Stupid question - are some Hissers species more delicate than others?

A

aoikirin

Third Instar
I have tried keeping Javanicas aka Halloweens a number of times but they seem to not flourish.  

As an example I got 15 nymphs in September and only 4 are alive now.  A few haven't even reached adulthood.  They have a heater and places to hide and get carrots and powdered roach food as well.  I'm thinking they may just be more delicate ?  Perhaps it's too cold for them in spite of the heater?  I read that they needed 78 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

In your experience are certain species of hisser more or less hardy ? I have found Tigers and Regulars to be quite hardy.  Oblongonota less so.  

 
LOL I’ve had the opposite experience with E. javanica - they breed like rabbits for me! I started off with 7 females and 11 males in May last year and now have so many tiny babies (literally hundreds) I don’t know what to do with them - and that’s after giving away probably over 100 mostly adults and large nymphs a couple of months ago!

what are you feeding your javanica? Are you giving them any other fruit and veg in addition to the roach chow and carrots? It may be that you need to give them more varied fruit and veg to thrive - mine get lettuce (which they love), carrot, broccoli, banana, apple, orange and pear on a regular basis plus dry cat treats and porridge oats for protein; they are kept on a dry coir substrate with a heat mat under which gets sprayed three times a day for 10 seconds by an automatic misting system. They also have plenty of cork bark and artificial plants to hide in although there are so many now that they can’t fit in all the spaces - I am probably going to have to split the colony soon!

However I have also found oblongonota to be slower going than javanica - my first experiences with them were not great and although I now have a thriving colony with lots of nymphs (kept exactly the same way as the javanica) I have found they breed slowly and the females seem to suffer a high rate of prolapse on giving birth which usually means the female dies (though not always), but it does lead to a lower birth rate as a result.

I've also got a G. portentosa colony which started off as a group of 2 males and 2 females but is rapidly going the same way as the javanica! Again kept the same way.

I would suggest trying a wider variety of fruit and veg and seeing if it helps?

 
It varies around the enclosure - probably about 26-28 Celsius near the heat mats (I have two smallish ones, one under about a third of the cage and one on the side in the same area) to about 18 Celsius on the other side away from the heat source, so they have a choice of warmer or cooler areas. Not sure what those are in Fahrenheit - maybe 65 on the cool side to 78-80 in the warm area? I do find they tend to congregate nearer the warm areas but not so obviously that i should increase the temps all through the cage. Both heat mats are on thermostats set at 26 and 30 Celsius so they are on most of the time in the winter but off most of the time in the summer. Hope this helps!

 
That is higher than what the poor dears are getting.  It's midnight here in California, and though it doesn't get very cold here or snow where I live as it can in England, their thermometer I bought today states that the current temp is a measly 72 degrees Fahrenheit.  28 degrees Celsius is around 82 degrees Fahrenheit so  they must be cold.

I read that Javanicas need a temperature of 78-85 Fahrenheit which is about 26-29 Celsius.

 
Well they certainly seem to be breeding well for me at higher temps so I would suggest you try a heat mat to get the temperature up a bit. I am surprised they are dying off at those temps though - I would have thought they would survive but just not breed or grow very fast?

 
aoikirin said:
That is higher than what the poor dears are getting.  It's midnight here in California, and though it doesn't get very cold here or snow where I live as it can in England, their thermometer I bought today states that the current temp is a measly 72 degrees Fahrenheit.  28 degrees Celsius is around 82 degrees Fahrenheit so  they must be cold.

I read that Javanicas need a temperature of 78-85 Fahrenheit which is about 26-29 Celsius.
Click to expand...
I have not seen the E. javanica die off, but getting them to produce young in quantity is difficult, if even possible, at room temperature.

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