Hissers and leaves

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
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Jul 4, 2005
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8,982
I'm pretty new at keeping Hissers. I'm keeping Pill bugs, little Rove beetles and don't mind other little things running around the long 20 gal. I'm keeping it natural and don't think I'll need to clean it very often. I put a layer of leaves down on top of a thin layer of coco fiber. If anyone has heard they eat oak leaves but doubted it a little, well don't anymore! The ones I have chow down on dead Liveoak leaves. They seem to like them just as much as the greens, fruits, dry cereals and dog food I've been offering. It's hard to see but here's one eating dead leaves in the same swath method a caterpillar eats green leaves. Good for their exo? Getting good bacteria? ..and I ordered the "yummie" roachfood product yesterday. I'm getting babies too so, things must be OK.
 

OldHag

ArachnoHag
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Sep 8, 2003
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1,711
I put oak leaves in all of my roach cages. They ALL love it! :D
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
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Jul 4, 2005
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8,982
I think it was a pic of your Hisser cage or maybe someone else's in a thread that got me off my butt to scoop some up out of the yard. I just did it to add to the bedding but I didn't expect them to eat it as much as they do. Something is telling me that it's really good to have the leaves in their diet, or at least rotting wood.... more arachnospeculation on my part:eek: . Are your roaches light or are they dark colored? The one in the pic is really dark. It's a new one I just got. But all the rest are very light colored. I have a slight hunch that the leaf eating will darken up the babies as they molt. That thought' waaaay out there but, just a feeling I'm getting based on ..not much:? .
 
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OldHag

ArachnoHag
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Sep 8, 2003
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I have all colors, mostly dark.... I dont know if one eats a lot of leaves if it would change the color or not.. I just feed them to things so they're never around long enough to experiment with!! :D
 

AviculariaLover

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
279
Thanks for the tip! We have hissers at the insect museum on my campus and we also have some phasmids which we feed oak leaves, I gave some of the leftovers to the hissers and they started munching on them right away. Now the uneaten leaves wont go to waste :clap:
 

IguanaMama

Arachnoangel
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Oct 13, 2004
Messages
991
I give all my roaches leaves, rotting hard wood and sphagnum moss.
 
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