Tagging a hisser with paint

RaZias

RaZias

Sixth Instar
I want to study the behavior of hissers in my colony and I would like to tag them (like with a number).

I am afraid that any paint can be toxic for them.

Do you now any type of paint non-toxic for bugs (if that even exists...) ?

 
Only non toxic I know of is watercolor paint for kids that washes off. Someone else might know.

 
Enamel paints are used to mark queen honey bees. They should work just fine on roaches.

 
I have painted a "1" in the left horn in a hisser and a "2" in a segment (the one just posterior to the segment that protects the head) of another hisser.

I used white watercolor for kids (the one that you can paint with the skin of your hands).

If eventualy one dies I will post the info.

 
The "watercolor" went off when changing the bugs from place to clean the cage.

I painted a new one with "acrilic paint" I will see how this turns out.

 
I have used non-toxic fingernail polish, normal fingernail polish and enamel paint pens and have not noticed an negative effect on the health of the roach.

Here is an interesting article concerning marking animals (i.e., terrestrial isopods) and behavior:

http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC3335411/

I have observed similar behavioral changes with my terrestrial isopods but have not replicated the studies with my roaches.

 
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I saw that marking them didn´t altered their behavior, number 5 still climbs the cage wall that is near the room heater and number 1 still stays all day exposed to light in a narrow transparent corridor.

 
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