistaken impression that blind people can't take care of themselves, let alone roaches.  Ok, mini rant over.  For my part I am a grad student living in a small apartment, and I find my hissers to be the perfect pet for this environment.  They are very easy keepers in my experience and do not seem to be bothered by my touching them as some other creatures migh be.  This post is also menat to explain why I might ask someone to describe in words a posted picture.  I was able to see for several years and do understand colors and shades of color.

I also wanted to post this in case any of you had questions about caring for roaches while blind, questions about my blindness in general or anything else related to what I have written here.

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Sorry to hear that, I'm very glad that you have found this hobby and are able to care for your hissers in a satisfactory manner, I see this as just another reason why roaches make great pets for almost anybody, (except for those with severe allergies to them of course), and deserve a better rap than they are commonly given. :)

Hope we on the forum can be of assistance to you and answer any questions you may have regarding cockroach husbandry!

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Thanks Hisserdude!  Being blind in and of itself isn't much of an issue, it just...bugs me when people make assumptions, thus my explanatory post.  Everyone on here seems very helpful and quick to answer questions.

As for roaches getting a bad rap, that is certainly something I have noticed when I tell people about my pets.

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Welcome to the forum:) that's awesome that your able to keep roaches while being blind. I've heard that when your blind your other senses really kick in 

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Hi glad you joined us. Do you keep multiple kinds of hissers? I ask cause I was wondering if there is a significant tactile difference and if you had a preference. I have heard e. javanica has less sharp leg protrusions and widehorns have the sharpest legs. 

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52 minutes ago, lovebugfarm said:

Hi glad you joined us. Do you keep multiple kinds of hissers? I ask cause I was wondering if there is a significant tactile difference and if you had a preference. I have heard e. javanica has less sharp leg protrusions and widehorns have the sharpest legs. 

Also makes you wonder about the comparison of hissing between species. Could you ID from sound?   Welcome! 

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Right now, I just have the two wide horned hisser nymphs and an adult male g-portentosa.  Do any of you know when hissers start to hiss?

It would be interesting to see if the different spiecies of hisser could be identified by their hiss.

If some of you with different hisser breeds want to upload audio of your hissers, I can tell you if I think it might be possible to id via sound.

As for texture, the nymphs are just much softer than my audlt male, their legs haven't yet become rough.  WHen they are older, I will be able to tell you more about the texture differences I notice.

One of the reasons I chose wide horned hissers is because they are said to have a louder hiss, and I thought that would be fun.

Thanks for the welcome, everyone!

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I forgot to say how long I have had roaches for.

I got my first Roach in August, but she passed away after just a few weeks despite my following all care instructions.  She was an adult, and honestly I think she may have been old.  I then bought two males and they did better, I still have one of them.  I then decided to try buying younger hissers from a different colony to see if they would do better.

So far, so good with the little nymphs.

 

Have any of you purchased roaches from Josh's Frog's before?  That is where I purchased my anicial roaches and in retrospect the animals I purchased were not as healthy as my little nymphs.  This may also be due to the fact that the roaches from Josh's Frogs likely came from a feeder colony whereas the other place I bought my nymphs from (Bugs in Cyberspace) seem much healthier and are of course younger.

I would love to hear people's thoughts on this, the deaths of two of my first roaches is still bothering me.

I know this post is long, but just to give you an idea of my roach care, here is how all of them have been set up.

 

They are in a exotara fawnarium with cococradle bedding (I'm going to be purchasing some composit bedding from Bugs in Cyberspace when my nymphs are a lttle bigger).  they have kork bark in the cage as well.

For food, they have a mixture of carrots, apples, cricket food and dog food.

I provide water with roach jelly, water crystals and by misting the cage several times a day (their bedding dries out very fast).  Oh, and they have a heat mat mounted on the bottom of the cage.

Again, sorry for the log post, I'm just really excited to find other people who like roaches and am hoping for some feedback on my roach care and am looking forward to hearing people's thoughts.

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1 hour ago, Crazy Bug Lady said:

Do any of you know when hissers start to hiss?

I think they only hiss when they are mature, but maybe large nymphs hiss too, I'm not sure...

1 hour ago, Crazy Bug Lady said:

They are in a exotara fawnarium with cococradle bedding (I'm going to be purchasing some composit bedding from Bugs in Cyberspace when my nymphs are a lttle bigger).  they have kork bark in the cage as well.

For food, they have a mixture of carrots, apples, cricket food and dog food.

I provide water with roach jelly, water crystals and by misting the cage several times a day (their bedding dries out very fast).  Oh, and they have a heat mat mounted on the bottom of the cage.

Again, sorry for the log post, I'm just really excited to find other people who like roaches and am hoping for some feedback on my roach care and am looking forward to hearing people's thoughts.

Your care sounds pretty good, not really anything I would change, (and just so you know, heat mats dry substrate they are placed under, so that's probably why their cage dries out so fast). Sounds like those first individuals were indeed old, since your care seems to be good so they had no other reason to die really. Was she missing some of her tibia by chance?

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Yes, I think she might have been.  She was also very inactive, though since she was my first roach I thought that was normal.  My male that died also became very inactive just prior to death.

Also, I saw on a different thread that bottom mounting can be bad for roaches, so I switched it to a side mount.

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2 hours ago, Crazy Bug Lady said:

Yes, I think she might have been.  She was also very inactive, though since she was my first roach I thought that was normal.  My male that died also became very inactive just prior to death.

Also, I saw on a different thread that bottom mounting can be bad for roaches, so I switched it to a side mount.

Yeah, roaches slow down and get lethargic as they get old, so it sounds like they were both old adults near the end of their lifespan. 

Yeah, it can dry out the substrate faster when it's under the enclosure, which is bad for some species, so it's a good thing you put it on the side. TBH, I had a heat cable under my hisser cage and they did just fine. However for burrowing species that burrow down to escape the heat, having the heat cable under the cage could have led to some fatalities, (if it was covering the whole bottom of the enclosure that is...).

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2 hours ago, Allpet Roaches said:

I have often wondered if I'll still enjoy my inverts when my eyesight is gone or nearly so. Glad to hear you're enjoying them.

I find much to enjoy, not just with roaches, but with millipedes and tarantulas and many other inverts.  They have so many textures and feel so interesting!  If you are worried about experiencing them differently, try beginning to handle them more now while you have sight and try to discover other ways to enjoy them I would say.  Tarantulas are very soft, for example and millipede legs feel really unique.

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I have computer software, called a screen reader, that reads anything that is on my computer screen in a synthetic voice.  I could also use a braille display to read forum posts in braille, but listening to them is easier.  This is also how I type and use a computer.  Doing school would be pretty difficult if I couldn't independently opperate a computer.  But thank you for your question.

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I thought I would chime in on the hissers and being able to ID them by sounds alone. I can confirm (though I'm sorry I don't have any audio recordings) that there is a notable difference in the hisses.

My oblongonota are the loudest and very forceful. I can even tell the difference between a few of my adult males. One named Harvey (he has a dent in his exoskeleton... get it?Harvey Dent.) has a very distinct hiss, different from the rest. It's really loud and it's nonstop. Whereas the others pause between hisses, his is just hiss, hiss, hiss back to back and for a really long time at any provocation whatsoever. It's to the point that when I enter the roach room and announce my presence (even in the dark), he starts carrying on, and I'm like, "Oh hey Harvey. Take a pill."

The G. portentosa sound very similar to the G oblongonota, but not as loud. My favorite hissers for sound are E. javanica. They make short quiet psst sounds. Psst-psst-psst. Like someone trying to get your attention. That being said, I would highly recommend getting an E. javanica. They're smaller than G. portentosa and bit more wiggly, but definitely worth it when the males start chatting. 

If you get more into the hobby, you might try some roaches that emit defensive odors as a different way to experience them. I have a freakishly strong sense of smell that has been something of a disability at times (bad smells are very intense for me, even in small quantities), so being able to use that sense with the roaches has been really fun. I recommend E. posticus, which have a very earthy forest odor that's quite pleasant, or B. giganteus, which smells like pine mixed with skunk, but not in an offensive way. O. duesta smell like garlic, but they are really small, really fast and crazy escape artists.

You might find that you can even tell the difference in odor between your hissers. When I have the lights out in the roach room, that's I how I ID them by the dim light, just sniff the bins. G. portentosa have a very sharp but sweet smell that sort reminds me of brie or neufchatel cheese that's turned. G. oblongonota smell more roachy, but it's not strong or terribly bad. Skip the B. dubia if you're going by odor. Blah. The worst, and when one dies. Gad. I have to leave the house for awhile. 

I'm really interested to hear about your roach experiences as a blind person!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

Sorry it has taken me so long to actually post a reply.

That's so interesting that you can tell them apart by smell!  After I read your post, I investigated to if I could smell the difference between my g,portentosa and g,oblongonota.  You are right!  However, the strogest smell in my tank right now is my millipede, she smells pretty strongly, but I don't mind.

My oblongonota is too young to hiss yet, but I'm hoping it's a male and will hiss a lot.  Love the name for your loud hisser!!

 

And thanks for letting me know to stay away from the dubias!

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If you ever get the opportunity I'd recommend handling a hickory horned devil caterpillar. Very interesting invert from a tactile perspective, and I find the scent and sounds associated with caterpillars chewing away at fresh leaves to be pleasant.

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Ok, so I wasn't sure where to post this question.  So I'm just goint to post it here and hope someone knows the answer.

Does anybody have a better contact email or something for roachcrossing?  I emailed roachcrossing@gmail.com (the email that's on the website) about four days ago and haven't heard back.  I've read good things about Roachcrossing and wanted to possibly order some roaches, but now I'm wondering if i have the wrong contact info.  I mean, of course, he might be busy, but from what I've read it isn't really like him not to respond?  If anyone could help, I would be very appreiative@

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59 minutes ago, Crazy Bug Lady said:

Ok, so I wasn't sure where to post this question.  So I'm just goint to post it here and hope someone knows the answer.

Does anybody have a better contact email or something for roachcrossing?  I emailed roachcrossing@gmail.com (the email that's on the website) about four days ago and haven't heard back.  I've read good things about Roachcrossing and wanted to possibly order some roaches, but now I'm wondering if i have the wrong contact info.  I mean, of course, he might be busy, but from what I've read it isn't really like him not to respond?  If anyone could help, I would be very appreiative@

Actually, lately he's been going through phases of not responding to people quickly, he's got a lot of stuff going on in his life, lately he's been more responsive though so he should hopefully write back to you soon. You can try messaging him on Facebook, he may write back faster over there. He's a really nice guy, and a pleasure doing business with, believe me. :)

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51 minutes ago, Hisserdude said:

Actually, lately he's been going through phases of not responding to people quickly, he's got a lot of stuff going on in his life, lately he's been more responsive though so he should hopefully write back to you soon. You can try messaging him on Facebook, he may write back faster over there. He's a really nice guy, and a pleasure doing business with, believe me. :)

https://www.facebook.com/kyle.kandilian?ref=br_rs is his personal profile.   If you friend him and message him that way that works well.   

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Just now, KatsKreations said:

https://www.facebook.com/kyle.kandilian?ref=br_rs is his personal profile.   If you friend him and message him that way that works well.   

Thanks so much!  I feel kind of bad for bugging him, but I saw he has some really cool hissers!  I hope all is well with him and I hope to hear back soon! 

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