Danmed hissers ...

Walter · Feb 22, 2004

... they won’t breed.
Today I've noticed 3rd time the female dropping the ootheca...
Have 1 male and 2 females.
I keep the warm & humid, well feed ... what's the problem? :?

Here's my hissers setup:

OldHag · Feb 22, 2004

I had one male and two females in a tank for about 6 months....I finally put them into a tub where it was dark and heated it up to about 99 degrees and they finally started breeding.....now I have so many I cant get rid of them fast enough!!! I just sent about 300 of them to MrFeexit....Let him sort em out! Now I'm waiting the next wave of babies.
Once you find what they like they'll give you LOTS of babies!! I found the Dark and increased heat seemed to be the key.
Michelle

Code Monkey · Feb 22, 2004

I'd wager the complete lack of harborages. Hissers like to (a) be hidden and (b) be in between things.

Take a look at my set up:

Walter · Feb 24, 2004

Today I've bought them a nice tube with a lot of space to hide inside.
The bugs were inside the tube just few minutes then they returned to they old hideout (as you see)...
Should I remove completely the old hideout and force them to move to the tube? :?

Wade · Feb 24, 2004

I think Code Monkey hit the proverbial nail on it's head. I pretty much just fill the whole container with hide areas. Cardboard egg crating in my case.

I also don't think high humidity is important at all with this species. I keep the container well ventilated and even use unscented clay cat litter as a substrate (to dessicate dead roaches and leftover food in order to reduce the smell).

I don't take any special measures regarding temps either. Summertime highs reach the high 80's, wintertime lows into the high 60's. Ambient temps all the way.

I have POUNDS of these things. Seriously. Can't stop 'em.

Wade

OldHag · Feb 24, 2004

I put in those PaperTowel Tubes..they LOVE them!!! They pack themselves in there by the hundreds! I think they like the close feeling of it.
Michelle

Code Monkey · Feb 24, 2004

Originally posted by Walter
The bugs were inside the tube just few minutes then they returned to they old hideout (as you see)...
Should I remove completely the old hideout and force them to move to the tube? :?

That's a little bit better, but it's still not necessarily going to make them comfortable. Roaches actually want to feel surfaces on both their upper and lower surface most times (reason (b) above). You need to make a decision about whether that tank is for display or breeding and go from there. Right now I see a lot of stuff that lets the hissers be interesting display animals but not necessarily good breeders.

My tank has several slabs of corkbark piled up willy nilly and I rarely see them except when I go in the utility closet to turn on the lights, but they're content and breeding. Also, just as illustrative point, you can see that there's a half-pipe section of cork bark, it never gets used other than where they cram themselves on the outside edge where it meets up with the aquarium glass.

As for the roaches returning, it's not surprising. That new tube isn't going to be meet their idea of a good harborage and they've already established territory on the older stuff. Fill that plastic log with paper towel tubes like OldHag shows and watch them move right in, though.

Dark · Feb 24, 2004

When I want to breed my hissers I put them in a much smaller tank for a few days and most of the time they mate. Now I have 63 nymphs and 4 adults. I keep my roaches at room temp and I have no problem but heat helps them breed. I keep them in a nice tank with lots of egg cortens and paper towle roles.

From
Eric

Drosera123 · Feb 28, 2004

Hissers are a little slow, but when they produce you'll have alot. I have 130 something from the 19 adults, and my huge female was mating with my old blood male last night, i'm going to separate the bigger ones/ old blood in a cage to see what i'll get from them.
Steve

Walter · Feb 29, 2004

Thanks everybody for the answers.
Now I know that it's not about the display but basically for the bug’s comfort.
Unfortunately I have the get rid of them ... Just learned they are illegal here where I live and tomorrow they are going back to the pet-shop.
... I really liked these roaches ...

oblivion56 · Mar 11, 2004

Just learned they are illegal

damn,sounds like you live in post wwii germany!hissers illegal,what a shame.

Wade · Mar 12, 2004

Re: Just learned they are illegal

Originally posted by oblivion56
damn,sounds like you live in post wwii germany!hissers illegal,what a shame.

Us too, actually. The way USDA regs are written, we aren't supposed to have any sort of exotic cockroaches either. I think they've pretty much given up on enforcement, however.

Wade

genious_gr · May 18, 2004

Once again I won't open a new thread to ask something. (They should thank me for not spending too much space..anyway)

I have some youngsters and have found a very cozy place for them that is very dark and nicely warm. (It's a cupboard under whicj there's a heating lamb for some scorpions, so it gets warmed up...anyway

) Since they are young and a few months from maturing and breeding I have them in a see-through pitcher (??) on egg-crates and they seem fine.
The question is; will they need some kind of substrate to produce offspring?
Wade said he doesnt keep his moist so I won't either...I wouldnt like the egg thingies to mold...
So?

Ask for pics and thu shall receive

Wade · May 18, 2004

IME they do not need substrate or high humidity to reproduce. A water bowl is all that's needed to keep them hydrated, but they will drown in open water, so the bowl should also be stuffed with paper towels, cotton, or rocks and pebbles. Even water is not needed if you feed fresh veggies, but dry diets usually result in in drier frass, which in turn results in less smell.

Wade

Scary · May 19, 2004

As people have already suggested:
I used to keep my roaches in a glass display tank, then when I wanted them to have babies I put them in an ice cream tub filled with folded and scrunched up newspaper, with small ventilation holes in . I left them for a week or so, fed them avery few day and wallah! babies.

Anyone in Europe/UK got any spare so I could restart my culture? :?

jaijjs · May 20, 2004

Another tip for increasing the number of young ones is to feed tha adult hissers oranges about every 3 weeks. I started another batch of hissers last November. I started out with 15 females and 5 males. I've kept them in a 30 gallon tote. No substrate. I now have over 400 that are 2 inches or bigger. Mass numbers of smaller ones. My scorps and pedes are eating them as fast as they can. My wife feeds her tree frogs the young ones. The toads that we caught last week eat the ones that are a 1" to 1.5". I found a friend that wants to start rasing them. So that means that i will be able to get rid of at least 60 adults. So when they get established you will have a mass of hissers.

Danmed hissers ...

Walter

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OldHag

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Code Monkey

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