What invert should I get (best pet invert)

[NecroticVenom]

I’m going to see if I can get my brother to apply. Thank you!

 

[goliathusdavid]

I’m going to see if I can get my brother to apply. Thank you!

My pleasure! Thanks for doing your research!

 

[Matts inverts]

Never mind, I looked at the list and native mantis species as well as some invasive and orchid mantids are legal meaning no more permits.

 

[goliathusdavid]

Never mind, I looked at the list and native mantis species as well as some invasive and orchid mantids are legal meaning no more permits.

Orchid mantids are not legal, nor are most invasive species that have not yet been labelled naturalized. Please see my previous post or the Mantis Menagerie guide.

 

[Matts inverts]

Mantis managers said they were de regulated

 

[goliathusdavid]

Yeah, I'm much more inclined to trust Mantis Menagerie and the professional keepers\regulatory experts I know over mantis managers. Can you nevertheless provide a link?

 

[Matts inverts]

It was on the link connected to the link you sent in the last page

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

I really like my hissing roaches, and would suggest them as a cool invert. With a couple caveats...

I think this was mentioned, but it bears repeating. They can climb glass, so you need to take measures to prevent them from going on a field-trip. Usually a barrier of vaselune around the perimeter of the cage will do the trick, but you want to have a secure lid as well, naturally.


I don't think they are what would be included as "invasive" but mine have reproduced readily enough at room temperatures that I take care not to allow escapes. Naturally, room temperature is a relative term, my house is sweltering in the summer at times, and I try to keep it reasonably warm in the winter due to the presence of my other herps and inverts, so I've had breeding going on periodically regardless of the season. But not excessive production. I started with a single pair about a year ago, maybe a year and a half, and Iprobably have 40 now, give or take a few. Very easy to feed, fruit, dry dog food, cricket chow, leftover unconsumed crested gecko food (They excel at cleaning up a bowl of that, it is the best way I've found to clean up a dish, they leave it nearly spotless unless there is more than they can consume at one sitting.

They live a decent amount of time, I still have the original pair. But I can't tell which two they are after the first brood matured. But I've not found any deceased ones to date.They are hardy, I've yet had to remove a deceased one, though I don't know whether or not they will scavenge dead enclosure mates, but if they do it could explain the lack of remains.

Males "fight" but it is not a battle to the death, so you could probably keep a couple of them.negating the concern for reproduction. They fight for territory, so with enough space it probably would not be an issue

If handling is attractive, they are not very zippy.. They do not bite. The most you feel from them is the "spurs
on their legs on your skin.

One of the things I enjoy about my colony is feeding time. They apparently have a very good sense of food detection, because when i feed them, they become more active, waving their antennae about. I don't know a lot about their physiology, but I presume their antennae may have receptors that alert them to the presence of a meal. I could be dead wrong about that, however.


And of course, the characteristic that earns them their common name is kind of neat.I routinely give some of them a touch to prompt that response.

I haven't decided what to do with my surplus. Since I view them as "pets" I'm kind of loathe to use them as feeders, though I did give one appropriately sized one to my L. parahybana, and felt a little rotten about it. I've given a couple away, but i may consider selling excess ones at reasonable prices if the population gets too high. Whatever a reasonable price might be. I'll figure that out should I decide to do that. But regardless, I'm going to have to put them in a bigger enclosure, they are a bit cramped.

Here is a reasonably good site telling about them. The OP might want to show it to the parental units if he/she wants to try and sell the idea of keeping them.

The Madagascar Hissing Cockroach: Royalty Among Roaches - Cockroach Facts

These giant cockroaches are fascinating examples of the adaptations that animals develop to survive and thrive in their natural environments.

cockroachfacts.com

And, they appear in movies from time to time. Notably, this schlocky 70's creature feature.

Wow, I really went a bit long on this, didn't I? Much more than anybody would be interested in, I'm sure!

So I'll just list the plusses and minuses to conclude.

Pluses: They get a respectable size. Relatively long-lived. Easy to inexpensively feed and care for. Cheap. They make a neat noise. Easy to breed if you wish for more. No reputation of becoming pests that I've been able to find.
Minuses: I can't really think of any apart from that the reputation of roaches can squick out some people. But that is common for a lot arthropods.

 

[goliathusdavid]

It was on the link connected to the link you sent in the last page

Actually, what it says is "Both importation and possession of exotic mantids requires USDA permits (even for common species such as orchid mantises [Hymenopus coronatus]). To have the permits approved, you must have a containment facility set up." That is the opposite of deregulation. They require permits and a containment facility just for possession.

I really like my hissing roaches, and would suggest them as a cool invert. With a couple caveats...

I think this was mentioned, but it bears repeating. They can climb glass, so you need to take measures to prevent them from going on a field-trip. Usually a barrier of vaselune around the perimeter of the cage will do the trick, but you want to have a secure lid as well, naturally.


I don't think they are what would be included as "invasive" but mine have reproduced readily enough at room temperatures that I take care not to allow escapes. Naturally, room temperature is a relative term, my house is sweltering in the summer at times, and I try to keep it reasonably warm in the winter due to the presence of my other herps and inverts, so I've had breeding going on periodically regardless of the season. But not excessive production. I started with a single pair about a year ago, maybe a year and a half, and Iprobably have 40 now, give or take a few. Very easy to feed, fruit, dry dog food, cricket chow, leftover unconsumed crested gecko food (They excel at cleaning up a bowl of that, it is the best way I've found to clean up a dish, they leave it nearly spotless unless there is more than they can consume at one sitting.

They live a decent amount of time, I still have the original pair. But I can't tell which two they are after the first brood matured. But I've not found any deceased ones to date.They are hardy, I've yet had to remove a deceased one, though I don't know whether or not they will scavenge dead enclosure mates, but if they do it could explain the lack of remains.

Males "fight" but it is not a battle to the death, so you could probably keep a couple of them.negating the concern for reproduction. They fight for territory, so with enough space it probably would not be an issue

If handling is attractive, they are not very zippy.. They do not bite. The most you feel from them is the "spurs
on their legs on your skin.

One of the things I enjoy about my colony is feeding time. They apparently have a very good sense of food detection, because when i feed them, they become more active, waving their antennae about. I don't know a lot about their physiology, but I presume their antennae may have receptors that alert them to the presence of a meal. I could be dead wrong about that, however.


And of course, the characteristic that earns them their common name is kind of neat.I routinely give some of them a touch to prompt that response.

I haven't decided what to do with my surplus. Since I view them as "pets" I'm kind of loathe to use them as feeders, though I did give one appropriately sized one to my L. parahybana, and felt a little rotten about it. I've given a couple away, but i may consider selling excess ones at reasonable prices if the population gets too high. Whatever a reasonable price might be. I'll figure that out should I decide to do that. But regardless, I'm going to have to put them in a bigger enclosure, they are a bit cramped.

Here is a reasonably good site telling about them. The OP might want to show it to the parental units if he/she wants to try and sell the idea of keeping them.

The Madagascar Hissing Cockroach: Royalty Among Roaches - Cockroach Facts

These giant cockroaches are fascinating examples of the adaptations that animals develop to survive and thrive in their natural environments.

cockroachfacts.com

And, they appear in movies from time to time. Notably, this schlocky 70's creature feature.

Wow, I really went a bit long on this, didn't I? Much more than anybody would be interested in, I'm sure!

So I'll just list the plusses and minuses to conclude.

Pluses: They get a respectable size. Relatively long-lived. Easy to inexpensively feed and care for. Cheap. They make a neat noise. Easy to breed if you wish for more. No reputation of becoming pests that I've been able to find.
Minuses: I can't really think of any apart from that the reputation of roaches can squick out some people. But that is common for a lot arthropods.

Hissers are fantastic. Kept a colony of four hundred this past summer. And nope, this species is not invasive, just a harmless and delightful roach (with the exception of the smell) .

 

[Matts inverts]

I have a pair that’s still growing but I can’t wait to breed hissers

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

I've not noticed any odor. But there is a big difference between my colony of approximately 40 and a colony of 10 times that many!

I forgot to mention the symbiotic relationship they have with a species of mites.But I may not have mentioned it anyway as some folks might consider that a minus. But i gather that they are a species specific type of mites, and not the parasitic type, and as such not be a cause for concern. The only other minus that i discovered after submitting my post was that there could be a bit of of concern over certain molds that can result from not maintaining their enclosure. But that seems to be a concern for people with a history of sensitivity to molds. And those mites perform a bit of a service of consuming moulds, apparently. Proper maintenance would eliminate any such problems, I'd think. It is certainly nothing that will cause me to lose any sleep. But I could see it as being a potential minus for people who do have issues with molds..

 

[NecroticVenom]

Would it be worth keeping a single hisser?
My parents wouldn’t even read the roach thing @Scorpiobsession wrote.

 

[Entomomaniac]

Would it be worth keeping a single hisser?
My parents wouldn’t even read the roach thing @Scorpiobsession wrote.

You should convince your parents to let you get several. Most people wouldn't keep just 1 hisser.

 

[Scorpiobsession]

Would it be worth keeping a single hisser?

If they interest you and you think it's a cool pet then probobally. They live 2-5 years so it would be worth it to get one. However I'm not sure if there would be a problem with them being social animals or not. I agree with @Entomomaniac that you mine as well get multiple.

My parents wouldn’t even read the roach thing @Scorpiobsession wrote.

You could just expose them to different things. Take them to a reptile expo and talk to people who sell dubia roaches. Also you could write an essay (writing a 10 page essay about something has always worked for me) to convince them that they aren't invasive. Hang pictures of dubia roaches in you house with random statements about how safe they are as feeders. You might also be able to talk to a seller and buy only males, they're impossible to reproduce and eventually once you prove how safe they are your parents will let you buy a normal feeder container of dubias. However most sellers won't sell only males or at least not repeatedly since then they'll get a surplus of females.

 

[goliathusdavid]

If they interest you and you think it's a cool pet then probobally. They live 2-5 years so it would be worth it to get one. However I'm not sure if there would be a problem with them being social animals or not. I agree with @Entomomaniac that you mine as well get multiple.

I wouldn't recommend keeping just one, as they are social. But you could get away with keeping two females or two males (though I would probably opt for the former).

 

[DiscoidsNHissers]

I'd actually say to go for two male hissers, once anyone sees their dorky attempts at a jousting tourney, they won't be scared of them. However, yes, hissers are happiest with friends, but I wouldn't recommend females if you are not planning on breeding, they are notorious for being pregnant all the time.

 

[Matts inverts]

If I’m correct, can’t the females reproduce without a male. Would stick with males if you aren’t aloud to breed them.

 

[goliathusdavid]

If I’m correct, can’t the females reproduce without a male. Would stick with males if you aren’t aloud to breed them.

This is incorrect. Hissers are not parthenogenic. What @DiscoidsNHissers is getting at (please correct me if I am wrong) is that most female hissers you buy will be mature and will have been housed in a colony, meaning they are likely to be pregnant.

 

[Matts inverts]

Thanks, was confused about that.

 

[DiscoidsNHissers]

Yep, that's what I meant. Breeders tend to shove everyone together (mostly because it's easier, who wants to go through hundreds of hissers to sort by gender when you can just keep them all in one spot?) so there is a good chance that she's already pregnant before she even gets put into a box to head to your place.