Questions about Nymphs

C

Crazy Bug Lady

Third Instar
I have two oblongonota nymphs.  I am not exactly sure how old they are right now, but they are about an inch long, though still tiy.  Does anyone know at about what age it becomes possible to sex this breed of hisser?

If this is a silly question, I am sorry but this is my first experience with baby roaches.

I would like to sex them as soon as possble so that I can prevent breeding and so I can prevent cross breeding with my adult male hisser as I understand this is frowned on in the hobby.

I assume I don't have to worry about them breeding just yet?

I may someday want to breed, I just don't want to right now, and that is why I am curious about when I will be able to tell the sex of my young roaches.  Thanks in advance for advice :)

 
Sexing is rather easy when the nymphs get large enough, the last ventral segment on the male is pretty small, on the female however it is much larger. 

See here:

MEOEDOo.jpg


As you can see here, males have two small ventral segments where the female has one large one. This method of sexing can be used for almost any Blaberid, hissers included. Hope this helps! :)

 
Is this something I could also feel?  I am blind and won't be able to see the size of the ventral segments.  I don't have a problem handling the nymphs, however and I might be able to detect the difference that way. At about was size/age is this possible?

 
You probably couldn't feel it too well, but if you could get pictures of their ventral segments I could sex them for you. Alternatively, you can sex them as adults, since males usually have somewhat prominent horns on their pronotums, and females don't. However by then they could have already mated and hybrids could be produced. 

I've heard that the nymphs of the two species have different colors, with G.oblongonota being dark brown with white stripes and with the G.portentosa being more of an overall reddish brown color, so maybe you can at least tell the species apart and then separate them.

 
Oh, both nymphs are oblongonota, it's just my adult male that isn't.

And, thank you, when they get a little bigger, I will do my best to take pictures and see if you can sex them.  I would rather not wait until they are adults and risk babies or inbreeding!  How big do they need to be for you to tell?

 
Crazy Bug Lady said:
Oh, both nymphs are oblongonota, it's just my adult male that isn't.

And, thank you, when they get a little bigger, I will do my best to take pictures and see if you can sex them.  I would rather not wait until they are adults and risk babies or inbreeding!  How big do they need to be for you to tell?
Click to expand...
Oh I see, my mistake lol!

They should be at least an inch and a half to two inches, once they get to that size I should be able to sex them. :)

 
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