Wide horn hisser (Gromphadorhina oblongonota) cannibalism. What the hell just happened??

[JustSatanThings]

Hi everyone,
I'm in a bit of a shock right now. It feels like I'm in some kind of parallel reality. A few days ago, I had what seemed like a happy little group of 5 wide horn hissers. They're not fully grown yet but close. I've had them since they were small, so for several months.

They were all definitely accounted for last week. That much I know. It never crossed my mind that it could be otherwise, so when I check on them every few days I just provide some water and drop in some food and don't disturb them too much. I left for the weekend, then came back, I only checked on them briefly.

This morning I was passing by and noticed something strange in the enclosure. It looked like a shriveled piece of fruit, but I haven't put any fruit in lately. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be, to my horror, a mostly eaten chunk of hisser.
There was even more bad news. Freaking out a bit, I opened the enclosure and took a good look around. One of the captives had recently molted, so there was her skin on the ground, then the freshly molted roach herself, then a big female, then a small male...and the chunk. That's it.

So one of my roaches got eaten and another one disappeared into thin air.
These guys are BIG and the lid was on tight. There's absolutely no way it could have gotten out. So that only leaves one other possibility. The others ate him too and simply left no trace.

Why in the WORLD did this happen? I give them food regularly. I feed them crested gecko meal as a base, and then various vegetables once a week or so. Actually, now that I think about it, they used to clean up the gecko meal with the speed of lightning but lately, they haven't been very interested in food. But then they go and kill and eat two of their own. What is going on? My apartment is around 75-80 most of the time. My other roaches (dubias and red runners) seem fine and have no problems eating. What did I do wrong. I mean, I really must have horribly failed to provide for one of their needs if something like this happened. What's more, how?? One of the roaches missing is my big male. Did they gang up on him or something? My mind is reeling. Any insight would help. Thanks

 

[Dmitry Maksimovich]

not quite sure how to help you there as what youre describing does sound very strange, the only thing i can suggest is try to feed them more and give more variety in the food that you provide, ive noticed that my roaches tend to get sick of the same food over and over again and point blank refuse to eat it sometimes. provide water too. i know that they can fight but ive never really seen them turn cannibalistic over it unless the population of the colony is too high or theres not enough food. other than that the only other thing that i can suggest is housing space but thats just a guess, try to make sure that they have enough room in the enclosure. sorry its not much, but hope it helps a little

 

[Hoolia]

I would suggest adding a protein source to their diet, like perhaps some fish flakes or fish pellets. Other than that I don't know what to tell you.

 

[mantisfan101]

Cannabalism is actually really common amongst hissers if they have no or little protein. Give them some fish flakes, they go absolutely nuts for it. I had to learn this the hard way when I lost half of my baby hissers since I kept feeding the adults lettuce and fruits.