Hissing cockroaches!

I got a call from the local pet shop a few days ago asking if I were interested in buying a pair of hissers, I'm going up today to have a look. I've seen these before in other pet shops, they are pretty neat. I love it when you touch them and they get all pissy lol. anyone ever kept these? are they cool? I'm probs gonna get them, I've been looking to get roaches for ages.. I'll definetly try to breed them If I do get them... they better still have them in.

I'll let everyone know later on...

Get them dude, definate pet roach to have. Make sure you get a male and a female. Males have huge horns. They're slow breeders thought but I once you get them running you might end up with too many.

Will deffo get them if they still have them in, I need better feeders as well as some new weird pets. I know most of the basic care (coco fibre substrate, hides, warmth etc.) but what about humidity? some sites say high some say low... I dunno.

and if I do breed them and end up with alot I can always sell some back to the shop as feeders.

That might take you a while but the humidity isnt really important I ususally just threw in water crystals.

They don't even need substrate (no ooths that need to stay moist). Just hiding places.

I've heard breeding is difficult with only 1.1.0 -- I started with that and then bumped up to 2.3.0, and had my first brood probably six months later.

As Eddy said, very slow-growing for roaches. They're also glass climbers, so make sure to use vaseline on the top inch of your enclosure (adults are big enough that they can't get through lids, but nymphs sure can).

As far as moisture, you can keep them in a bone-dry environment with access to a water source -- for instance, spraying the walls (they'll drink it off), veggies with high water content, a wicked water tub, etc.

cool, cheers guys. If I end up with a bucketload of them in the end I can kill them off or something anyway.

also, do you think they would have a higher chance of breeding If I kept them pretty cramped together?

Ummm....just turn the heat up.

will do.

I've had hissers before when I was little. From what I remember, they were pretty neat.

We take them on almost every outreach at the BugZoo. The one thing you have to worry about is that their tarsal hooks can grab on good -- not fun if you have eczema.

What's that?

Flaky, peeling, sometimes painful skin disorder. I get it pretty bad some days on my fingers. So if their hooks grab on a flake that's peeling back, it can kind of hurt.

one of my friends has that real bad on the back of his knees, it's NASTY.

Ohhhh okay. I know what it is now. This guy I know has/had it all over the bottoms of his hands. Haven't seen him for a while.

Weird stuff

i have tonnes of hissers! cant stop the things breeding. as mike said get 2 males. when only one of my males was mature there were no babies but as soon as another matured, they started breeding and getting all territorial

right, I got the roaches. they are pretty cool, love the hissing noise they make.

deffo a M/F pair.


the wierd thing is they are not brown like the usual hissers, they are mostly black. either way still pretty cool.

ok, they seem to be doing well, they haven't touched any food yet, but I guess that's normal in the new enviroment and all. they are being kept WARM, they are very active, the male is really pissy. he hisses when I put the light on in my room.

they dont eat much, only put a little bit of food in

ok, checked on them again today, and they apear to have some species of predatory mite, I seen 2 wandering around the head of the male. anyway I'm sure there a benifical species...

are they sort of "brick red" and look like spiders? i have seen these on my hissers before and they helped with their mite problem.

oh! a good idea would to put some woodlice in with them! they clean up better than any mite and help get rid of any deaths (from the babies) , moults or leftover food

yeah, they are a redish color and quite "leggy" they are alot larger than the predatory mite species you get on scorpions.


I will try to get some woodlice, they are all probably frozen to death atm though lol.

Sounds like the predatory mites I've found on millipedes . . .

Anywho, I wouldn't recommend woodlice as cleaners. Why? 'Cause they're COCKROACHES. They ARE cleaners. If you provide water by misting the tank walls or by a wicking reservoir, the only waste you'll have are dry frass pellets.

guess what i created! woodlice-beta version. they survive in the warm tropical environment unlike they used to and they breed franticly! origionaly i got 2 heavily gravid woodlice and put them in, 1 died before birth and one birthed and then died, half the babies died off but they matured in 3 months, now, 4 months on, i can see 6 generations in there! they seem to live the same amount of time (the first babies are still in there) but breed constantly! mwuhahaha genetically modified woodlice!

I'm a bioengineering student.

Don't get me started.

You won't win.