Marc

Hello all! My name is Marc, and I have been a huge fan, of well, HUGE tropical roaches, and not so huge ones, for some time. I currently raise 2 colonies of hissers as both feeders AND pets. I used to have a colony of Domino roaches, (Thereaspecies, but, due to a health condition, I had neglected their care, and the colony crashed. my biggest passion is my pet tarantulas, and so have really mixed feelings when feeding off hissers. I know, the most commonly kept roach, but one gets rather attached to them, nonetheless! My dominant male was even named 'Ben Franklin' by a woman I know! I hope to get Peppered roaches, and other non-flying species someday... I'd actually love banana roaches, if they didn't fly so well...

I am also most touched by these stories, which is why I joined this forum, to be honest. Roaches, have changed my life as well. I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin... a very 'invert-unfriendly' city, it is literally a 2 hour bus ride to get crickets. (I have currently 56 tarantulas, and 2 colonies of hissers, I have had Domino roaches as well) After suffering a nearly deadly blood clot, I needed to pay 'friends' to get rides for crickets. Someone I know on a tarantula forum had been using hissers as feeders for some time, and sent me 3 male and 5 female adults... I have maybe a 100 or more adults now, nymphs... too many to count... Now, understand I LOVE tropical roaches, I don't get a 'charge ' out of feeding them off, but it's a necessary evil, so to speak. my biggest males and females, are frankly just 'pets'... A gal named my Dominant male, 'Ben Franklin' !! So, I don't dare feed him off... Basically.. I can now GROW my T's food... and to get fruit and veggies for the hissers, THAT store is only 2 blocks away. In Wisconsin, our temps. can drop to -30 on occasions, that is the temp, NOT windchill, peeps! so, avoiding that horrid bus ride is great for me... Also, well, they have become my pets as well, I have had kids over when friends were visiting, that just adored holding a BIG hisser... my tennants had a big family bar-B-que last summer, I was 'renting out' my 2 biggest hissers to the kids!! Nah, I didn't charge, LOL! I miss my Domino colony badly... I was quite sick when I had them.. and I prolly neglected them as a result.... So, SO, funny too.. when I first unpacked those 5 hissers, I nearly jumped... was not quite prepared for their size, LOL!