# Anyone use hissing cockroaches as feeders?



## MD92 (Feb 26, 2010)

I picked up two males yesterday since they had them at the reptile shop I get my crickets from for what I thought was very cheap.  I'm into inverts of all types so of course I couldn't resist!  After reading a bit, and from what the store manager told me, they are VERY easy to breed.  Do they make good feeders?  Or not so much.  If so, I plan on heading back (once the weather subsides) to get two more females.  What do you think?

Matt


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## Tcollector (Feb 26, 2010)

digimattd said:


> I picked up two males yesterday since they had them at the reptile shop I get my crickets from for what I thought was very cheap.  I'm into inverts of all types so of course I couldn't resist!  After reading a bit, and from what the store manager told me, they are VERY easy to breed.  Do they make good feeders?  Or not so much.  If so, I plan on heading back (once the weather subsides) to get two more females.  What do you think?
> 
> Matt



Someone told me once that they dont make good feeders but I trust that someone may say different on here so im alittle unsure myself.:?


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## BrettG (Feb 26, 2010)

The legs could EASILY puncture a T's abdomen.

Reactions: Sad 1


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## robd (Feb 26, 2010)

Those guys get pretty big as adults. You could always cut the legs off.


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## xhexdx (Feb 26, 2010)

Ok, here's something to chew on a bit:

When hissers are smaller, they are more soft-bodied and are just fine to use as feeders for smaller spiders (~5", maybe).

Once they're larger, their armor does tend to be much harder for the spider's fangs to puncture.  That being said, they could still be used for much larger species (blondi, parahybana, geniculata, for example) without _much_ of an issue.

In the wild, spiders take down whatever they can in order to eat.  They're pretty good at handling large prey, so while it is more risky to feed a large hisser than it would be to feed a dubia or two, or ten crickets, it's not _likely_ that a larger spider would have an issue with it.

Personally, I prefer hissers as more of a 'display' species.  I'd find another large species like B. fusca to use as feeders.


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## DansDragons (Feb 26, 2010)

xhexdx said:


> Ok, here's something to chew on a bit:
> 
> When hissers are smaller, they are more soft-bodied and are just fine to use as feeders for smaller spiders (~5", maybe).
> 
> ...


+1

but i do use hissers for my larger Ts, never had any problems at all.


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## Bazzgazm (Feb 26, 2010)

i fed an adult chilobrachys species over 6" a hisser about 1.5" and it wanted really nothing to do with it.


 bit down into it a few times but the hisser didn't seem to show any bad effects from the bites..


after a bit it subdued the hisser and the next day i had about 1/2 a hisser left..

so after that. no more.


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## DansDragons (Feb 26, 2010)

i just fed my 6" C. guangxiensis an adult hisser 2 nights ago, not much left of it..


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## MD92 (Feb 26, 2010)

Thanks guys.  Let me clarify, I meant only to use the young hissers, never a fully fledged adult.  (Don't have anything (currently) that could even think of eating the whole thing  ).


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## Moltar (Feb 26, 2010)

I think I remember hearing somewhere that although hissers may be easy to breed, they're also very slow growing as roaches go. It may take a long while to get a colony established. If you want to feed roaches you may want to look into other species like B. lateralis or B. dubia.


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## MD92 (Feb 26, 2010)

ATM I only need small ones for my slings, so that's why I thoguht it was good lol


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## xhexdx (Feb 26, 2010)

I'd go with B. lateralis then.


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## TomM (Feb 26, 2010)

xhexdx said:


> I'd go with B. lateralis then.


+1...I currently have dubias (which reproduce like CRAZY!), but from what I'm hearing, B. lats would probably be the best solution.


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## VESPidA (Feb 26, 2010)

TomM said:


> +1...I currently have dubias (which reproduce like CRAZY!), but from what I'm hearing, B. lats would probably be the best solution.


just curious why you would prefer B. lateralis over dubia.  i want to start a colony soon (for 1 adult, 7 slings) and am a bit ambivalent on the species to breed.  thx!


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## TheHolyToast (Feb 26, 2010)

Hissers wouldn't make a good primary feeder, but every now, and then I feed a freshly molted adult hisser to my larger Ts.


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## xhexdx (Feb 26, 2010)

HokiePokie727 said:


> just curious why you would prefer B. lateralis over dubia.  i want to start a colony soon (for 1 adult, 7 slings) and am a bit ambivalent on the species to breed.  thx!


They both breed pretty quickly, but lateralis are faster and more spastic.  They also are better for feeding arboreals because they will climb and not burrow, like dubia will.

Dubia have a tendency to stay motionless for hours on end.  If a spider spooks it, it'll just sit there, and the spider will eventually move on.  Lateralis are more like crickets; they're always moving.

The downside to lateralis is they produce a sticky substance from their abdomen that's kind of annoying and can sometimes deter the spider.  American cockroaches also have this ability.  Adult lateralis are also smaller than adult dubia, so dubia are better feeders for most adult species of tarantula.  Lateralis nymphs are better than dubia nymphs for feeding slings.

On top of all that, I've noticed some spiders are reluctant to eat dubia, but will eat crickets and lateralis without hesitating.  You can (sometimes) avoid this by doing the 'head-crush' on the dubia; this will cause them to flail around like idiots and will usually trigger the tarantula's feeding response.

I think I covered most everything, and I hope it helps.

--Joe


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## VESPidA (Feb 26, 2010)

perfect!  just the comparison i was looking for... thx!  just a few more questions if you do not mind... is the stickiness more of an annoyance for the spider, or for us in terms of colony maintenance?  is one more tolerant than the other with regard to breeding in cooler temps (ie. mid/upper 70s versus 85+ degrees)?


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## xhexdx (Feb 26, 2010)

I'm not sure as far as tolerances go, but I'm pretty sure the sticky is a defense mechanism.  I can't confirm this though, and Matt K would be a great person to ask too.


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## Hamburglar (Feb 26, 2010)

I have recently used all three: hissers, dubia, and lats.  I have a recently molted ~7 inch A. genic and she really enjoyed a smallish adult hisser as her first postmolt meal.  They all have their place...  breed as many as you can..


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## jeff1962 (Feb 26, 2010)

I get hissers occasionally for my larger T."s . I enjoy watching them stalk and eat them . They always get them right behind the head and slowly eat them while the roach kicks its legs and hisses. Takes them most of the day to eat the roach. They usually eat everything except a few of the hard external plates. The person I get them from only has them ocasionally, she says they take awhile to reproduce in enough numbers for her to sell very many of at this point. From what I have gathered from this and other threads is that if I were going to get a colony going it would be either dubia or lats.


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## jeff1962 (Feb 27, 2010)

xhexdx said:


> They both breed pretty quickly, but lateralis are faster and more spastic.  They also are better for feeding arboreals because they will climb and not burrow, like dubia will.
> 
> Dubia have a tendency to stay motionless for hours on end.  If a spider spooks it, it'll just sit there, and the spider will eventually move on.  Lateralis are more like crickets; they're always moving.
> 
> ...


 Just curious Joe  what roaches do you personaly feed ?


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## GiantVinegaroon (Feb 27, 2010)

They breed easily....they take FOREVER to give birth in my experiences.


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