# Madagascar hissing cockroach poop



## macenza (Mar 6, 2016)

I was taking a look at my colony the other day and one of the females that I was holding just happened to be pooping but I looked closely and 60% of her poop was made up tons of tiny little white eggs. and now every time I see one pooping i see those little white eggs. I took that poop and smushed it and made lots of popping sounds so yeah, they are eggs. I have been cleaning their enclosure every other day in hopes of getting rid of them. I've searched for mites but have _*never*_ seen any in the whole year that I've had this colony and getting nervous that It'll pass on to my dubia colony. Any body know what they could possibly be? And are they harmful to me or them?


----------



## Hisserdude (Mar 6, 2016)

macenza said:


> I was taking a look at my colony the other day and one of the females that I was holding just happened to be pooping but I looked closely and 60% of her poop was made up tons of tiny little white eggs. and now every time I see one pooping i see those little white eggs. I took that poop and smushed it and made lots of popping sounds so yeah, they are eggs. I have been cleaning their enclosure every other day in hopes of getting rid of them. I've searched for mites but have _*never*_ seen any in the whole year that I've had this colony and getting nervous that It'll pass on to my dubia colony. Any body know what they could possibly be? And are they harmful to me or them?


Does the "poop" look like this?:






If so, those are the hissers eggs. If the female is still holding them, leave her alone, don't disturb her. If she has dropped them, that means she aborted the ootheca, due to improper breeding conditions or infertility.


----------



## macenza (Mar 6, 2016)

Hisserdude said:


> Does the "poop" look like this?:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


No i know thats an ootheca. What I mean is their actual stringy, lumpy poop which sometimes has  around 1-2-10 or 30 tiny little white eggs. Here is a comparison to a dime.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Hisserdude (Mar 6, 2016)

macenza said:


> No i know thats an ootheca. What I mean is their actual stringy, lumpy poop which sometimes has  around 1-2-10 or 30 tiny little white eggs. Here is a comparison to a dime.
> View attachment 206521


Very interesting, what is your diet for these guys? I don't know of any internal parasites that live in hissers, and that leave white pellets in the hisser's frass. I'm not sure they are eggs, have you seen any of them move?


----------



## macenza (Mar 6, 2016)

I feed them a dry diet. It's a mix of blended puppy chow oatmeal and basic gold fish flakes. I leave a bowl of water in there and 1-2 times a week I put fruits or veggies. I keep them in 14x10  11'' sized container with two 2x5 sized screened windows on either side and a mini heating pad. They have two large egg cartons that i cut up in 8 pieces lined up neatly and some few paper towel rolls so i keep the food on top of the egg cartoons, It's a tight fit so the food dishes don't fall in... i should probably post a pic. the white eggs don't move and they all look exactly alike and they go pop the same way darkling beetles eggs pop.

there's pic one and two
	

		
			
		

		
	



	

		
			
		

		
	
Did I say they were lined up neatly...

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Hisserdude (Mar 6, 2016)

macenza said:


> I feed them a dry diet. It's a mix of blended puppy chow oatmeal and basic gold fish flakes. I leave a bowl of water in there and 1-2 times a week I put fruits or veggies. I keep them in 14x10  11'' sized container with two 2x5 sized screened windows on either side and a mini heating pad. They have two large egg cartons that i cut up in 8 pieces lined up neatly and some few paper towel rolls so i keep the food on top of the egg cartoons, It's a tight fit so the food dishes don't fall in... i should probably post a pic. the white eggs don't move and they all look exactly alike and they go pop.
> 
> there's pic one and two
> 
> ...


I don't know, your setup seems great. Since this has started happening, have your hissers started dying off or showing signs of stress? If not, you may not not need to worry about the mysterious white dots, as they don't seem to harm your roaches.


----------



## Jacob Ma (Mar 6, 2016)

I would probably clean out the enclosure, spray it down with vinegar, and maybe try feeding another kind of dried food.  If you are willing to, you can try a "roach autopsy" and kill one of the roaches for dissection (preferably without killing the parasites), but if you would like it more humane then I would monitor each roach once in a while for any changes in behavior or appearance.

These are not mite eggs if they are laid in a stringy fashion.  Probably the doing of parasitic worms of some sort.


----------



## macenza (Mar 6, 2016)

Hisserdude said:


> I don't know, your setup seems great. Since this has started happening, have your hissers started dying off or showing signs of stress? If not, you may not not need to worry about the mysterious white dots, as they don't seem to harm your roaches.





Hisserdude said:


> I don't know, your setup seems great. Since this has started happening, have your hissers started dying off or showing signs of stress? If not, you may not not need to worry about the mysterious white dots, as they don't seem to harm your roaches.


I havn't seen any adult deaths but i assume babys deaths that i see once in a blue moon, are caused by being smushed by the cartons. I'm not sure how they would show stress? i see new pairs of babys every other week or so but lots do come out deformed.
I don't think i would have posted this for any other reason but some of my family members have been complaining of tiny, white insects crawling on them followed by itchiness which i thought was not linked to my colony but after discovering these right after that incident, I don't know what to think and I really don't want to have to get rid of my babys.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## macenza (Mar 6, 2016)

Jacob Ma said:


> I would probably clean out the enclosure, spray it down with vinegar, and maybe try feeding another kind of dried food.  If you are willing to, you can try a "roach autopsy" and kill one of the roaches for dissection (preferably without killing the parasites), but if you would like it more humane then I would monitor each roach once in a while for any changes in behavior or appearance.
> 
> These are not mite eggs if they are laid in a stringy fashion.  Probably the doing of parasitic worms of some sort.


Ok thank you I will try this.


----------



## Hisserdude (Mar 6, 2016)

If they were harmful to the roaches you would have sewn more dead ones by now. Personally I doubt whatever those dots are are alive, seems like they are just some sort of undigested matter in their frass. 

As for your family, I have no idea what those are, but I don't think they have anything to do with what's happening to your hissers. I don't think you'll have to get rid of your hissers at all.


----------



## Tenevanica (Mar 6, 2016)

The same thing happened to one of my _E. javanica. _I had no idea what happened. Unfortunately, some of my javanica are dying mysteriously. I'm gonna guess it's a parasite.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Hisserdude (Mar 6, 2016)

Tenevanica said:


> The same thing happened to one of my _E. javanica. _I had no idea what happened. Unfortunately, some of my javanica are dying mysteriously. I'm gonna guess it's a parasite.


Got any pictures? This is weird, I hope it's not a upcoming epidemic...


----------

