Breeding Hissers

T

tina g

First Instar
Hi All!

I was wondering if anyone could help me. I recently took over the care of some hissers. I am hoping to breed them. I currently have 3 females and one male. They are used for teaching. I have them in a 15 gallon glass fish tank with vaseline on the top 3" and a wire-mesh top. I have 2-20W red lights on the cage. It is about 26C in the cage. There is no substrate on the floor. I am feeding beneful dog food and supplementing with veggies. I have a dish with a sponge for water. Since I have taken over I have had one litter but they were all dead. I am hoping to breed regular litters for feeding reptiles. Any suggestions on what I may do to try to improve the breeding? Is my colony to small? Do I need better living quarters?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!! :D

Tina

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi Tina,

It's really strange for all the babies to die unless it is extremely dry in the cage but your set-up sounds like it could kill small nymphs easily. The 20-watt bulbs are unnecessary and may dry out the cage too much with no substrate. I would recommend using normal colored bulbs or none, 1" of potting soil as substrate, a water dish filled with gravel or sponge in one corner and a food dish in the other corner (or under the lights to keep the food dry and prevent mold). A larger colony would produce more babies more quickly but without adequate surroundings they'd die too. Good luck!

 
i bought a doz adult hissers an put them a large sterlite storage box.used 1-2in of peatmoss fed them oatmeal an bran mixed.there were kept in a back room at room temp.about 2 months i had 100-200 babies.also the only water supply was water crystals an greens from time to time.

 
ray said:
i bought a doz adult hissers an put them a large sterlite storage box.used 1-2in of peatmoss fed them oatmeal an bran mixed.there were kept in a back room at room temp.about 2 months i had 100-200 babies.also the only water supply was water crystals an greens from time to time.
Click to expand...
I only have three roaches left right now. I have a feeling they are older. I do need to get a few more though. I think that would help. Any suggestions on heating? With my red lights the temp is only at 74-76 F. I am on a limited budget (aren't we all)! I have about a 1-2 inch layer of topsoil with leaf humus in the bottom. I periodically (1-2x per week) mist it to try to keep the humidity up. I put a tomato in their last Thursday and it took all weekend to dry it out. I also have a half of a regular sized sponge in there that I keep wet for moisture and water. I think I need to get them the crystals though.

Any suggestions? :huh:

 
i don't mist or use a heating device.room temp does well enough for me seems like water crystals handle the humity well enough.you can use the crystals from a home an garden center.heck of alot cheaper than ordering from a dealer.as of right now i have a new cluch of babies.

 
HI everyone!!!!

Thought you would all be happy to know that I had a clutch of little hissers. So far they are doing great. They are about 2 weeks old. How long does it take for them to reach full grown? I can't remember. :D :D :D

 
Hissers produce alot of offspring fast, I would get an even bigger tank, like a 20 or 30 gallon.

 
tina g said:
HI everyone!!!!Thought you would all be happy to know that I had a clutch of little hissers. So far they are doing great. They are about 2 weeks old. How long does it take for them to reach full grown? I can't remember. :D :D :D
Click to expand...
Congratulations! They take about six months to reach adulthood. They can mature more quickly with high temperatures and

quality food and more slowly with lower temperatures and/or deficient food.

 
I know this forum is pretty old, but the mention of the wire mesh made me remember to let all of you guys know, I just found a great new source for this wire cloth material:

http://www.bwire.com/

They have all of the fine stuff that we need for a really good price.

Easy to deal with and they had my large quantity shipped to me within 24 hours.

-J

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top