# Keeping different roaches together



## Flower (Apr 27, 2009)

Can Dubia and Hissers be kept together by any chance? It doesn't seem like they should have a major issue with one another...


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## RoachGirlRen (Apr 27, 2009)

There are a few topics on this.
Basically, whenever you have two species that occupy the same niche living in the same environment, you will experience competition, which generally results in one species outcompeting the other. You CAN house the two together, but you will see lower population growth rates in one or both species due to competition. Others have posted their experiences and hissers seem to frequently out-compete dubias for resources. So, if you want highly productive colonies, housing each species seperately is your best bet.


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## Flower (Apr 27, 2009)

RoachGirlRen said:


> There are a few topics on this.
> Basically, whenever you have two species that occupy the same niche living in the same environment, you will experience competition, which generally results in one species outcompeting the other. You CAN house the two together, but you will see lower population growth rates in one or both species due to competition. Others have posted their experiences and hissers seem to frequently out-compete dubias for resources. So, if you want highly productive colonies, housing each species seperately is your best bet.


Thanks. If I put A LOT of food in there, too much for them to seemingly "outcompete" eachother, do you think the two will still affect each other negatively?

I keep my Dubia in a 10 gallon tank, no lid. If I keep them separate, can I keep the hissers the same way? I don't know much about them.


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## mike12348 (Apr 27, 2009)

Flower said:


> Thanks. If I put A LOT of food in there, too much for them to seemingly "outcompete" eachother, do you think the two will still affect each other negatively?
> 
> I keep my Dubia in a 10 gallon tank, no lid. If I keep them separate, can I keep the hissers the same way? I don't know much about them.


Is it a glass tank? I've seen my roaches climb the silicone on the sides of the glass.


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## RoachGirlRen (Apr 28, 2009)

Most people, even with ample food stores, report lower birth rates in one or the other species. But it's up to you as a keeper. As far as a lidless glass tank goes, no; hissers climb glass very efficiently and even with a vaseline barrier should probably have a lid. As the other poster mentioned, even dubias can climb silicone, so I hope you have some kind of roach barrier on the tank.

May I ask why you are trying hissers? They aren't really the best feeder animal - slow maturation, longer gestation, smaller brood size, thick chitinous exo, glass-climbing, etc. If you have an animal you need large roaches for, I would suggest B. fusca or a similar species.


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## Flower (Apr 28, 2009)

RoachGirlRen said:


> Most people, even with ample food stores, report lower birth rates in one or the other species. But it's up to you as a keeper. As far as a lidless glass tank goes, no; hissers climb glass very efficiently and even with a vaseline barrier should probably have a lid. As the other poster mentioned, even dubias can climb silicone, so I hope you have some kind of roach barrier on the tank.
> 
> May I ask why you are trying hissers? They aren't really the best feeder animal - slow maturation, longer gestation, smaller brood size, thick chitinous exo, glass-climbing, etc. If you have an animal you need large roaches for, I would suggest B. fusca or a similar species.


Somewhat curiosity, and somewhat availability. I was really surprised to find dubia in my area, and I found them dirt cheap. Hissers are the only other type I can find.

I'm probably NOT going to do hissers now. I posted this before I tried feeding my T's dubia last night. I didn't have much success with that, even though I have heard they are the ideal feeder roaches for T's. Any ideas why my T's were so reluctant to go for the dubia?


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## RoachGirlRen (Apr 28, 2009)

There are a few topics on tarantula acceptance (and rejection) of B. dubia on the tarantula board if you run a search. The brief summary of it would be that B. dubia do not have the fast, erratic movements that attract a tarantula's attention, so they are not always readily recognized as food. Tong feeding, flipping them on their back, crushing their heads, etc. all improve the chance of acceptance, but some T's simply aren't sufficiently enticed by them. They are indeed a good food source, as are most roaches, but you may have better luck with turkistan roaches (B. lateralis) or another fast-moving species.


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## Flower (Apr 29, 2009)

Thanks a million!


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## cacoseraph (Apr 30, 2009)

i had a mixed hisser/lobster colony that was doing good until i accidentally produced ammonia in it and gassed them all. both species were so productive that i never bought any feeders and was feeding something like 500+ pet inverts


i think it is probably a good idea to not mix "live" birthers with oothecae layers. it is definitely not a good idea to mix orangeheads with anything i could find... those orangeheads are pretty vicious and will apparently eat babies as i never saw babies last more than a week when i had them in the mix.

as for prey acceptance.... i prekill or heavily mangle all my feeders before serving them up and have had very little problem with most of my pet inverts taking most of the prey i have offered them.  terrestrial tarantulas especially seem inclined to take whatever i give them without much complaint. i fed out dubia, orangeheads, various hissers, lobsters, and lateralis with great success

edit:
oh yeah... most ppl seem to think that if a t doesn't eat a bug in the first five seconds then it isn't going ot eat it... not true in the least. sometimes i had to put a prekilled prey in, remove it, put another in a week later, remove *it*.... and then the third time would be the charm. it is likely that any set of bugs' willingness to try new things falls on a bell curve and some will try eating anything they can get their fangs on and others will need to be quite hungry before they will try a new prey type


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## Nikos (Apr 30, 2009)

Flower said:


> Any ideas why my T's were so reluctant to go for the dubia?


because they were not hungry.


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## Nobody important (Oct 20, 2017)

Flower said:


> Somewhat curiosity, and somewhat availability. I was really surprised to find dubia in my area, and I found them dirt cheap. Hissers are the only other type I can find.
> 
> I'm probably NOT going to do hissers now. I posted this before I tried feeding my T's dubia last night. I didn't have much success with that, even though I have heard they are the ideal feeder roaches for T's. Any ideas why my T's were so reluctant to go for the dubia?


Are they just the only species allowed in your area? or have you not considerd buying online?


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## Draketeeth (Oct 20, 2017)

Flower said:


> I keep my Dubia in a 10 gallon tank, no lid. If I keep them separate, can I keep the hissers the same way? I don't know much about them.





RoachGirlRen said:


> As far as a lidless glass tank goes, no; hissers climb glass very efficiently and even with a vaseline barrier should probably have a lid. As the other poster mentioned, even dubias can climb silicone, so I hope you have some kind of roach barrier on the tank.


+1 to hissers being excellent climbers. Scaling glass is no problem for them and they will constantly try to test the boundaries. You have to make a tank _very _escape-proof to keep them in.


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## elportoed (Oct 20, 2017)

The smaller hissers are excellent escape artists.  You need glass tank and very slippery grease to keep them contained.


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