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Interesting hybrid hissers


Betta132

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Just got 7 hybrid hissers, 2 adult pairs (with gravid females) and 3 1" nymphs, out of curiosity to see what patterns and colors might develop. And, yes, they will be clearly labeled as hybrids and I probably won't be getting rid of them anyway. 

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The poor guy with the nibbled antennae also has a corner of his second abdominal plate missing, he's clearly been chewed on a bit. I'm not surprised- I ordered 1 pair and got WAY more than I expected, so clearly the seller is a bit overstocked. These two are about 5g each. 

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These girls are both nice and fat, so evidently I'm about to have a few dozen hissers. That's slightly more than I really needed, but oh well. They're around 7g each.

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Really hoping these keep those dark colors, especially the black nymph. Didn't weigh them because they're more active and wouldn't stay on the scale. 

 

Any clues on possible ancestors? That one black guy looks like baby Gromphadorhina oblonganata to me, and I'm not sure what to make of the adults. 

 

Also, assuming this is genetically possible, how frowned upon would it be to add an Elliptorhina javanica to see what the offspring look like, since this is already a hybrid batch? That seems like it might have the potential for some really interestingly-patterned babies.

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Nice hissers, hope they do well for you! :)

Different genera can not interbreed, (with the exception of Princisia and Gromphadorhina, however Princisia is probably not a valid genus anyway), so Gromphadorhina, Aeluropoda and Elliptorhina can not interbreed with each other, however the species within each genus can.

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Hm, could have sworn I read somewhere not to put any two species of hissers together because they can interbreed. That makes sense, though, somebody involved must have been misinformed.

In that case, I suppose I don't have any reason not to put a couple of Elliptorhina in there if I happen to come across some.

They seem to be settling in pretty well, though for some reason I found them all crammed under the same piece of bark. They have plenty of other spots to hide. Is this fairly normal behavior, or is something wrong with all the other places? They're in a bin with a scattering of peat moss, a couple of deer bones and a few chunks of bark to hide under, a water bowl stuffed with peat moss so they can't drown in it, and some food. The chunk of bark they've picked is the only one without peat moss under it- could it be they don't like the moss, or just aren't used to it? I thought they might like to hide under it, even if they don't burrow.

And yes, there's petrolium jelly keeping them in. I put a band nearly 4" thick around the whole thing, which is probably overkill, but I don't want these getting out because I'll never find them. I'd especially hate to have a pregnant female somehow push the lid off, that would just not be fun to discover too late.

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17 hours ago, Betta132 said:

Hm, could have sworn I read somewhere not to put any two species of hissers together because they can interbreed. That makes sense, though, somebody involved must have been misinformed.

In that case, I suppose I don't have any reason not to put a couple of Elliptorhina in there if I happen to come across some.

They seem to be settling in pretty well, though for some reason I found them all crammed under the same piece of bark. They have plenty of other spots to hide. Is this fairly normal behavior, or is something wrong with all the other places? They're in a bin with a scattering of peat moss, a couple of deer bones and a few chunks of bark to hide under, a water bowl stuffed with peat moss so they can't drown in it, and some food. The chunk of bark they've picked is the only one without peat moss under it- could it be they don't like the moss, or just aren't used to it? I thought they might like to hide under it, even if they don't burrow.

And yes, there's petrolium jelly keeping them in. I put a band nearly 4" thick around the whole thing, which is probably overkill, but I don't want these getting out because I'll never find them. I'd especially hate to have a pregnant female somehow push the lid off, that would just not be fun to discover too late.

The term "hisser" applies to pretty much any roach that produces a hissing sound, this includes many species from several different genera, most are found in Madagascar. Elliptorhina may be known as "dwarf" hissers and include species like javanica, laevigata, and chopardi. Elliptorhina will not hybridize with, say Gromphodorhina, which is what you have here. Gromphodorhina includes larger species that still produce the hissing sound, like Oblongonata, grandidieri, and portentosa. Aeluropoda also produce "hissing" sounds, but will not hybridize with the above two genera.

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OK, good to know, thanks.

Is there any way to tell which Gromphodorhina these guys are descended from? That one black nymph looks like Oblongonata, but the colors look more like maybe Portentosa? Frankly, I'm just Google Image searching the species names to compare them, I don't have the experience to do anything beyond that. 

Actually, it seems I might have found out what they are. 

According to the seller, these are a mix of Petco roaches and Cape Cod roaches. Cape Cod sells Oblongonata, and although Petco doesn't currently seem to have any for sale, their care sheets are for Portentosa. 

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  • 5 years later...
On 11/26/2016 at 6:28 AM, Betta132 said:

Hm, could have sworn I read somewhere not to put any two species of hissers together because they can interbreed. That makes sense, though, somebody involved must have been misinformed.

In that case, I suppose I don't have any reason not to put a couple of Elliptorhina in there if I happen to come across some.

They seem to be settling in pretty well, though for some reason I found them all crammed under the same piece of bark. They have plenty of other spots to hide. Is this fairly normal behavior, or is something wrong with all the other places? They're in a bin with a scattering of peat moss, a couple of deer bones and a few chunks of bark to hide under, a water bowl stuffed with peat moss so they can't drown in it, and some food. The chunk of bark they've picked is the only one without peat moss under it- could it be they don't like the moss, or just aren't used to it? I thought they might like to hide under it, even if they don't burrow.

And yes, there's petrolium jelly keeping them in. I put a band nearly 4" thick around the whole thing, which is probably overkill, but I don't want these getting out because I'll never find them. I'd especially hate to have a pregnant female somehow push the lid off, that would just not be fun to discover too late.

 

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I realise this thread is very very old but I just want to add some experience so future readers stumbling across this will be accurately informed. I actually took this info to be accurate so wasn't concerned about putting eliptorhina javonica in with my other hissers in a huge sort of multi species, multi genus communal set up & now I have hybrids of Halloween/dwarf hisser/wide horn/flat horn& possibly upto 2 other species all wrapped up in one cockroach body! They are very bizarre looking I have to say & at different points in their life cycle they go through various different colour patterns before becoming something that looks sort of like a huge, stocky Halloween hisser! I also have pure species set up where I kept some separate luckily but all the different species can & will hybridise left together long enough &if the correct 2 compatible hissers meet. Iv seen the regular hissers joined mating with the Halloween hissers so they definitely have compatible hardware physically. Surely I can't be the first person to achieve this? Iv now got 3rd generation multi species hybrids & it's become truly fascinating watching what's going to come out of the mix next! 

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2 hours ago, Mark1914 said:

I realise this thread is very very old but I just want to add some experience so future readers stumbling across this will be accurately informed. I actually took this info to be accurate so wasn't concerned about putting eliptorhina javonica in with my other hissers in a huge sort of multi species, multi genus communal set up & now I have hybrids of Halloween/dwarf hisser/wide horn/flat horn& possibly upto 2 other species all wrapped up in one cockroach body! They are very bizarre looking I have to say & at different points in their life cycle they go through various different colour patterns before becoming something that looks sort of like a huge, stocky Halloween hisser! I also have pure species set up where I kept some separate luckily but all the different species can & will hybridise left together long enough &if the correct 2 compatible hissers meet. Iv seen the regular hissers joined mating with the Halloween hissers so they definitely have compatible hardware physically. Surely I can't be the first person to achieve this? Iv now got 3rd generation multi species hybrids & it's become truly fascinating watching what's going to come out of the mix next! 

I'm not too surprised, it seems basically all hisser genera can hybridize with each other. Contrary to my previous comment on this thread from 2016, we now know Aeluropoda can hybridize with Princisia, and it was previously assumed Aeluropoda wouldn't be able to cross with more "normal" bodied hisser genera. So I am of the opinion hybrids can be created with virtually any two hisser species, so long as the adults are of appropriate size and can physically hook up.

Would like to see pictures of yours, especial adult males. :)

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