Hissers and dubias/turkistans

My local exotic shop gave me two adult hissers for free because the lizards wouldn't eat them and he thought they were gross. I was wondering if I could place these in with my dubias or turkistan roaches. Granted none of the creatures I own are big enough to eat these big things. I might have to put them in my 200 turkistans, which are in a 5.5-gallon aquarium because I have no lid on the dubia cage (though I could get one of those metal ones from PetSmart). Would placing the hissers in with the turks hurt anything?

BTW is it really okay to sue hissers as feeders? I read that recent report that hissers have mold inside of them even though people have for years been using them as food.

I have a colony of hissers and it typically has a few stray turkistans in with the hissers. They do fine together. Not sure about the reciprocal - colony of turkistans with a few hissers?!
And I agree - hissers aren't adequate feeders. I say this because of their thicker exoskeleton and large barbs on their legs. I haven't heard of any internal anatomy that makes them bad feeders, but that's a possibility. There are too many good species to use as feeders to include hissers in that category. At least they make cool pets and emit an awesome sound.

If I put a metal top on my dubia colony could I place the hissers in there? I'd to do that to conserve space for any future inverts I get.

I have my hissers with a small dubia colony (And some AGBs) and they all get along fine. Actually once in a while the hissers start a fight for the "good part" of the log. It's cute to watch. Sometimes my one hisser will try to mate with the dubias but they mate with anything (including male hissers).

Andrew273 said:

I have my hissers with a small dubia colony (And some AGBs) and they all get along fine. Actually once in a while the hissers start a fight for the "good part" of the log. It's cute to watch. Sometimes my one hisser will try to mate with the dubias but they mate with anything (including male hissers).

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I wouldn't call my dubia colony "small." I started off with about 50 mixed nymphs and then added some more nymphs and 5 breeding pairs. So I really can just throw those two hissers I got as freebies in there without risks of disaster (AFTER I get a metal screen top, because I know hissers can climb)?

Hissers are good food for the right animal

I have person that is buying hissers for monkey food. He says they are a great source of protein and much cheaper to raise and buy then purchasing any meats/fish/ ect. My 3 foot savannah likes the hissers although I don't feed them to him often, and I have fed the babies to many things including frogs, lizards, my Chilean rose hair ect ect. The babies are very soft and make good feeders.
The other plus with the madagascars is that you only have to refresh the adult colony every year and a half or so and that is only if you feed off ALL of the babies.

I believe in feeding my insectivores a great variety of insects.

They do make cool pets and I have some select colors that I keep seperate.

- just my 2 cents