Madagascar hissing cockroach

[Nursemaia]

Someone local is selling them cheaply. I can get 3 females and 1 male for $10. All full grown. I was thinking about starting a colony. As they breed and hatch, I could use the various sizes to feed to my various chams. I have dubia too and know how nutritious they are as a feeder. I'm wondering how well hissing cockroach work as a feeder. Any tips on breeding, such as male to female ratio?

 

[jpowell86]

Someone local is selling them cheaply. I can get 3 females and 1 male for $10. All full grown. I was thinking about starting a colony. As they breed and hatch, I could use the various sizes to feed to my various chams. I have dubia too and know how nutritious they are as a feeder. I'm wondering how well hissing cockroach work as a feeder. Any tips on breeding, such as male to female ratio?

I use them for my larger chameleons. The full grown roaches are only really taken by melleri, parsonii, etc. They are massive and the males have horns that make the initial crunch uncomfortable and sometimes harmful.

I find they breed relatively slow. I have very limited experience as I have only been keeping them for about 7-8 months. Andrew, @Extensionofgreen, sent them to me. If you want a more robust roach that breeds faster than the above, go with orange head roaches. They are nice and plump and I find they breed much quicker and would are a good colony feeder. Of course I have more than a few chameleons, so I can't waste as much time on insects that reproduce slowly.

Hopefully Andrew or @nick barta will chime in.

 

[Nursemaia]

I knew they were rather large and was thinking about them for Mel down the road once he was bigger. I did not know about the horns or being potentially harmful. I've always thought they were kinda neat so I may end up with them as a new pet if using them as a feeder isn't practical.
I don't know squat about orange head roaches. I like the dubia but they breed slowly from what I hear and I eventually feed them off before getting a colony started and then I just buy more.
I'd like a medium to large roach that breeds easily and quickly. Wood roaches I field collect in the summer but honestly they are a little too "roachy" and give me a touch of the creeps. They're huge and fly, plus look a lot like the German cockroach.
I'd like to hear what @Extensionofgreen has to say as well. I believe he's in the neighboring state, so he'd have good input on how climate affect breeding. Ideally I like everything to go outside when it's warm. Lizards, plants, feeders.
@nick barta has a great reputation for selling here so I'm sure he would know a lot about roaches too.
I love that on here I'm not weird for wanting roaches, I don't freely share that with people in real life.

 

[CharlieCharmingo]

I'm interested in this too. I give Tony island roaches all the time but they are never fully grown because I never notice any horns. They breed extremely slow and I never get a colony going either. But someone told me if I keep them constantly warm/under a heat lamp that will speed up the process.
Also @Nursemaia i know what you mean about he wanting roaches haha. I was at the pet store the other day and as I was checking out a lady stopped me and said "WHAT are you feeding that's eating ROACHES?!" And there was a look of pure shock and disgust lol.

 

[Nursemaia]

I'm interested in this too. I give Tony island roaches all the time but they are never fully grown because I never notice any horns. They breed extremely slow and I never get a colony going either. But someone told me if I keep them constantly warm/under a heat lamp that will speed up the process.
Also @Nursemaia i know what you mean about he wanting roaches haha. I was at the pet store the other day and as I was checking out a lady stopped me and said "WHAT are you feeding that's eating ROACHES?!" And there was a look of pure shock and disgust lol.

You should have told her they were for you!

 

[CharlieCharmingo]

You should have told her they were for you!

Dang I should have! But unfortunately some cute guy was giving me the "cool you like reptiles" nod and so I was distracted haha.

 

[Extensionofgreen]

Halloween hissers are more expensive, but much softer and more attractive as feeders. Orange heads are my favorite, by far.
Regular hissers are slower to get started and you'll have quite the wait with that few, but treated like dubia, with things a bit on the dryer side, they do produce a lot. I get larger lots for cheapest on eBay. They have a higher fat content and are great for that reason, when you have larger chameleons, imports, or gravid females.
They are not so fatty as to avoid them, but the hard exoskeletons of the adults is quiet formidable and the legs are sharp and spiky. I feed the adults freshly killed, so they don't struggle and injure my chameleons with those legs.
They gutload easily. They also will climb on a branch in the chameleon's cage and are slower moving, less apt to stop, drop, run, and hide, though they will, if free ranged. They do need warm conditions to breed quickly. Giant or even standard lobster roaches breed quickly and are about an inch for the standards and 2" for the giants. They breed VERY quickly and make good staple feeders. They don't fly, but do climb.
Orange heads are my favorite for melleri and parsons, hands down, but the giant and standard lobsters are more versatile and will appeal to many chameleon sizes.

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

The dubai are too roachy for me, but I see them as a necessary evil. Hissers?

 

[nick barta]

I have to side with the majority of posters here and vote for the Orange Head Roach as the best feeder roach. No worries about climbing, flying, smelling, or hard exoskeleton. Hissers are very cool roaches, but they do climb plastic and glass, and take time to get the colony going.

CHEERS!

Nick

 

[Nursemaia]

Ok so it looks like orange head for feeders and I may get the hissing for fun. I currently have veiled, panther, and a baby melleri but I do plan on expanding my collection to include a quad quad soon and lord knows what else.