Suggestions?

L

lbrit17

Third Instar
I feel like I'm being so annoying, but I just want to make sure everything is great for my hissers! So I apologize if Im being annoying with all the questions!

I just ordered all the stuff (terrarium, substrate, corkbark, and such) when it gets here and set up..I'll get the hissers!!! 

So I just had a few questions about if there is anything with safe foods and unsafe foods? I've read dog food fruit and veggies, but I'm worried I'll do something wrong and kill them.

Thanks in advance,

 
That diet is perfect, there will be no risk of potentially harming them unless you feed them unwashed greens and/or orange rind. Additionally, if you are ever thinking of offering any dead leaves, make sure that they're hardwood and sterilize them to be on the safe side. :)  

 
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I feed mine organic food so I can be sure the risk of pesticides is lower (though not completely zero, contrary to popular belief!), but I also peel anything that has a rind (apple, pear, carrot, courgette etc.) and give any other fresh food that I can't peel (lettuce, broccoli, etc.) a good wash before I put it in the tank anyway.

FWIW my staple dry food is organic porridge oats plus premium cat treats (the only thing I give them that isn't organic - organic dry cat food seems hard to come by in the UK), for other protein I sometimes feed them beans (haricot, cannellini and chick peas), and for fruit/veg they usually get a mixture of apple, banana (their favourite!), orange (without peel), broccoli, lettuce, sweetcorn, baby peas and carrot depending on what I have spare in the fridge! I do try to remove anything that is going off before it gets mouldy as I don't believe it's good for them to have mould in the cage.

I also sterilise anything "natural" like cork bark (which they will eat) or oak leaves that I put in the cage by soaking in boiling water then microwaving for a few minutes (be sure to keep an eye on it, if things like wood or bark start to dry out they can catch fire!) before letting them cool and putting them in the cage.

I have had a few losses over the 8-9 months I've had them, but I'm pretty sure none of them was to do with the food I give them, and my colony is now growing so hopefully I've been doing something right!

 
I can't like your post unfortunately, but thanks for the good info, just curious, what does the microwave do for it?

 
lbrit17 said:
I can't like your post unfortunately, but thanks for the good info, just curious, what does the microwave do for it?
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It basically kills off any fungi, bacteria or other things that might cause disease or mould in the cage. You need to do it for several minutes which is why things should be soaked first as it will then be less likely to dry out and catch fire.

 
I don't sterilise the coco coir if I've bought it from a pet shop or online reptile/invert store as I expect it to be sterile anyway - it's generally stuff I don't know the provenance of I sterilise first, i.e. stuff brought in from the local park and cork bark that has been hanging about in a vendor's box for goodness knows how long! 

I do wash other decorations like bowls and plastic plants before I put them in, but don't microwave them. Personally I would wash the gravel too, especially if it's covered in dust.

 
lbrit17 said:
Sounds great! I just had an unrelated question....for all the breeders, what do you do with all the nymphs? 
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I haven't bred hissers, but it is usually a bit harder to get a colony up and going rather than getting overrun with nymphs, my lobsters haven't even outgrown their 20 quart container and I've had them for about a year now. lol Even if you just got loaded with nymphs, hissers can do still do well with a population of a few hundred individuals in a moderately sized enclosure given that there are plenty of hides.

 
All About Insects said:
I haven't bred hissers, but it is usually a bit harder to get a colony up and going rather than getting overrun with nymphs, my lobsters haven't even outgrown their 20 quart container and I've had them for about a year now. lol Even if you just got loaded with nymphs, hissers can do still do well with a population of a few hundred individuals in a moderately sized enclosure given that there are plenty of hides.
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Yeah, but what do you do with them once you start a colony and they steadily reproduce..sell them?

 
All About Insects said:
I haven't bred hissers, but it is usually a bit harder to get a colony up and going rather than getting overrun with nymphs, my lobsters haven't even outgrown their 20 quart container and I've had them for about a year now. lol Even if you just got loaded with nymphs, hissers can do still do well with a population of a few hundred individuals in a moderately sized enclosure given that there are plenty of hides.
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Hahahah.... Hissers are CRAZY reproductive once they get going, maybe a little slow growing as nymphs, but the females have big litters, and have them often, so once they get breeding you can very easily get overrun, especially since they are big and take up a lot of room.

lbrit17 said:
Yeah, but what do you do with them once you start a colony and they steadily reproduce..sell them?
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The thing is, the market for run of the mill hissers is so saturated, it's hard to find people interested in buying a whole bunch. My advice would be to sell large lots of nymphs as feeders, either locally or online.

 
Hisserdude said:
Hahahah.... Hissers are CRAZY reproductive once they get going, maybe a little slow growing as nymphs, but the females have big litters, and have them often, so once they get breeding you can very easily get overrun, especially since they are big and take up a lot of room.
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Goes to show you I've never bred them. :P  I'm very glad to hear that though since my Gromphadorhina sp. "Princisia vanwaerebecki" and Elliptorhina laevigata are close to maturing! :)  

 
All About Insects said:
Goes to show you I've never bred them. :P  I'm very glad to hear that though since my Gromphadorhina sp. "Princisia vanwaerebecki" and Elliptorhina laevigata are close to maturing! :)  
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Nice, you'll likely have tons of them in no time! (Or at least you'll have tons of the "Princisia", not sure how prolific the E.laevigata are though).

 
Hisserdude said:
Nice, you'll likely have tons of them in no time! (Or at least you'll have tons of the "Princisia", not sure how prolific the E.laevigata are though).
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I was offered some more E.laevigata for free if I wanted them since my friend's colony was overrun, they also seem to be pretty prolific. ;)  

 
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