Hisser's been pregnant for 5 months, only halfway done!

Keith

Keith

Megaloblatta
I witnessed one of my hisser females mate in August, that's 5 months ago! I never saw an aborted egg case and was doubting mabye she never got pregnant yet she remained fat. Today I witnessed her air her egg case and it's back in, so she is fertile. How many more months until birth? This is crazy, every place I read says about 2 months full gestation, if the other half of the term is the same it will be 10 months gestation total!!!! The egg case was super long and shiny, each egg was huge looking I bet these will be humongous! Is this some sort of hibernation mode?

 
Hi

I think temperature has a important influence on gestation. When I get low temperatures,my hisser nearly doesn't lay eggs!

We can't talk of real hibernation, this term is more for mammals and so on, which can get lower corporal temperatures in this period. Cockroaches can't make any variation, but their rythm get slower (less activity, les nutrition, ...) when the temperature is too cold for them ;)

 
That might be they aren't at the warmest temperature possible. Its crazy to think, if they can live 5 years, and are almost pregnant for a year, that's a LONG time to be pregnant for such a short lifespan!

 
Still pregnant and no birth! Could it have embryo diapause? Meaning eggs stopped developing until temps got warmer then nymph development inside resumed and birth should be soon?

 
MrCrackerpants said:
What is your enclosure temp? Can you increase it and diversity her diet?
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Diet is very diverse, I didnt have a way to raise temp but she is in my room which is the top floor in my house and the warmest room. Being the warm weather is coming soon my room will be above 80 F soon so I bet then she will give birth!

 
Keith said:
Diet is very diverse, I didnt have a way to raise temp but she is in my room which is the top floor in my house and the warmest room. Being the warm weather is coming soon my room will be above 80 F soon so I bet then she will give birth!
Click to expand...
Anyway you can get it to 85F? Do you have a warm appliance (e.g., computer) you can set her enclosure on? This will help with gestation. Good luck.

 
Not that I know of, trust me my room is going to get hot, once summer comes it gets in the 90s! For sure by then she will give birth!

 
Update, her abdomen has been opening up more for the past 2 days and her breathing has become heavier, I think its similar to contractions. My guess is within the week she should give birth. She's huge every segment in her abdomen has wide white lines she can barely climb anything!

 
This is really exciting! I wouldn't be able to sleep waiting for those babies.

Keep us updated on her progress :)

 
Thought i'd add photos of how pregnant she really is, tell me if you've ever seen a hisser more pregnant than this!

Before

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Here she is now!

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Up close you can see her abdomen open at the end and see white. This happens for a few days then birth.

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I woke up today and checked my tank and I see all babies! She finally gave birth! And guess what, today is Mothers Day! What an awesome birthday! Will post pics later, can't believe how long their antennae are!

 
I just looked at my records and the total months pregnant for this hisser was 9, same as a human!

I dont see many babies but she still looks pretty large, I wonder if she has more inside yet to be birthed?

Here are photos of 2 babies and another photo of one baby that looks deformed, it has egg sac stuck to it. I removed the stuck skin and it helped the baby looks crooked and walks sideways but is able to climb glass, groom itself, and has eaten so it may heal next shed.

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Heres the one that looks deformed, it appears to get around well enough that it should survive.

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hi

when a female has given birth, normally, every babies get out at the same time, there won't be any more birth from this clutch.

Hard to say if the deformed baby will survive, I noticed they often die after a fex days.

 
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