# G. grandidieri(tiger hissing cockroach)



## Herp13 (Jul 28, 2006)

Hey, i currently have a colony of G. portentosa and i'm thinking of getting some more hissers, a different species though. I was thinking about defintly trying Tiger hissers, or maybe some of the other species, can anyone tell me about what species they have and what the set-up is like, and so on and so forth. Oh, and post some pictures too


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## Kevin_Davies (Jul 28, 2006)

tiger stripe hissers are a form of Princisia vanwerebeki, (according to the BCG List Gromphadorhina grandidieri arent in culture at the moment)
I keep P. vanwerebeki, both the tiger stripe and normal forms, they are very similar to normal hissers to keep, I keep my ones in a large plastic tank, with coco humous and leaf litter as a substrate, they usually have a heatmat, but ive switched it off at present because of the temperature's here, here are some pictures of my ones.













I also keep other species of "hissers"







_Elliptorhina chopardi_







_Princisia vanwerebeki_













_Gromphadorhina portentosa_


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## Herp13 (Jul 28, 2006)

Very nice pictures. I still believe tiger hissers are a form of Gromphadorhina. Anyhow i really like P. vanwerebeki. The E. chopardi are also very cool. Do you have any of those Giant G. portentosa? The only place i've seen them for offer has them for like, $7.00 USD. I would really like to see an adult before i decide to get one Do you have any?


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## Kevin_Davies (Jul 28, 2006)

Herp13 said:
			
		

> Very nice pictures. I still believe tiger hissers are a form of Gromphadorhina. Anyhow i really like P. vanwerebeki. The E. chopardi are also very cool. Do you have any of those Giant G. portentosa? The only place i've seen them for offer has them for like, $7.00 USD. I would really like to see an adult before i decide to get one Do you have any?


I dont have any giant hissers, Ive seen them, but for the same price as you did, I will get them in a few weeks though probably, when I do, I'll post pics on this forum, some of my Princisia are really big, about 8cm, I would think giant hissers are a similar size, but im not sure.


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## Herp13 (Jul 28, 2006)

Oh, really? Could you post a picture of the P. vanwerebeki next to a G. portentosa to show there differences? Or are they the same? I'm very bed with mm measument. I think i want to get G. grandidieri though, and maybe some E. chopardi, nice small species. Are all hissers calm, mine are like little angels if you are gentle. Oh, and do the E. chopardi breed faster than their larger cousins?


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## Kevin_Davies (Jul 28, 2006)

Herp13 said:
			
		

> Oh, really? Could you post a picture of the P. vanwerebeki next to a G. portentosa to show there differences? Or are they the same? I'm very bed with mm measument. I think i want to get G. grandidieri though, and maybe some E. chopardi, nice small species. Are all hissers calm, mine are like little angels if you are gentle. Oh, and do the E. chopardi breed faster than their larger cousins?


They are very similar, there are probably some small differences, all my regular Princisia are much darker than my portentosa, but I know they're colour can be variable, my largest portentosa are around 5cm, my largest  Princisia are a lot larger.

Most of my hissers are calm, some are very quick and skittish though, even adults, they're personalities seem to differ.

E. chopardi bred and grow fairly slowly.


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## Herp13 (Jul 28, 2006)

Oh, cool. Are the tiger hissers bigger than normal hissers?


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## Kevin_Davies (Jul 28, 2006)

Herp13 said:
			
		

> Oh, cool. Are the tiger hissers bigger than normal hissers?


yeah, they're a little bit bigger.

When I get a picture with an adult princisia, tiger stripe and portentosa i'll post it in this thread.


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## Herp13 (Jul 28, 2006)

How soon will that be?


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## Kevin_Davies (Jul 28, 2006)

Herp13 said:
			
		

> How soon will that be?


my camera is on charge, the pictures will be tommorow.


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## Herp13 (Jul 28, 2006)

Oh, ok then. Do you use them as feeders, or just keep them as pets. I have only fed around 5 of them, 1 to my brown horned frog and a couple babies and adults to my budgett's frog. What substrate do you use for them. I'm thinking about trying this stuff called Lizard litter(its made of ground up walnut shell's), it's made for dry enviornments but my hissers are fine in dry enviornments as long as i provide plenty of moisture sources. The stuff is also very loose so it's much easier for roaches to burrow in. What do you think?


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## DoubleD's (Jul 28, 2006)

*G. Obolongata*

I am currently working on a colony of G. Obolongata, those are by far the largest species of hissing roach there is, i have sold a few of the adults 2 males and 2 females to be exact but i do have some babies within the colony.
I believe currently myself and James at Blaberus are the only ones breeding them at the moment.

Sincerely
Dexter D
Double D's
http://www.doubleds.org


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## Herp13 (Jul 28, 2006)

Do you have any for sale? How much?


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## Kevin_Davies (Jul 28, 2006)

Herp13 said:
			
		

> Oh, ok then. Do you use them as feeders, or just keep them as pets. I have only fed around 5 of them, 1 to my brown horned frog and a couple babies and adults to my budgett's frog. What substrate do you use for them. I'm thinking about trying this stuff called Lizard litter(its made of ground up walnut shell's), it's made for dry enviornments but my hissers are fine in dry enviornments as long as i provide plenty of moisture sources. The stuff is also very loose so it's much easier for roaches to burrow in. What do you think?


I dont use any of my roaches as feeders, they are kept as "pets", for substrate I use crushed oak and beech mulch and leaves, with whole dried and decaying leaves and moss.
Lizard litter should be ok as long as the cockroaches still have moisture i'd think.



			
				Herp13 said:
			
		

> Do you have any for sale? How much?


I would also be interested in G. obolongata, especially adults, what size do they get to? do you have any comparison pics with other hissers?


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## Herp13 (Jul 28, 2006)

Do you just not like to feed roaches? Or do you breed crickets too? Or do you use something completly different.


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## Kevin_Davies (Jul 29, 2006)

Herp13 said:
			
		

> Do you just not like to feed roaches? Or do you breed crickets too? Or do you use something completly different.


I wouldnt like to use roaches as livefood.

I buy crickets, locusts and mealworms as livefood.


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## Herp13 (Jul 29, 2006)

But roaches are like 2x the nutritional value of crickets(sometimes even more nutritional). And they cost nothing once they are set up


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## Kevin_Davies (Jul 29, 2006)

Herp13 said:
			
		

> But roaches are like 2x the nutritional value of crickets(sometimes even more nutritional). And they cost nothing once they are set up


Ive always kept them as pets, I see cockroaches the same as my snails, centipedes, tarantula's etc.. I only use standard livefoods (like crickets, locusts etc)

..






(top left)   _Elliptorhina chopardi_
(top right) _Princisia vanwerebeki_
(bottom left) _Gromphadorhina portentosa_
(bottom right) _Princisia vanwerebeki "tiger striped"_


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## Herp13 (Jul 29, 2006)

Nice pic Have you ever thought of feeding even lobster roaches? Anyways, i really like the tiger hisser, and the Dwarf hisser too


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## Kevin_Davies (Jul 29, 2006)

Herp13 said:
			
		

> Nice pic Have you ever thought of feeding even lobster roaches? Anyways, i really like the tiger hisser, and the Dwarf hisser too


I dont currently keep lobster roaches, but I have thought about using those as feeders before, they breed very quickly, and are good at climbing and escaping though, so I arent interested in keeping those again.


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## Herp13 (Jul 29, 2006)

Yeah, i am starting frog breeding as a business, so i want to start breeding lobsters for feeder purposes, then the hisser collection will be for fun, and i can also sell them too


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## IguanaMama (Jul 29, 2006)

Can you keep the different types of hissers communially or will they interbreed?


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## Herp13 (Jul 29, 2006)

I wouldn't mix species, just so you know what your looking at


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## Kevin_Davies (Jul 29, 2006)

IguanaMama said:
			
		

> Can you keep the different types of hissers communially or will they interbreed?


Im not sure if they can interbreed? I know Blaberus can, i wouldnt be suprised if hissers can as well, but i arent sure.

I keep all my species seperate.


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## Herp13 (Jul 29, 2006)

Plus, if you ever wanted to sell them, you would have pure breeds rather than a G. portentosa x G. grandidieri x E. chopardi mix


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## Randolph XX() (Jul 29, 2006)

check the old thread, there was a pretty good ruler pic posted by Johnny, and it is a lill bigger than 4inches (11cm), but could be a bit bigger if it's stretched or just after a meal


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## Kevin_Davies (Jul 29, 2006)

Found the picture







source of picture: http://johnx.smugmug.com/photos/61768073-M.jpg


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## Randolph XX() (Jul 29, 2006)

Kevin_Davies said:
			
		

> Found the picture


doesn't mean u can post it without johnson's permission


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## Kevin_Davies (Jul 29, 2006)

Randolph XX() said:
			
		

> doesn't mean u can post it without johnson's permission


I thought it would be useful to post the picture for others to see, as a reference, after you had mentioned it.


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## Herp13 (Jul 29, 2006)

Uh, i'm guessing these last pics are of P. venwerebeki? Anyways, very nice specimens. It appears that the males are actually bigger than the females, cool And venwerebeki's horns are much more developed than portentosa.


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## Kevin_Davies (Jul 29, 2006)

Herp13 said:
			
		

> Uh, i'm guessing these last pics are of P. venwerebeki? Anyways, very nice specimens. It appears that the males are actually bigger than the females, cool And venwerebeki's horns are much more developed than portentosa.


The last pics are Gromphadorhina obolongata (sometimes spelled "oblingata")


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## Herp13 (Jul 29, 2006)

Oh, well, where can i get them?


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## angus (Jul 30, 2006)

maybe i can help on the comparision pics.
the black one is P.v.(black form)..
from my personal specimens observation...
the 2nd and 3rd segements of a P.v. is broader than a G.p.
and the horn of P.v. were a bit higher than the G.p.
hope this can help~


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## james (Jul 31, 2006)

*Hissers*

I have all the mentioned species, but most are spoken for. Hissers are the most collected of all the roach species and there are still a few more I'd like to get. There are many hobbiest in the US and I imagine these species will become more avaliable soon.
James
www.blaberus.com


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## JohnxII (Aug 1, 2006)

Randolph XX() said:
			
		

> check the old thread, there was a pretty good ruler pic posted by Johnny, and it is a lill bigger than 4inches (11cm), but could be a bit bigger if it's stretched or just after a meal


Actually he's just short of 4 inches... but could reach the 4" mark if stretched.


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## Herp13 (Aug 1, 2006)

Ooooo, pretty


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