Are hissers cannibalistic?

craze horse

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I have a dozen adult hissers which are quite happy and I've posted before that I've not seen any young for a while, as in they've all vanished. Last night I lifted a piece of bark and 1 single youngster ran out ! I say young about a half inch in length. Could they're have been others that were eaten or is this the chosen one ?!!!
 

Marijan2

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they'll eat only the dead ones. only way i see them eating their own is if they don't have enough food in their tank
 

craze horse

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Baby sweetcorn, broccoli, lettuce, cabbage, asparagus tips anything that's available. Always a couple of jellies in there as well as constantly sprayed. This thread is pointless now as I just moved the three pieces of bark which are overlapped to see how many were around adults included and it appears they've been playing hide an seek. I must have at least 10 fully grown adults and about 30 babies at least. All around the inch mark. Since the cooler weather here I have put a heat mat in and they're all hidden away and warm. Just didn't realise they could have all been in that one spot. Must be a very close family....
 

craze horse

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Have just found out that sometimes hissers will eat each other when shedding !!!! I just had a grand count of my adults as I did have 12....... now I have 6. Explains a lot ! Gonna seperate them tomorrow I think. Keep all the males seperated. And there are 5 adults !
 

jaredc

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You need to occasionally feed them dog food for protein otherwise they will cannibalize freshly molted individuals.
 

craze horse

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You need to occasionally feed them dog food for protein otherwise they will cannibalize freshly molted individuals.
This is where I've gone wrong. I thought the jelly were protein ? I've found a few molted exo skeletons recently and wondered why they hadn't been eaten. Obviously because they've been eating the hisser. Are we talking dry dog food or wet ? Any other protein supplement I can give ?
 

jaredc

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Dry food is fine, you can also provide cuttlefish bone for calcium. I've found that pond sticks make a great additional dry food as it contains spirulina powder.
 

Marijan2

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This is where I've gone wrong. I thought the jelly were protein ? I've found a few molted exo skeletons recently and wondered why they hadn't been eaten. Obviously because they've been eating the hisser. Are we talking dry dog food or wet ? Any other protein supplement I can give ?
what kind of jelly we are you talking about? i though only jelly used in invert feed is water jelly/crystals which isn't really needed but to each his own i guess. Is yours something different?
 

bugmankeith

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They will do it sometimes. I feed my Hissers dry cat food (blue buffalo), romaine lettuce, apples, bananas, oranges, watermelon, mango, carrots, moist white bread, beef/chicken/turkey/banana-orange baby food (no spices or lemon juice), and dry oak tree leaves. I've had one attack and that's it mine are very well fed.
 

Galapoheros

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I wish they were more cannibalistic, I have thousands of them, I use them as feeders. Is it possible they are getting out? Babies are very light so they can slooowly cross a Vaseline barrier. I use olive oil, messy looking but it works and there's nobody else here to complain about it.
 

Hisserdude

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Yeah some sort of dog/cat/fish food is needed for protein, the beetle/roach jellies don't have that much protien in them, I think they are more like treats. Without protein they'll cannibalize each other, especially freshly molted individuals.
 

craze horse

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Well ive been giving them dried dog food and also fish flakes. I've noticed a lot of the dog food getting smaller where they've been eating it. Do they have a preference for fruit that's gone off ? I've noticed they never touched the apple in there until it turned. I've also found TWO more adults
They're very big and I don't know how I could possibly have missed them. I laugh when people specify that you must have ridiculous sized homes for even a few roaches, I read somewhere that 5 gallon tank for 5 roaches ! I'm not sure the exact size of mine probs two at best, and my roaches rarely come out from under there Cork bark except for at night when they're clearly partying.
 

G. pulchra

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I've been keeping hissers for years and I've never seen any cannibalistic behavior.
 

ErinM31

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Yeah some sort of dog/cat/fish food is needed for protein, the beetle/roach jellies don't have that much protien in them, I think they are more like treats. Without protein they'll cannibalize each other, especially freshly molted individuals.
Yeah, those jellies are just flavored and colored sugar with some solidifying agent -- no protein -- and strangely, NONE of my roaches will touch the stuff. :confused:
 

craze horse

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I asked in my local rep shop and he said a few of them do specifically contain protein but the rest are just a sugary substance. My roaches love em. And even more so fish flakes along with they're dog food. Sure I heard one bark......
 

craze horse

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Oh man. I don't believe it
I always hear scurrying but don't see much movement with my hissers. Amazed at how noisey so few could be. Last night I saw a juvenile at the top of the exo terra viv and I thought I hope he doesn't go down one of the tiny gaps....... 14808431196901402294248.jpg 1480843157275-433122383.jpg
 

craze horse

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I've counted 25 youngsters all alive and happy and 3 adults. Will rescue them shortly and give them a good telling off ......
 
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