Hissers (madagascan hissing roaches)

[Pheonixx]

i have been buying a few here and there for my T. Blondi. He eats one a week and that keeps him pretty full. I am wondering why these things start to stink after a day or two. I am sure its the roaches because i only small this smell when i have them. I have kept them on bare plastic, topsoil and now they are on bed a beast with a nice piece of driftwood to hide under. I have been feeding them lettuce, apple chunks and the occasional dorito or pop tart.
any tips on these guys would be helpful. I honestly have no idea what to do with them other than feed them to my 10 1/2" blondi.

 

[c7me]

Care Sheet

Here is a care sheet. Hope this helps!

 

[james]

roaches

Roaches generally do not smell. Sometimes when disturbed the will give off a defense smell, but other than that is mild to none. Sometimes if your feeding them fruits and veggies the food will actual be causing your smells. Try feeding them dry food and when you give the fruits and veggies make sure if its not gone by the next day or remove it.
James
www.blaberus.com

 

[Digby Rigby]

Hissers suck

Hello,

Hissers suck as a food item they are slow breeders and glass climbers as well as being all shell and fat. Hissers are for tourists not feeders. There are several large roaches that dont climb and have a much better meat to shell ratio. Such as Blaberus fusca and Blaberus parabolicus among others even Eublaberus distanti is better and breeds faster and doesnt climb glass. Once again you wouldnt feed waxworms on any kind of regular basis dont feed hissers at all. You can find out more about feeder roaches and other feeders at http://exoticfeeders.com Where our feeders are cooler than most peoples pets.

Digby Rigby

http://exoticfeeders.com

 

[Pheonixx]

well i get them cheap and my spider gobbles them up. besides i dont want to order like 100 from a online breeder nor do i want to breed them. I really dont like roaches, but my spider does. i pay 5.00 for 3 of them at the pet shop. perhaps a little expensive but it keeps someone local employed.

 

[Digby Rigby]

Hello,

I understand what you are saying however hissers are all shell and fat they have not anything substantial to them in so far as anything nutrional they are all shell and fat. Its not the price thats the issue its the nutrional quality. There is no point in feeding them there are other roaches tha are much better and you dont buy roaches to feed you buy them to breed and then feed what they breed. Roaches other than hissers are much better in every way. In fact I dont think there is a roach thats is anywhere near as worthless as far as food goes then hissers. See you are just wasting money because they dont give the animal what it needs. It is also not a matter of keeping people employed as it is doing whats best for the spider. As Far as money goes your paying 50 dollars for 30 100 or even 50 of just about any othr roach would do you better. Price isnt the issue doing whats best for the animal you are feeding is.

Digby Rigby


http://exoticfeeders.com

 

[Pheonixx]

I am aware that i need to do whats best for the spider. like i said i dont want to breed the <EDIT> roaches. i am sure there are far better ones out there and someday i may try them. but all i asked was for help with the ones i have, not which one is best. c7me posted a care sheet and thats what i needed. I dont need a bunch of people telling me i'm stupid for feeding hissers to my spider. I do buy roaches to feed and not to breed. I could care less about price.

 

[dangerprone69]

i have been buying a few here and there for my T. Blondi. He eats one a week and that keeps him pretty full. I am wondering why these things start to stink after a day or two. I am sure its the roaches because i only small this smell when i have them. I have kept them on bare plastic, topsoil and now they are on bed a beast with a nice piece of driftwood to hide under. I have been feeding them lettuce, apple chunks and the occasional dorito or pop tart.
any tips on these guys would be helpful. I honestly have no idea what to do with them other than feed them to my 10 1/2" blondi.

Some pointers:

I would stop giving them lettuce. This may be the source of your smell problem. Leafy vegetables tend to cause more gas in the animals who eat them (people+cabbage=???). Hissers just do not smell. I've had them forever, and they give off no odors, unless one dies and you don't remove it soon enough. The vegetables I give them and they absolutely love are carrots, apples and oranges.

Lay off the junk food too! This gives your Goliath no nutrition. Try giving them some kind of protein: cricket feed works well, dog food is awesome. Just make sure the dog food contains a good % of crude protein. Hissers don't contain much themselves so they need to be gut-loaded just like a cricket for their predator to get as much out of them as possible.

Hope this helps!!!!!

 

[Digby Rigby]

Hissers Suck

Hello Again,

I am sorry if you felt I implied you were stupid I meant no such thing. I was merely talking about using hissers as feeders. I was not making any judgements on you as a person. Now if you care for any roaches properly they will breed . Also if you want to get better James at http://blaberus.com will sell you small amounts in 10 lots of several suitable species for a reasonable price. With such an option available to you there is no need to use hissers at all :clap:

Digby Rigby

http://exoticfeeders.com

 

[reptillian]

hes right they suck as a food item as there shells are hard.

 

[Viridis9]

Hissers as feeders

Well hell, I guess i'll just throw my two cents in, I feed hissers to my monitors and they just love to crunch em, fat, hard shell and all!
Oh and www.roachdomain.com will sell hissers individually.
In the end its whatever makes you happy, and convienence does'nt hurt either. :clap:

 

[JohnxII]

Yeah dangerprone69 beat me to it. Drop the lettuce and you'll be fine!

 

[Digby Rigby]

They Still Suck

Hello,

What you havent addressed is that although animals will eat them hissers are not nutritious at all. They are all shell and fat and no substance. Having said that if you want hissers or other roaches http://roachdoamin.com will do you right. Hissers are okay as pets. As food they are nothing of substance nutritionally speaking. Go for blaberus species or eublaberus among others. Like wax worms are gecko crack hissers can be monitor crack. For more alternative feeder info check out http://exoticfeeders.com

Digby Rigby

 

[james]

roaches

I think the easiest way to put it would be "variety, variety, variety". Instead of focusing on one roach you should feed a mixture of species and even further a mixture of different types of feeders. Ken has great roaches, I have great roaches, and so do others. Roaches are now available in smaller quantaties and lower prices than ever before. It will be years before they reach the lower prices of other feeders, but eventually suppliers will catch up to demand. Until then you pay a little more, but to me my animals are worth it. The best part about roaches are you can buy a few dozen, house them pretty easily, and they will live plenty long enough for you to feed them, or you can start your own colony.
James
www.blaberus.com

 

[c7me]

Care Sheets in pdf format

Had a few people request care sheets in pdf format. :clap:

 

[DR zuum]

Hi Digby Rigby went to your site wheres all the info on the roaches?I knew hissers were considered a bad choice for feeders because of the glass climbing and slow growth and reproduction.But ive never seen anythig on the nutritional value versus other roach species.I'd like to check that out as i was led to believe gutloading was the way to go with any roach species as far as nutritional value went.

 

[Scythemantis]

I won't tip-toe around it - I very strongly dislike when people use hissers for food. Not only because they're "junk food", but because I can't help but consider them strictly a pet species. As large, docile, unusual, and slow-breeding roaches with a more complex social life than other species (they even have a "language" of a couple different hisses), feeding hissers is comparable (to me) to using, say, flower mantids or rhinoceros beetles as feeders.

 

[Dark Raptor]

I agree with you Scythemantis. I never use my hissers as food (I sell them).
It is also very hard for me, to use Blaberus species as food.

As you mentioned. I've found nice articles about social life of these roaches.

One, discribes how females protect newly hatched larvae:
Nalepa C.A., Perry J., 2003: A new mode of parental care in cocoraches. Insectes Socieux 50, 245 - 247.

Another paper shows connection of the social status of males and their hisses:
Clark D.C., Moore A.J., 1995: Variation and repeatability of male agonistic hiss characteristic and their relationship to social rank in Gromphadorhina portentosa. Animal Behaviour 50, 719 - 729.

 

[DR zuum]

I won't tip-toe around it - I very strongly dislike when people use hissers for food. Not only because they're "junk food", but because I can't help but consider them strictly a pet species. As large, docile, unusual, and slow-breeding roaches with a more complex social life than other species (they even have a "language" of a couple different hisses), feeding hissers is comparable (to me) to using, say, flower mantids or rhinoceros beetles as feeders.

No im just asking where the data is on thier nutritional value compared to other roach species,you say they are junk food,DigbyRigby says they are all fat i want to see the data on that.As gutloading is the way ive been using crix and whatever insect i use as feeders to insure nutrition for the invert consuming them.As to date ive not fed any roaches to my inverts,but im considering a switch perhaps to discos,or lobsters.

I try not to use any rare or special insect as a feeder,but lets say im breedig a rarer tarantula and i find out it requires a certain type of beetle as food prior to breeding,guess what? Rare or not its chow time.

 

[james]

roaches

I would like to find an entomologist that could determine the nutritional value of a roach and I would be willing to pay for it. Hissers do have a harder exo-skeloton than other roaches and I don't consider them to be the best feeder. With that being said they are not any more special than any other roach and still can be used as feeders. Everyday in Madagascar a reptile is munching on hissers. It's part of the food chain and saying you wouldn't feed them because their more advanced is like saying you wouldn't eat a cow because it's smarter than a chicken. Anyway, I got into roaches because I'm a reptile person. I think they main purpose is as feeders, but keeping them as pets is fun too.
James
www.blaberus.com