Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Our classroom pet roach looks like it has aborted its ootheca or egg case. Miutes after she dropped or aborted (?) the egg case she began forming another case otside her body. This case looks much different from the first. It is white and you can see movement inside. It would also inflate & deflate like a balloon. It has been one week and the case is still attached. I read about extruding egg cases and air drying so I thought this might be what is happening however, the first aborted ootheca confuses me. I accessed the photo gallery and found a photo of an aborted ootheca and it looks exactley like the first dropped case. What is the second case that it outside of our roaches body? Is she ok?

{{{ About An Aborted Ootheca }}}

Females of Madagascar giant hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa) lay their eggs in a purse-like capsule known as an ootheca. This ootheca (egg case) is retained within her body (brood pouch) until the eggs hatch, and the young roaches first see the world as tiny nymphs. Technically speaking, these newly born babies are called “Neonates”. You may occasionally see a female with the egg-case extruded in your colony. This can be seen all year long in controlled environment. (The same can be said to their mating.) Such a female is in the process of forming the case as if she is "air drying" it. Healthy extruded egg-case is solid, two-lines and straight. This behavior is believed by entomologists to be obtained by the Madagascar hissers recently in their evolutional process.

Once the extruded egg-case is completely formed and "ready", she will retract it into a special cavity in the tip of her abdomen. Nevertheless, when the female is not well fed or under consistent stresses such as undesirable environmental changes (i.e., just shipped from a dealer in other states to your apartment, loud noises, improper temperature and humidity, or even improper foods given), she can not produce healthy ootheca. Eggs might be extruded individually or loosely hanging outside of her body like a skinny arch. In such incidences, unfortunately they are to be left alone on the ground. They are sooner or later eaten by cagemates as nutritious good food - they do not waist perfectly good protein-rich good foods.

A female that has been successfully fertilized will retain the eggs within this cavity in her abdomen for at least 60 days. The aborted Hisser eggs left alone on the ground, usually can not grow into babies (unless they are truly the last stage of maturity). Incubation of abandoned eggs in a test tubes or glass container with proper gel nutrient and consistent oxygen circulation is rather difficult, costly and inefficient way to save the eggs or solve the source of problem.

During this period, baby Madagascar hissers grows inside of the egg-cases inside of their mother's abdomen, safely protected from outsiders. Be very gentle and nice to pregnant ladies! They are doing the truly miraculous works within their body.

As long as you feed the colony mainly with dry dog food or dry cat food that are rich in protein, you do not need to separate the pregnant mother from her cagemates --- In another words, if you do not feed them good foods, her cagemates (male and females) will eat the newly born babies (soft, tiny, ivory white with black cute eyes) to get much needed protein. So, do not just feed Madagascar Hissers vegetables and fruites. This is extremely important! Hissers like cooked juicy drumsticks of turkey (after thanksgiving day) and chicken. It is amazing to see how quickly and neatly they clean it to the bare bone!

PS.

There is a remarkable experiment regarding “saving” this “abandoned ootheca” in one of the Japanese Internet roach websites (written in Japanese) by a pet roach enthusiast. He picked up the “abandoned ootheca” (solid form) of another giant tropical roach carefully and placed it on sphagnum moss in a small closed container and keeps it with high humid and high temperature. In this way, in a week, he succeeded hatching 10 babies from the “abandoned ootheca”. He also featured many photographic records of this experiment in his website. Personally speaking, I tried his methods several times for “abandoned oothecas” (both solid forms and separated forms) of Hisses and Giganteus in the past. Nevertheless, I was not successful.

Good luck to you and your pet insects!

Takeshi

modified from previous article posted on 20011127
All the rights reserved by Takeshi Yamada 2006
E-mail: niceguyinny123@aol.com

{{{ AIR DRYING EGG CASE? }}} Part 1

When the outer shell of the egg case (ootheca) are completely formed inside of her brood pouch, the mother Hisser extrude about the ¾ inch the ootheca (not the entire length of ootheca) outside of her body as if she is “air drying” it. In reality, the outer shell of the ootheca does not require extra air to solidify, nor there is absolutely no need to “dry” it. The healthy extruded ootheca viewed from outside is about ½ inch –long, light yellowish translucent white, two-lined and solid. This behavior of Hisser mother often freaks out uninformed amateur pet insect lovers, who just purchased their first Hissers without homework of studying the biology of this remarkable creature from the jangle (rain forest) of Madagascar near Africa.

It is actually one of the most vulnerable time for the Hisser Mother in natural life to be attacked by her predators. (Needless to say, the most vulnerable time for any hissers is during the molt.) Many Hisser mothers even conduct this process of “air drying” usually at a location, which is away from other cagemates to secure her and her ootheca’s safety. Although it seems she is doing this process very slowly to human eyes, in reality, she is doing it “the fastest as she could”. It is why it takes much less time for her to retract the ootheca inside of her brood pouch (less than half an hour) although it takes sometimes over an hour to protrude the ootheca.

What she is doing is actually a “re-orientation of the direction” of her ootheca. The width of the abdomen of a Hisser is wider than the thickness/height of its body, so, it is much easier for her to store her ootheca inside of her brood pouch in “horizontal” direction, once each egg is formatted in the same hight with proper numbers inside of her blood pouch. Needless to say, for Hisser babies to wiggle out from the each egg of ootheca, it is absolutely necessary for the ootheca to be placed inside of mother Hisser horizontally; otherwise, baby hissers can not come out in orderly fashion if not they can not come out at all from their each egg case.

(continue to Part 2)

modified from takeshi’s previous posted article in 2002
All the rights reserved by Takeshi Yamada 2006
E-mail: niceguyinny123@aol.com

{{{ AIR DRYING EGG CASE? }}} Part 2

According to the contemporary professional entomologists who specialize the biology of roaches, this behavior of Hisser mother is actually obtained by them in recent evolutional development. In any cases, the ootheca is protected safely from predators in this way.

On the contrary to this behavior, more primitive roaches such as several species of common pest house roaches found in North America simple drop their “egg capsels”, which babies wiggle out when it matures. The species of pest roaches, which produce the “left alone’ style of “egg capsrls” are Brown-banded cockroach, American cockroach, German cockroach, and Oriental cockroach. I saw all these roaches except Oriental cockroach here in New York City. I saw the Oriental cockroach in New Orleans. They are not pet roach at all, and I will not get into too many details on these annoying parasites here. For more info, please refer following website: http://pested.unl.edu/roachind.htm

This “re-orientation of ootheca” by a Hisser mother can be viewed all year long in captive breeding of Hisser tanks. In another words, they are ready to produce their off springs all year long, for you pleasures and/or your pet lizards’ pleasures.

Good luck to you and your pet insects!

Takeshi

modified from Takeshi’s previously posted article in 2002
All the rights reserved by Takeshi Yamada 2006
E-mail: niceguyinny123@aol.com

{{{ AIR-DRYING EGG CASE? }}} PHOTOGRAPH
Here is a photograph of "Air-Drying" by adult female of madagascar giant hissing cockroach.

Good luck to you and your pet insects!

Takeshi

All the rights reserved by Takeshi Yamada 2006
E-mail: niceguyinny123@aol.com
For more articles about Hissers, please go to http://www.hissingcockroach.50megs.com/tt1.htm
My giant insect taxidermy gaffs are also featured in following website;
http://sideshowworld.com/SSA-15.html

{{{ About An Aborted Egg Case }}} photograph

Here is a photograph of "Abortion of ootheca" by adult female of madagascar giant hissing cockroach.

Good luck to you and your pet insects!

Takeshi

All the rights reserved by Takeshi Yamada 2006
E-mail: niceguyinny123@aol.com
For more articles about Hissers, please go to http://www.hissingcockroach.50megs.com/tt1.htm
My giant insect taxidermy gaffs are also featured in following website;
http://sideshowworld.com/SSA-15.html