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Madagascar Hissing Roaches..

MassExodus

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So I've had a dubia colony for some time, and while I find them very interesting, I don't let myself become to attached, as they are food for my tarantulas, and they won't be with us long :( Anyway, I recently got interested in hissers, and I've been reading about them, and today I bought a male and two female adults. As pets...
Is that weird? I want them on my computer desk, but for now they're next to my dubia colony, sharing the warmth from a heat mat to stimulate breeding. I watched a video of hisser babies being born and was fascinated by it. Anyone else ever keep them? Any tips or advice?
 

Meludox

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I have several very large hissers that I need to get rid of.. when I bought my dubia roaches from the pet store I guess some hissers got mixed in and they've grown quite large and are unfeedable to my G. rosea. Now they just take up a lot of room in my roach tank and hiss at me. :/
 

MassExodus

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I have several very large hissers that I need to get rid of.. when I bought my dubia roaches from the pet store I guess some hissers got mixed in and they've grown quite large and are unfeedable to my G. rosea. Now they just take up a lot of room in my roach tank and hiss at me. :/
Lol! I love it when they hiss. Mine rarely do it but they were being kept too cool. The lady at the pet store couldn't figure out why her 8 hissers weren't breeding. She wasn't putting any heat to them..nobody wants to research invertebrates in pet stores it seems..I put them next to a heat mat and they immediately stuck to the side as close as they could get to it..hopefully I'll have some babies in a few months. Fleas you better jump on these that Meludox wants to get rid of ! If not I'm sure I'll have a bunch in a few months:D
 

N8tive556

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So I've had a dubia colony for some time, and while I find them very interesting, I don't let myself become to attached, as they are food for my tarantulas, and they won't be with us long :( Anyway, I recently got interested in hissers, and I've been reading about them, and today I bought a male and two female adults. As pets...
Is that weird? I want them on my computer desk, but for now they're next to my dubia colony, sharing the warmth from a heat mat to stimulate breeding. I watched a video of hisser babies being born and was fascinated by it. Anyone else ever keep them? Any tips or advice?

Yeah... I got a couple... They are awesome! Look like rollipollies when they harden up after they're first born lol will develop the ability to hiss agree 5th molt they're awesome this is an older picture of some of mine, recently I lost 'Lady' she was the oldest of my original 3 adults, and gave birth to one more batch about a week and a half ago... She will be VERY missed... I hope you have fun watching them grow up as I have, it's awesome when they start hissing... You feel accomplished they're your kids graduating lol
 

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MassExodus

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Nice! The big ones though, are those full grown adults? My new adults look like this : (sorry, they're staying on the warm wall with the light on, they don'
hissers 005.jpg
t come out and move around til dark.) See how yellow they are? Is it a different species of hisser? Sorry I'm new to hissers, haven't researched thoroughly..
hissers 004.jpg
 

N8tive556

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Funny you ask that, there are many types of hybrids that have appeared throughout the years that they have been in the hobby. There are, Dwarves, Halloween, V Horn, Wide Horn, and then there's the standard, I'd have to get a good look at their top side to say, full grown adults will be about 3 inches long by about an inch and a quarter wide. From what I see you have the Classic Madagascar Hisser which, are my favorite! Here in the U.S. they can actually trace where all of em came from, apparently just one place either the Cleveland Institute or Cincinnati can't remember as a part of some study then I guess they just released em on the pet trade once their study was over
 

MassExodus

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Funny you ask that, there are many types of hybrids that have appeared throughout the years that they have been in the hobby. There are, Dwarves, Halloween, V Horn, Wide Horn, and then there's the standard, I'd have to get a good look at their top side to say, full grown adults will be about 3 inches long by about an inch and a quarter wide. From what I see you have the Classic Madagascar Hisser which, are my favorite! Here in the U.S. they can actually trace where all of em came from, apparently just one place either the Cleveland Institute or Cincinnati can't remember as a part of some study then I guess they just released em on the pet trade once their study was over
That's actually fascinating, you gave me a lot of reading to do, thanks man! I'll get a good pic of the top of one, after they settle down into a normal routine in their new house. I'm just trying to get them used to having the right temperature to thrive in. I'll be going back to get a few more as well, these guys have kind of got their little leg spikes in me now. One of the females actually hugged my finger and squeezed tight when I rehoused them, I had to wait for her to ease up, didn't want to hurt her. I think I'll try to buy the rest of them at the pet shop...she isn't keeping them right anyway.
 

N8tive556

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Warm and very damp, in the wild they are often found under rotting tree bark near rivers and streams. GOOD LUCK they are a great little communal species, oh and here's a quick tip....screen in all ventilation! The babies are tiny! Are you wanting to breed them?
 

MassExodus

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Warm and very damp, in the wild they are often found rotting tree bark near rivers and streams. GOOD LUCK they are a great little communal species, oh and here's a quick tip....screen in all ventilation! The babies are tiny! Are you wanting to breed them?
Yup. Putting heat to them and they have a large waterdish with rocks for any babies that swim out past the buoys :) Yeah I read about breeding and care I just didn't read about the hybrids, and probably lots of other stuff...that's ok, work will be slow tomorrow, I'll just research then :p The screen is ready, but I'm going to pull them out of the large kritterkeeper and use a dark plastic enclosure, like with my dubias, so they'll be more comfortable. Even though I want to view them..but one clutch is all I'm doing, then the heat comes off and they stay at 75 degrees and move to a more natural, view-able habitat. I figure a few females breeding once should be plenty.
 

N8tive556

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Oh just because you remove the heat dissent keep them from breeding... It just slows the gestation time, the way I did it was wait 90 days (their normal gestation period) then put her in a baby box basically a chamber with no food no substrate and no water, within 2 or 3 days bam, babies. If not put her back with the rest, oh and cork bark it's a nightmare work babies, they disappear into the stuff lol
 

MassExodus

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Oh just because you remove the heat dissent keep them from breeding... It just slows the gestation time, the way I did it was wait 90 days (their normal gestation period) then put her in a baby box basically a chamber with no food no substrate and no water, within 2 or 3 days bam, babies. If not put her back with the rest, oh and cork bark it's a nightmare work babies, they disappear into the stuff lol
So...I'll have to separate the males from the females then, I thought they wouldn't breed without the right temp..damn. Well I'll just have two enclosures, after I get some babies. At least with roaches it's easy to tell males from females at a glance. Thanks for all the tips man, very helpful!
 

N8tive556

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So...I'll have to separate the males from the females then, I thought they wouldn't breed without the right temp..damn. Well I'll just have two enclosures, after I get some babies. At least with roaches it's easy to tell males from females at a glance. Thanks for all the tips man, very helpful!

The temp does help, especially if you're raising a colony for scheduling purposes but my large female gave her first clutch, than not 2 days later they were end to end Again! Lol sexing them is easy but remember you won't be able to tell the sex until on or about molts 4 or 5 at least that's what I have found, no problem glad I can give back to the community that has been well helpful to me!
 

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