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'Giant' hissers?


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I recently saw an advert for 'giant' hissing roaches. A number of years ago, I worked with hissers, but had never heard of 'giant' hissers...has someone bred a giant bloodline, or is there a giant subspecies, or is this just one person's way of describing hissers as being big roaches?

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I recently saw an advert for 'giant' hissing roaches. A number of years ago, I worked with hissers, but had never heard of 'giant' hissers...has someone bred a giant bloodline, or is there a giant subspecies, or is this just one person's way of describing hissers as being big roaches?

Sometimes the normal G. portentosa are called "Giant madagascar hissers" but there is also a giant strain of G. portentosa (which is much bigger than the standard ones) as well as several other species that might be called giant hissers. (G. oblongonata might be called the giant red hisser, "P. vanwaerebeki" might be called a giant hisser as well.)

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The male in my photo thread "Portentosa x Oblongonata?" Is a giant-strain male.

Thanks...do you have any good close-ups of some very large adults with something standard (like an iphone, dollar bill, etc) for comparison? I am interested in seeing just how big these guys get...I have a thing for really big, bulky bugs, particularly beetles and beetle-like.

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Hello!

In Europe, we have a species called Gigant Hisser that is not a hybrid. It's Princisia vanwaerebecki "BIG". This strain was selectively bred from big, dominant males of P. vanwaerebecki. They get over 9cm long.

Those are pretty impressive looking...thanks.

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I must be missing something, those three species look nearly the same! :huh: Except oblongonota has wider horn spacing. Your second picture is awesome though!

My hissers might have a bit of giant morph in them, a lot of this generation is really big.

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Hello,

I'm sorry to say, Zephyr, that those 3 species all look like hybrids to me.

G. portentosa is supposed to look like this:

http://www.schaben-spinnen.de/Data/Article...tosa%20neu1.jpg

There is also a black variant of portentosa.

G. oblongonata should have more red than yours:

http://www.schaben-spinnen.de/Data/Article...blongonata2.jpg

The nymphs have white stripes on their abdobmen.

This is P. vanwaerebecki:

http://www.schaben-spinnen.de/Data/Articles/0000%20big.jpg

There is a "Black&White" variant, also known as Tiger Hisser.

Hope this helps. I do have to add, hissing roaches are variable in their coloration, but usually not as much as hybrids.

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I just got done asking Orin if I had hybrids. lol

I get a bit of variation in my portentosa, and most of them look just like the one in that pic; only with varying amounts of color on the wing stubs. The oblongonata colors didn't really show well here; I may have another picture of that individual elsewhere, but he's definitely brick red. The P. vanwaerebeki I got from Orin; I think they're probably the "Big black" variety.

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Really? Wow...OK, I want those, then. Heh, I love massive bugs...now for a 'giant morph' of oblonganata...I would kill for a 6" hisser!

can that be done?has it been done?i would love to see one

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
can that be done?

Certainly....careful breeding, using only uncommonly large specimens should, in theory, produce a number of larger than typical offspring...do this for a few generations, and a bloodline that is almost all atypically large individuals should result.

has it been done?

No idea, but if I could get my hands on a decent colony of G. portentosa here, I would be working on it right now.

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G. oblongonata lines produce 5" males commonly. This appears to be the "giant morph" for that species, with the normal males about the size of the "giant morph" and just plain big G. portentosa.

**EDIT- MY BAD. 4". Curse sleep deprivation!!!

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G. oblongonata lines produce 5" males commonly. This appears to be the "giant morph" for that species, with the normal males about the size of the "giant morph" and just plain big G. portentosa.

i just had a few of my oblonganata males mature,and i have to say,im not that impressed.one is pretty big but the others are about the size of small mature portentosas.i was expecting HUGE adults.

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You may not have oblongonotas. Or have hybrids. True ones (at least in my purebred colony) normally get 3"-3.5" plus. 5 inches has never been recorded, and so far the worlds largest roach I believe is a new species found in central China that get to be 4.7 inches.

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You may not have oblongonotas. Or have hybrids. True ones (at least in my purebred colony) normally get 3"-3.5" plus. 5 inches has never been recorded, and so far the worlds largest roach I believe is a new species found in central China that get to be 4.7 inches.

heres pics of my biggest male http://www.roachforum.com/index.php?showtopic=2720 they were sold to me as oblonganatas,and they look it to me,do they look it to you?hes the size i kind of expected an oblonganata to be(was hoping for bigger though)the others are maybe half his size.

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Looks like one in general, and it may or may not be fully grown either. Ive had them appear like that only to molt again and have larger 'horns'. How long is that one in the photo?

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