Hissers

Maggie

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 6, 2003
Messages
114
Never had these before so I am sort of at a loss. Looking up as much as I can. Are they difficult to take care of? Someone recommended I feed dog food, wasnt sure if that was accurate though! What is the best conditions to keep them under?
 

Jesse607

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 29, 2002
Messages
715
Grease 2 inches(5cm) from the top of the container with vaseline, because the babies are very good at escaping.

The more warm and humid you keep them, the faster they breed and grow, but that also means you will have to change the substrate(I use pine shavings) and food frequently. However they will do fine as long as they are kept over 72 degrees F. and a supply of water.

They also grow faster and breed more with a varied diet of veggies, fruit, grains, and rat/mouse chow or dog/cat food
 

Baphomet

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 22, 2003
Messages
65
By "Hissers", I am assuming you are talking about Hissing Cockroaches?

These are fairly easy to care for, and it is best to use a screened reptile tank as jezzy607 pointed out the fact that the "youngin's" are great escape artists. A 10-gallon tank can house quite a large colony.

Provide a few logs/branches for them to climb on.

Instead of pine shavings, I often use ground coconut husks as a substrate...it last longer and isn't as prone to fungus/mold (as compared to pine shavings).

72° - 80° is ideal, and they prefer a dry environment. Water and eed as suggested by jezzy607.
 

Marc_C

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 4, 2002
Messages
438
Get a nice screen lid that is tight fitting. From personal experiance, nymphs have no problem at all walking over vasoline.
 

Frank

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 22, 2003
Messages
474
The problem with pine shavings is that the wood contain a natural insecticide.. It doesn't seem to be harmful for bigger insects like roaches, but it can be bad for smaller ones..





Frank
 

atavuss

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 16, 2002
Messages
1,031
Originally posted by Maggie
Never had these before so I am sort of at a loss. Looking up as much as I can. Are they difficult to take care of? Someone recommended I feed dog food, wasnt sure if that was accurate though! What is the best conditions to keep them under?
I am starting a colony of hissers and death head roaches. I keep them in plastic opaque round food containers that are about 2.5 gallons. they have a TIGHT fitting lid that snaps on. I have drilled several 2" holes and hot glued micro screening in for ventilation. I use no substrate for ease of cleaning. I use the polymer "water crystals" that I buy in bulk and hydrate as needed, less messier than water and the nymphs do not drown in the water dish. I use the same cheap dog food that my breeder rats get (I checked all the labels on dog food and picked the one that had the nearest fat, protein, etc. as rodent chow). I use toilet paper and paper towel tubes for hides. any leftover lettuce and other veggies go to the roaches. I am leaning towards the death head roaches as they cannot climb glass/plastic like the hissers can. I do not recommend using kritter keepers for the hissers as the nymphs are small enough to escape through the ventilation slots in the lid (I learned this the hard way when I saw lots of nymphs on the OUTSIDE of a large kritter keeper.......months later my wife found a large juv male hisser roach in a pile of newspapers she was gathering up to put out for recycling.)
Ed
 
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