variety in madagascan hissers - nature vs. nuture

[DravenXavier]

Well, I have a small-ish sized colony of madagascan hissers, and I expected offspring and such to vary a little here and there, but I have so many different colors and shapes, that I'm wondering what could be at hand. I saw in a recently previous post that diet can determine color, but my colony ranges from lighter-than-normal individuals to ones that are absolutely pure black. Shape also varies significantly. I have a few that are up to 33% slimmer horizontally, looking almost like cigars, and I have one that is very flat and broad. I will try to get some pics today. I suppose the main point of me posting is to make sure I'm not doing anything to cause it, or if it's just a bunch of jumbled genetics. They are kept in a good sized plastic tub with not too much ventilation, but enough where condensation doesn't build up inside. Bedding is coco fiber, egg crate for hiding places, and a diet of dry dog food and mixed fruits and veggies. Any ideas, let me know, and in the meantime I will get some pics. Thanks!

 

[xelda]

That sounds perfectly normal to me. With every species of cockroach, you encounter a lot of variation because not every roach grows at the same pace.

Body shape is one type of sexual dimorphism between the males and females. Males are a little more broad and flat, whereas females are much more oblong and round, especially when gravid. With nymphs, body shapes vary according to how close they are to a molt. Generally, the flat ones have just molted and haven't eaten yet whereas the more rounder ones are full and ready to molt soon.This is a trend with all roaches in general. Roach colonies that aren't fed enough food will have nearly all of its nymphs being flat.

As for color, this too usually depends on how close they are to a molt. When a roach has just molted, it's an off white color, and it takes at least a couple of days for the new exoskeleton to sclerotize (fully harden and darken). Any lighter color roaches you find simply means they've molted recently. Any darker color roaches usually means they are about to molt, but that's assuming you've got all normal hissers.

 

[bugmankeith]

Flatter, rounder roaches do mean they are newly molted, after a week they get more slender width and fatter.

Or do these shapes occur in the adults?

 

[DravenXavier]

I only consider the adults on these guys. Nymphs like to change anyways. But no, these aren't just temporary changes. I don't have a WHOLE lot of them, at least the adults, so I know most of my adults pretty well. I've really started taking notice at least 2 weeks ago, and the adults that looked a certain way or were a certain color have not changed. Unfortunately I was not able to get a picture today, but I'll be there tomorrow, and will get some pics then (I keep them at work...makes it a lot easier).

 

[padkison]

I went to a insect event put on by the local science museum this weekend. They had a lot of hissers at different stations throughout the event. I noticed that many of there hissers were significantly bigger than mine, not that I need mine to be big for feeding.

 

[DravenXavier]

Pic

Ok, well, here's probably 1/3 of the adults that have grown up in the colony. Thin one, flat one, dark one, striped one, black one, etc. Just figured you'd like to see what I'm referring to lol.

http://s36.photobucket.com/albums/e...rrent=P1010059.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch10

 

[bugmankeith]

That thin one is very unique, and the flat one,well is very flat, another unique one. You do have quite a variety!

 

[Dark]

my friend has a pretty big colony and he has one even flatter than that one, as for the very thin one I have one of those too, not sure what causes it just maybe was disturbed on the last molt.

 

[dtknow]

I had one like that. I'm guessing it is due to age.

 

[IguanaMama]

One day I noticed some wing biting in my orange head colony so I decided to buy a can of dog food for them. I had some left over so I fed a large dolop to my hissers. I forgot I did that and I few days later I looked in and some of my hissers were so fat they looked like they were going to explode. I had no idea what happened. I was literally freaking out. I thought maybe they were "with nymph" until I realized even some of the males were fat. Two days later, I remembered the dog food. They are just now starting to slim down, but their shape did change pretty drastically for a while I figured maybe the more dominate ones got to the dog food and got the most to eat. So I think even in a colony where everyone is getting fed the same, there still might be some variation as to who is getting what and how much. I feed my guys a variety so maybe the dominate ones are getting the choice foods:? This is a fairly easy experiement but who has the time, not me, I have three young boys in school.... hmmm, I'm thinking science fair project, however....