Fat Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

AnandaWaterman

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 19, 2018
Messages
4
hi! I have two colonies of Madagascar hissing cockroaches from two different places. Each colony has had one female death in the short time I’ve had them. The death in the second colony resulted in tons of little babies everywhere. the second colony has this one female who is GIGANTIC. She looks like she’s about to explode. I’m worried about her having an infection. I thought maybe she was starting to give birth, as her abdomen was heavily contracting yesterday, with a small bit of whitish tissue starting to protrude from her posterior. She’s very fat, and very long. Almost twice as long as my other females in either colony. I’m scared for her and for the health of Colony 2. I put her in an isolation enclosure for the time being, since around 9 pm last night. If she has babies, I’ll just rename it to the maternity ward. If she’s sick and passes, it’ll be the sick bay. Anyone else had experiences with a bloated roach like my girl?
 

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WeightedAbyss75

Arachnoangel
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Messages
921
That roach definitely looks pregnant to me. Not sure any infection could do that to a roach. However, you probably saw part of the birthing process with that white-ish tissue. When my G. oblongata (long horn hissers) are pregnant, they will have a really weird step in the process. What they will do is take the long white oothecae of developing baby roaches and push them out almost all the way. Then, they will turn the eggs and take in the oothecae again to develop into baby roaches. From what I have heard, this is to air out the babies and make them easier to fit. That white tissue is the inside of where the babies are developed, so you probably saw the opening just as the oothecae was taken back in. I have had roaches much thicker and in a lot weirder shapes than yours :D Looks fine, hope she has lots of babies ;)
 

AnandaWaterman

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 19, 2018
Messages
4
The whitish tissue almost looked like a sphincter of some kind. Like maybe an opening to her reproductive tract or something. I kept waiting to see if she would push any babies out or the ootheca.
 

AnandaWaterman

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 19, 2018
Messages
4
Thank you for your reply by the way!!! It makes me more calm. I think I’ll keep her isolated so her babies will be protected during birth. I’ve heard that sometimes other members of the colony will eat babies as they’re being born. I keep my roaches very well fed, so I don’t think it’d happen, but I also don’t want anything bad to happen.
 

monotremes7

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 10, 2020
Messages
4
Well I’m curious because I have a roach just like this looks like she’s going to explode but won’t move very much but it’s still living.
 

jboyd013

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 12, 2022
Messages
1
I just had a male hisser that was at least 2 years old die after being very bloated for several weeks. I dissected it and it looks to me like an intestinal blockage. Part of the intestine was very distended and full of feces. PXL_20221212_170843244.jpg PXL_20221212_170849481.jpg
 
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