pet/feeder roach.

[Specialmias]

I currently have a juvie White knee, a 6 year old curly hair and a 4 year old desert hairy, a blue ringed pede and two liphistius and a tiny year old red knee sling.

I've been using crickets and super worms but the pet stores carrying my feeders have gotten spotty, sometimes a month and a half before they have anything in stock. I also have been kind of looking into keeping a few hissers. I've read they breed slow enough to be potential feeders in my case but they have a tough exoskeleton and sometimes bite back so they're not ideal.

So I've decided in keeping a few hissers and some dubia, but it seems as if they would eventually outproduce the amount I need to feed unless I got a small amount of them and kept their numbers in check through feeding. If anyone can refer me to anyone with low priced giant or unique hissers and some tips on hisser care it would be much appreciated.

 

[Xaranx]

Speaking on the dubia's only, you can slow down their breeding by keeping them in colder temps, 75-80. No lower than 70 though. 85-90 is perfect breeding and they will breed a lot more with those temps. I keep mine at 80-85. You can always sell off your excess to the petshops. And really, people have been keeping these and breeding them for years, there is loads of information out there about them. www.blaberus.com is good if you are wanting to get some to start your own colony, he will send you free food and water crystals as well, good guy. He posts in the classifieds on this board as well, 120 dubia for 35 I believe.

Edit: http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=103618 I and many others will vouch for this dude. Just email him and tell him what you have and he'll be more than happy to help you out. His website isn't the best, especially when it comes to ordering.

 

[ShawnH]

If your looking for some cool hissers I'd advise you to go for a few Gromphadorhina grandidieri Aka. tiger hissers. They breed a bit slower then normal hissers but are very pretty and easy to take care of.

As for hisser care: 70-90% humidity and 80-90F they breed like crazy. Feed them fish flakes, dog food carrots, oranges, romain lettuce and stuff like that and they go nuts. Just make sure you have a secure lid and use a barrier like a couple inches of vasiline along the top because they are awesome climbers and will escape.

 

[bugmankeith]

As far as keeping them for pets...

You could try ordering all female nymphs specifying before you order, dubias are so common im sure a breeder would have thousands of those roaches to sell. Keep the female nymphs as pets, they will never get pregnant if no males are present. But dont order adult females because they could be pregnant when you ordered them.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

I've read they breed slow enough to be potential feeders in my case but they have a tough exoskeleton and sometimes bite back so they're not ideal.

Hissers don't bite and only the older nymphs and adults have thick exoskeletons.
I second the tiger hissers but you may never breed enough to feed any off.

 

[Rochelle]

Who says hissers bite?
Hissers are sweeties and make great pets. Also the smaller nymphs are perfect for sling feeding....

 

[Specialmias]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Decided on hissers for now and am prepping an old tub I was using for lobster roaches when I had em 4 years ago. Everyone still using Vaseline for barrier nowadays too? Did anyone find something much better? James tells me the little buggers still manage to scuttle by fluon too from time to time.

 

[ShawnH]

I've heard that olive oil works well but I use vaseline. I'm not sure about lobsters being able to crawl over vaseline. As always a tight fitting lid is the best defense.

Check out the allpet roaches forum for more information on roaches. There are many far more knowledgable people on those forums then I on the subject of lobster roaches.

www.bidabug.org/Forum

 

[Specialmias]

Oh no no I'm putting the hissers in a tub I used to use for lobster roaches.