I had some of these guys but my "culture" died out a while back... I just couldn't get them to breed. I ended up with three ootheca but none of them hatched out, I think the humidity was too low so my advice would be high humidity (but since I haven't tested to see if that was the problem, I can't say they need it for sure). A little petroleum will keep them from making an escape. I don't recall any defensive odor but I bet most things would eat them... seems like a shame to feed off such a neat species. They are a cool little ‘roach.
Interesting. Are these like the harlequin roach? I've never even seen either species in person, but what I've read about the harlequins is that sometimes they do great and other times they just don't make it.
I'm always curious about the feeding out part. When I got my first hissers, 18 years ago, we would have had a serious discussion if you suggested feeding them to anything. However, as time went by, I simply didn't know what to do with them all. Few animals will eat the adults (I tried). Most of the reptile people I know moved away from insectivores due to a dislike of crickets and the rest had no interest in feeding "gross/disgusting roaches" to their beloved pets. I found a lady with two big Black-Throated monitors, but we couldn't get them to eat the roaches. There was no internet or forums back then. I literally had two 40 gallon tanks filled with paper towel rolls, cereal boxes and egg cartons, filled top to bottom with hissers. There were roaches on top of roaches. The tanks were so heavy with roaches, it took two guys to move them. You could throw two quartered grapefruits in there, in broad daylight, and they would be gone in minutes, peel and all. I used to do this trick with whole fruits to show them off to people. I never attempted to count them all, but there had to be tens of thousands of all ages. I would use several hundred at a time for jobs and it didn't even look like any were gone. I was trying to give them away. Nobody wanted them. It was really a problem. The overcrowding didn't seem to bother them, much less slow them down, at all. The only care they got, at this stage, was an occasional handful of food, a cricket waterer and a monthly frass removal. They were bone dry with no substrate.
Given this scenario, you can imagine why I worry about what to do with the excess. Today, with the help of the internet, I can find hungry mouths and eager buyers for any amount of excess, but if I end up with ten thousand of something like Deropeltis paulinoi or Eurycotis floridana, I could really be in a jam. I'm starting all these new cultures with far more individuals than my first, and only three, hissers. From what I understand, the hissers breed much slower than every other species in my collection. So, in a year or two, keep your eyes posted for a "Clearance Sale" by Roachman in the Ad Listings.