Hisser Humidity..??

[pordiem]

I keep getting conflicting info on the internet. Does anyone know the actual proper humidity levels for hissers?

Thanks,

pdm

[Allpet Roaches]

I keep getting conflicting info on the internet. Does anyone know the actual proper humidity levels for hissers?

Thanks,

pdm

It's sort of a trick question, it's entirely possible to keep them successfully in conditions rangine from 5% to 100% humidity. How do I know for certain? That is the normal range of the area mine have been kept in (down to 5 midwinter, up to 100 late spring and summer). Humidity % has little meaning without relative external variables that aren't so easy to quantify.

Important aspects of caging are a good hide area, good ventilation (at least one large screened area of the cage), constant access to water such as a water dish with sponge or/and a damp side of the substrate.

In nature the seasonal humidity ranges in the hissers natural envrionment are just about as drastic and they band together in good hide areas to conserve moisture (and so can be considered 'social' cockroaches in a fashion). Maybe you need a bigger group of them?

Maarten posted this link in another thread (about mites): http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/5466/index_2.html. The first article summary is what you'll find interesting. If you have access to it, the full-length article may have the exact natural seasonal humidity ranges found in their habitiat.

[RosenKrieger]

I tend to slack off on cage mistings, so I give my hissers plenty of moist leafy greens and a water dish and they seem to be doing just fine.

[BugmanPrice]

I'm the kind of same way. Plus if I keep the humidity too high I get scuttle fly problems and fungi on the peat moss I use. As long as I have a slightly damp side of the cage so they can get some moisture they seem to do fine.

I tend to slack off on cage mistings, so I give my hissers plenty of moist leafy greens and a water dish and they seem to be doing just fine.

[pordiem]

I have been keeping the cage humidity between a constant 50-70%, is this within normal healthy parameters?

pdm

[Allpet Roaches]

What is your ventilation and how are you determining the 50-70% figures?

[Roachsmith]

Humidity seems to be more important for nymphs. I noticed nymphs will die if they humidity isn't high enough but adults seem to be just fine with a light spray every once in a while.

If I have a tank with a mixture of adults and nymphs, I just try to keep one side moist and that's usually where the nymphs hang out.

[pordiem]

They are in a 10 gallon aquarium with a metal screen top so ventilation is good. I have a humidity gauge stuck to the center back of the aquarium that reads the % of humidity as well as a heat gauge also. Temps maintain at 75-80 degrees.

pdm

[edwbaker]

George Beccaloni gave a talk at the recent BCG meeting in London about his collecting trips to Madagascar. All Hissing Cockroaches come from the dry forest areas of the island, and not from the rainforest regions. From my experience feeding food with a relatively high moisture content is sufficient for both adults and nymphs (e.g. fruit and vegetables). Some of my friends rear them successfully this way without a substrate (but with empty toilet roll tubes) and with no spraying to increase humidity.