'Giant' hissers?

Toirtis

Toirtis

First Instar
I recently saw an advert for 'giant' hissing roaches. A number of years ago, I worked with hissers, but had never heard of 'giant' hissers...has someone bred a giant bloodline, or is there a giant subspecies, or is this just one person's way of describing hissers as being big roaches?

 
Toirtis said:
I recently saw an advert for 'giant' hissing roaches. A number of years ago, I worked with hissers, but had never heard of 'giant' hissers...has someone bred a giant bloodline, or is there a giant subspecies, or is this just one person's way of describing hissers as being big roaches?
Click to expand...
Sometimes the normal G. portentosa are called "Giant madagascar hissers" but there is also a giant strain of G. portentosa (which is much bigger than the standard ones) as well as several other species that might be called giant hissers. (G. oblongonata might be called the giant red hisser, "P. vanwaerebeki" might be called a giant hisser as well.)

 
Thanks for the information...does anyone have any good photos of mature specimens of the giant strain? My curiosity is very piqued.

 
Zephyr said:
The male in my photo thread "Portentosa x Oblongonata?" Is a giant-strain male.
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Thanks...do you have any good close-ups of some very large adults with something standard (like an iphone, dollar bill, etc) for comparison? I am interested in seeing just how big these guys get...I have a thing for really big, bulky bugs, particularly beetles and beetle-like.

 
Hello!

In Europe, we have a species called Gigant Hisser that is not a hybrid. It's Princisia vanwaerebecki "BIG". This strain was selectively bred from big, dominant males of P. vanwaerebecki. They get over 9cm long.

 
Walking Leaf said:
Hello!In Europe, we have a species called Gigant Hisser that is not a hybrid. It's Princisia vanwaerebecki "BIG". This strain was selectively bred from big, dominant males of P. vanwaerebecki. They get over 9cm long.
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Those are pretty impressive looking...thanks.

 
Some of my boys: (From left to right; G. oblongonata, G. portentosa, P. vanwaerebeki)

99087828.jpg


Giant morph hisser vs normal male:

39257835.jpg


 
I must be missing something, those three species look nearly the same! :huh: Except oblongonota has wider horn spacing. Your second picture is awesome though!

My hissers might have a bit of giant morph in them, a lot of this generation is really big.

 
Hello,

I'm sorry to say, Zephyr, that those 3 species all look like hybrids to me.

G. portentosa is supposed to look like this:

http://www.schaben-spinnen.de/Data/Article...tosa%20neu1.jpg

There is also a black variant of portentosa.

G. oblongonata should have more red than yours:

http://www.schaben-spinnen.de/Data/Article...blongonata2.jpg

The nymphs have white stripes on their abdobmen.

This is P. vanwaerebecki:

http://www.schaben-spinnen.de/Data/Articles/0000%20big.jpg

There is a "Black&White" variant, also known as Tiger Hisser.

Hope this helps. I do have to add, hissing roaches are variable in their coloration, but usually not as much as hybrids.

 
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I just got done asking Orin if I had hybrids. lol

I get a bit of variation in my portentosa, and most of them look just like the one in that pic; only with varying amounts of color on the wing stubs. The oblongonata colors didn't really show well here; I may have another picture of that individual elsewhere, but he's definitely brick red. The P. vanwaerebeki I got from Orin; I think they're probably the "Big black" variety.

 
Thanks for the photos...those are some impressive roaches....sadly, we are unlikely to ever see any of those giants up here.

 
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