My hisser hardly comes out of her log. Is this normal?

[Tigirl]

I've had my female hisser for about four months. I have her in a 10 gallon tank, with coconut fiber substrate, and a small heater (which is attached to the side (on the outside of the tank). The room she's in is central air conditioned and is usually around 74 degrees. With the heater, the tank temp is usually 77. 

 

She loves her habitat log and stays there a majority of the time. I've given her a wide assortment of veggies, fruits, and oats, but she doesn't seem to be eating anything. I know she ate a small piece of banana, one time many months ago. I never see her eat though. She loves her water gels (the cricket feeder types). 

 

Also problematic- at night, I see her moving her feelers, but have never seen her walking around the tank. She never leaves her log and even sleeps on her side (with her legs up) lol. 

 

Is this typical behavior? Is she too cold or lethargic? Should I change something? 

[Redmont]

A lot of times roaches like to hide, they mostly come out at night, by keeping the tank in a dimly lit area you will increase the chances of her coming out. Also the heat pad isn't nessasary for her, I would only use it if I were trying to breed them. As for sleeping on her side that is a bit puzzling, I've never heard of a roach doing that.

[Hisserdude]

Hissers don't have hug appetites, so unless you have a large colony, it's normal for food to look untouched. She's eating, just not in noticeable amounts.

The sleeping on her side thing sounds really weird though, could you get pictures of her doing that? Have you seen her leave the log at all since she started doing that?

[Tigirl]

Yes, I never imagined a roach sleeping like  that. She has been sleeping this weird way since I got her. It's as if she is sprawled out and just comfortable like that lol. The only time I see her "right-side up" is when the room is dark and she's using her feelers, as if she's ready to explore.

I check on her every day and she looks and feels healthy. So strange! I'll try and get a good picture of her doing this and post it.

[Matttoadman]

I'd say the other promblem is roaches are sort of social. So your solo roach is following instinct. No other roaches around tell her a few things. First, there may be a predator that has eaten the others so she should stay put. Second, a solo female roaches instinct is to reproduce. So she is just setting tight until the babies come. 

[Tigirl]

Good insight! Definitely makes sense. I was under the impression they do alright by themselves, and to start out simple (my first time owning a roach). Maybe she needs a female companion  

[BlattaAnglicana]

I've sometimes seen roaches clinging to the underside of logs and hides for ages looking as if they were resting on their backs, especially if the hide isn't very tall and they can touch their legs and their backs on both surfaces - I don't know whether they sleep like that (or even if they truly sleep at all in the sense we would recognise) but I would not be too worried by it unless she shows any signs of distressed behaviour, and it doesn't sound as if she is.

However as others have said roaches are semi-social and don't do as well when isolated so I would definitively recommend getting a couple more roaches (if you don't want babies then ideally female nymphs / subadults that are too young to have bred) to keep her company :-)