George

I got 7 hissers at the beginning of January. If I'm counting/observing correctly, they've since had 4 broods of nymphs. I sold 20 to a kid from craigslist yesterday, but at this rate I'm still going to have a serious population issue in a few months if I'm not proactive. I'm removing the under-tank heater to slow them down a little bit. My plan was to get a carnivorous insect or two, or perhaps a bearded dragon, to help manage the population. According to this thread, they're too tough for most critters to eat. I don't particularly want a lizard big enough to get into fights with my cat.

Smear a thick layer of petroleum jelly around the top couple inches of the enclosure. It's not pretty, but it seems to be an effective barrier.

I started with 7 adult hissers a few months ago. Since then, each of my 3 females has had a brood. The colony is thriving. I made an interesting observation about their eating habits. I've always given them carrots, along with a mix of oats and crushed cat food. The initial couple tablespoons of crushed cat food lasted a couple months when I only had adults. They'd eat the oats around it. This lined up with what I'd heard about their protein demands (that they don't really need much). The nymphs have opposite tastes. They're crazy about the cat food. They eat around the oats. I have

Hi everybody. My name is George and I'm a freelance writer and author living in the Midwest USA. I kept bugs more than a decade ago -- a couple tarantulas, some scorpions, and a fish tank full of hissers. I was working on a bug-related project recently and fell down the rabbit hole while doing research online. After perusing bug sites for untold hours, writing about a guy who keeps a bunch of them in his bedroom, I had to get some of my own. I chose Gramphadorhina portentosa as an entry point because of my familiarity with the species, their easy availability, and the fact that I can feed