Good starter hisser colony?

[EightLeggedFrea]

I'm looking to start a hisser colony mainly for my T. blondi, especially when she gets really big. Is 25-50 roaches good enough for a starter colony? How long does it take hissers to make a suitable feeding colony. Since these roaches are quite large and meaty even for a my blondi I'd imagine I would be using only 1 or 2 adults/large juveniles a week.

 

[dtknow]

Hissers are rather slow but I think 50 will do it.Btw, I'd reccomend using Blaberus rather than hissers. Blaberus are not as likely to injure your T and may be part of their natural diet.

 

[BestRoach]

Blaberus Discoids would work great, and breed much faster than hissers. Not to sure about Blaberus Fusca, as they are large and skittish....proboboly not the best invert food.

 

[Villosa]

The fusca I raise usually aren't skittish at all and grow rather fast. Discoids I'll agree are probably one of THE best for feeder purposes rather than hissers.

 

[elportoed]

Are you suggesting that hissers aren't good feeders? I am thinking of starting a colony for that reason.

 

[BestRoach]

Depends on their use. If you own a large reptile, then hissers are a good option. That said, I don't see why an invert would need to be fed a hisser....an easier to eat roach species could easily be substituted. Not to mention, most blaberus species have a much faster breeding rate than hissers.

 

[Drachenjager]

IME blondis love hissers. and they dont breed that slowly either. in fact i cant feed mine off fast enough and have to send a bunch to my friends house for him to feed off too lol
anyway. to answer the question, i started with only 3. 2 females and a male. later after i already had 100 or so i got 15 from a different source that was supposed to be the giant morph. and now i cant feed off fast enough lol
so if you get 50 mature ones you should be set in a few months.

 

[dtknow]

So hissers are not too dangerous for large sized NW terrestrials? I mean...those leg spines can draw blood.

 

[EightLeggedFrea]

So hissers are not too dangerous for large sized NW terrestrials? I mean...those leg spines can draw blood.

Uh, you could try cutting the legs off. BTW I've decided to abandon the hisser idea, and I already got about 50 large discoids in.

 

[dtknow]

True that. But just for the sake of feeding a hisser? Rather than cutting off the(very hard) legs...why not just throw 2 fat dubia or whatever in?

Discoids should do well for you. Make sure they are well watered. It'll probably take 2-3 to make a meal for a blondi based on how my N. chromatus tackles em with no problem.

 

[BestRoach]

B. Fusca can be used if a larger feeder is required. I wouldn't recommend them for smaller inverts, but a large spider won't have an issue.

Eublaberus Distanti are also good sized....but slow breeding makes these guys expensive. Stay away from Eublaberus Posticus, as a freshly molted spider is a snack to those guys. If you head smash them before tossing them in, there shouldn't be an issue.

Any of the above would work great for reptiles. Posticus are a favorite of my beardies.

 

[DITB]

i started with 15 adults/sub adults and now i have over 300 hissers hissers spiny legs have made me bleed a few times so that is indeed something to consider when thinking about using them as feeders

 

[Galapoheros]

I think you're going to have to buy more inverts to keep up with the roaches, so that might be some motivation to get some new stuff once you get them going . I feed off Hisser nymphs. I've got a couple of turtles when it's time to get rid of too many adults.

 

[8+)]

BTW Flukers has hissers for $0.35ea. I ordered 20 of the small/medium and received at least 50.