Hisser care

[GailC]

I recieved a call from a local pet store today, they had a container of hissers left for me if I wanted them, just come pick 'em up. So I drive down expecting maybe a butter tub type container with a handfull of roaches. Ended up getting a plastic shoe box with 30 adults, 3 of which are males.

Obviously the contaner was too small so I got them set up in a larger tub with peat substrate, egg crates and some decent food. When transfering I noticed that most are missing parts of their legs, I assume from being eaten off by the others.

My questions are, what should I be feeding them to stop the leg chewing and will they be ok to breed? I'd really like to get a colony going so any advice on how to keep them would be great. Thanks

 

[KyuZo]

Hi Waldo,
I was wondering how much you got them for?
anyway, hissers normally don't chew other hissers' legs (not from my experience anyway).
I notice that they began to lose tips of their legs due to age. my older hissers would have shorter antennae and have tips of their legs missing.
feed them carrots and other veggies and fruits along with a source of protein (may it be dog/cat/fish food or hamburger patty).
keep the temperature at 70-90 F
the warmer it is, the faster they'll grow and reproduce.

 

[GailC]

They were free, the lady had to get rid of them because her husband is allergic
I'll bump up their heat and make sure they get plenty of fresh food. So far they are very lethargic and uninterested in food. They were living in bran flakes and feces with nothing to eat except alfalfa cubes and a slimy apples. The shoe box they were in wasn't just a transport container, it was their home.

 

[KyuZo]

wow, poor living condition huh?
I give them about 7-10 days to settle in and they'll be alright.

 

[GailC]

yeah, horrid living conditions. Nothing to hide in except wet, moldy bran flakes with rotten food. I wish people would understand that even bugs deserve to be kept in a clean cage with good food
There is one male that is down to only 2-3 segments per leg, no antenna and probably bullied by the other males due to his small size but he's my favorite. He'll walk around my hand tapping all over with those little feelers by his head.

I also just stuck a UTH on the side of their tub, hope it makes them more comfy They have a dry cricket food mixed with ground cat food, water crystals and apples.

 

[KyuZo]

yea, i have a male that have about a little less than half his antennae left and he is also my favorite because he doesn't have a territory of his own so he is constantly walking around and he is the most active.
He was my first male that breed with the first 2 females that i had and gave birth to many.
I always like to pick him up and play with him. this guy is my dwarf hisser btw. I only have the giant G. oblongonata hissers and the dwarf hissers.

 

[Xaranx]

Cricket food? If this is gutload I would remove it and use dogfood instead, I had a friend feed some cricket gutload to some roaches he got from me and the majority of them died in less than a month, and I have yet to have one death from the original population. Gutload is known to kill crickets as well, impacts them because of the high amounts of calcium and such in it.

 

[GailC]

No its not gutload specifically. Its a Purina brand that is sold in 40 LB bags, cricket chow I think its called. I've been feeding it to my roaches for the better part of a yr now.

 

[Xaranx]

All right, sounds good, just checking