So I was bringing some hissers in for display in a classroom, so I selected a male and a female from Gromphadorhina portentosa "black", Gromphadorhina oblongata, and tiger hissers. So I leave in the car (about 90 F on a 85 day) for a few hours, and find Gromphadorhina oblongata male and my 'portentosa female going at it. So I removed them both and put them in their own container and removed the male after they were done. What do you think? Babies? The oblongata was roughly twice the size of the portentosa (it was quite small) so you think it'll work out?
Hissers Cross Breeding!!!
- Thread starter hisserman
- Start date
Yep, they will cross. The two are separate "species" but there are people who argue that the entire Gromphadorhina and Princisia species complexes we have in the US are in fact just different color morphs of G. portentosa. The logic to this is that the male genitalia of all the above are the same, but I personally haven't looked at Gromphadorhina genitalia to confirm this.
But in general, it's a bad idea to let them cross, especially if you intend to give away/sell the offspring. You can emphasize that they're hybrids, but all it takes is one person to mislabel them and a whole strain can be mucked up. A similar incident happened with Blaberus craniifer and is currently happening with Blaberus discoidalis/boliviensis.
But in general, it's a bad idea to let them cross, especially if you intend to give away/sell the offspring. You can emphasize that they're hybrids, but all it takes is one person to mislabel them and a whole strain can be mucked up. A similar incident happened with Blaberus craniifer and is currently happening with Blaberus discoidalis/boliviensis.
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I'd definitely use this as a learning experience.
Currently, there are many color morphs of G. portentosa (like black, for example) and many people keeping them. However, some of these strains may contain hybrids. But nobody's ever documented what first generation hybrids look like.
I would let her give birth and raise the young, taking pictures as they develop. Pictures of the hybrid adults would be particularly good to have. This way hobbyists getting into hissers in the future will know what characteristics are those of pure G. portentosa versus those of hybrids.
I don't think the egg case is gonna hatch/she won't make it. Is it possible that the male gave her too much sperm? She seems stressed and dased to the extent that she doesn't want to hide. I think she'll make it, tho. 
You should never put different Gromphadorhina species together (including 'princisia') they cross readily and produce viable young. If you've been transporting them together you should consider feeding them to something and starting over.
No I don't mix species; but I was about to teach 1st graders about "animal life"for 45 minutes so I figured, why not throw in some cockroaches. So I choses the hisser and threw in a few of all three species/subspecies to show them. I never thought they would mate at that time
So I loaded them in the car about 3 hours before I taught them (I was busy hauling my other pets/cultures to the car lol I brought too much 
) and I find them mating.
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