Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought 50 back in Feb. and now I have a very well est. colony. I have 2 issues though.

1. How do you feed these guys? My colony is "escape proof" but my monitor cages are not. I threw one in to my little argus, who went right after it, took to bites at it and the roach managed to escape. She lost intrest shortly after and I had to fish the roach out so that it wouldn't escape into the house.

2. Their exoskeletons are tough and I think that's why the monitor "missed".

Anyone else feeding hissers having these kind of issues?

one way that I've combatted the escapee in the cage scenario, is with that product advertised in the feeder classifieds, bug barrier, or a similar product... I would get a rubbermaid container, which was sturdy enough not to be tipped over by the animal, and would then line the inside rim with the bug stop. I would then place this rubbermaid(could be any size, as long as it's untippable) in the animal's cage, throw the roaches in, and presto!! no escapees... Plus, by being in a confined area, the roaches have nowhere to go, and the animals can easily pick them off at their own leisure..

AS for hissers, I never really liked them, for they were too big for my monitors...perhaps if I kept larger species they would have worked out... so when I did rear them, I would feed out nymphs, and keep all adults as breeders... because I keep smaller odatria, and prasinus complex animals, I began rearing smaller species, such as lobsters(my favorite-breed astronomically fast), discoids, suriname spotteds, and orange heads.. The latter three, get rather large, but not as large as hissers, and their bodies are a bit softer, which might be easier to injest... I don't think that the hard exoskeleton of a hisser would be hard for a monitor to digest, I just think for a smaller sized animal, it might be difficult to overpower, and fit down its throat...I would think monitors would have invinceable digestive juices, that can handle pretty much anything they come across...

Good luck with your roaches, and congrats on your lowered feeding bill!!!!hahahaha

take care,

bob

One of the reasons I went with hissers is their size range 1/4" to 3". Feeding off the in between stages would work for me. Thanks for the tips .

im not sure how much that bug repellent or what ever costs, but a cheaper option that also works is vaseline. you can put it on the top the side of the cage or rubber made container about an inch or so. that will make it impossible for the raches to escpae, their feet cant cling onto the glass with the vasaline there.

Nathan

But then again at one roach at a time she never lete them get away, CRUNCH, down they go dead.

I feed Hissers to my two Savannah monitors and they love them. In fact between the hissers and the lobster roaches they got when they were smaller the Savs have eaten I would say 80% insects. Once every 10 days or so I might feed rodents but they fill up on the roaches. (snake food leftovers)I am only working on a two yo and a three yo so my experience is limited. But I figured they eat like 90% insects in the wild according to 'THE' book. And mine seem to get more exercise chasing them around and digging them out. They also wreck the joint, flip their water tubs and basking log.....but hey.
I will say I usually crush the roaches head before dropping them in. AND those Orkin ads that say they can live X amount of days with their heads off.....they are right. Incidentally any that have managed to get away are dead or very slow on the floor in short order. Even in a herp room in the higher temps they don't do well getting cool.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron