Supplies for G. portentosa

charzard

charzard

Third Instar
I'm just trying gather all the supplies I need to comfortably house these hissers. I'm going to get egg flats, empty toilet paper rolls, a heating pad (for the side of the enclosure if it gets too cold/to keep humidity). What type of substrate would be best for the bottom? Also bin with minimal venitlation or glass aquarium? I heard hissers are good at escaping. I'm sure there are threads on this, but figured I'd give it a shot. 

These will be my first roaches, but I'm not sure how many is a better amount to start off with. It seems people sell them normally in a colony of 10 or 15, but I was only thinking of a few. However, I suppose caring for a few extras wouldn't make much a difference really. I'm not entirely interested in breeding, but that sure would be an amazing experience to watch the live birth of them. I actually viewed a YouTube video yesterday and I was just simply in awe! Amazing process, life is.

Anyways, thanks ahead of time for any feedback! Any information is helpful!!

-Charlie. 

 
Hissers are very good at escaping, especially the nymphs, so you'll want either a secure lid or to add vaseline to the top to keep them in. I would add a bit of cocober to the bottom for humidity retention. Doesn't have to be deep or anything since they won't burrow. They'll need some ventilation, but not too much. If you put them in an aquarium you can just cover 3/4 of the lid with plastic. 

If you aren't wanting to breed them, you can ask for just a handful of males of any size and you should be good. Don't have to worry about breeding and they'll keep you entertained since the males do plenty of territorial displaying. 

 
Thank you, that's helpful. How large of a container would 10 roaches need? People have mentioned small plastic shoe box size containers. Would that be too small for 10 or more space be necessary? I'm not really sure how active they are and what they prefer space wise.

 
A plastic shoe box should be fine as long as they have lots of things to crawl on and hide under. If you want something more for display, a 2.5 gallon aquarium or a medium-large critter keeper will work. 

 
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