Ralph
Oct 27 2008, 01:25 PM
My thought-to-be subadult hissers, when I gave them a heat lamp, suddenly began fighting and attempting to mate. They are only about 2 inches long and maybe 1 inch wide. Are they just small adults (I did have some husbandry issues early in their lives), or is this normal for subadults?
Matt K
Oct 27 2008, 10:05 PM
2 inches can be right but slightly small. By "attempting to mate" do you mean to say that you saw a male/female attempt to connect, or is it another movement you are describing? The fighting or shoving around is not unusual. True male to male battles on the otherhand will normally only be seen on mature adults.
RosenKrieger
Oct 27 2008, 11:16 PM
It could be that you just have some smaller adults. Like you, I had some husbandry issues with my colony earlier in their lives, and they turned out kinda small.
BugmanPrice
Oct 27 2008, 11:27 PM
What kind of "issue" would cause a smaller than average hisser?
QUOTE(RosenKrieger @ Oct 27 2008, 05:16 PM)

It could be that you just have some smaller adults. Like you, I had some husbandry issues with my colony earlier in their lives, and they turned out kinda small.
Matt K
Oct 28 2008, 02:43 AM
QUOTE(BugmanPrice @ Oct 27 2008, 11:27 PM)

What kind of "issue" would cause a smaller than average hisser?
Overcrowding will do it to many roach species....
Not enough nutrition combined with cooler temps can have a bearing on it as well.
BugmanPrice
Oct 28 2008, 07:48 PM
QUOTE(Matt K @ Oct 27 2008, 08:43 PM)

Overcrowding will do it to many roach species....
Not enough nutrition combined with cooler temps can have a bearing on it as well.
Ah... Thank you.
Ralph
Oct 28 2008, 09:42 PM
Thanks guys! The fighting I described was male-male, and consisted of headbutting, abdomen-wagging, and attempted biting. There was one interesting male-female battle. By attempted mating, I mean attempted mating as in genital contact. So far I have no actual mating. I'm glad that they are adults, these guys' babies should be bigger.
RosenKrieger
Oct 29 2008, 02:30 AM
QUOTE(BugmanPrice @ Oct 27 2008, 04:27 PM)

What kind of "issue" would cause a smaller than average hisser?
I wasn't feeding them as good as I could've been and didn't mist them enough as they were growing up. Basically, I just didn't take as good of care as I could have as they were growing.
Orin McMonigle
Oct 29 2008, 11:53 AM
I can also show you male hissers that are 1/3 the weight of other males that were reared in the exact same cage at the same time.
Zephyr
Dec 18 2008, 12:14 AM
I've found temperature to greatly influence female development.
For a while I kept my hissers in my basement; They developed slowly. When I finally moved them back upstairs, I had MEGA females; All pushing or over 3". This could also do with that fact that I cull for the biggest males in my colonies...
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please
click here.