Hissing Cockroach Full Caresheet

This is a full care sheet for all of the hissing cockroach species, I have been breeding and caring for these wonderful species for around 1-2 years and want to provide you with the best and top information I have learned. This care sheet will be full of everything from breeding and the many different species so you know every single thing you could possibly ever need to know!

--Intro Into The Species--

There are around 20 known species of Hissing cockroaches and are only found on the tropical island off the east coast of Africa "Madagascar". Hissing cockroaches are by far the most popular tropical roach species because of their eye-appealing colors, size, and their well-known hiss. On the sides of their abdomen, they have tiny holes in which they breathe air and expel air to create a loud hissing sound which is called spiracles which most insects have. This feature is added to scare away their natural predators. Hissing cockroaches make awesome pets and are very hardy insects. These pets are also easy to breed and make awesome pets for children. Hissing cockroaches, depending on what genus, normally get around 2-3 inches which makes them pretty huge cockroaches. These cockroaches live normally around 2-3 years but can live up to 5 years.

--Housing-- 

When housing these cockroaches, they can be housed in large bins and Tupperware which helps keep them in humidity easier. But if you'd like to display these amazing species, they can be housed in a good 10-20 gallon tank. A minimum of at least 10 gallons would do best. From my experience of keeping them, it is easier to keep them in big bins but keep my Halloween hissers in a display tank because of their colors. when it comes to substrate I recommend using a good 1-2 inches thick of eco earth or reptile soil and most coco husk substrates will work. If you mix in some reptile bark or husk will make the substrate even better at holding humidity. The substrate can be important because the babies (Nymphs) love digging and burrowing underneath the substrate.  Lots of people say hissers eat dead leaves and leaf litter but from my experience, none of my colonies have eaten the leaves but prefer to hide under the leaves. Cork flats are also a nice way for adult hissers to hide under and make it more natural, but I have found that they seem to like egg crates and paper towel rolls more because they can hide and feel more secure in these. Egg crates are also ten times cheaper than most cork flats and wood. You can also provide fake plants, real plants, and pretty much whatever else you feel they would like hiding in. Wood hides or reptile hides work well also. If you're questioning whether to house these cockroaches together, no need to worry. These cockroaches are very social with each other and will sit in a pile near each other. Males and females are also allowed to be housed together, these cockroaches do really well when housed in a colony of many males and females. When keeping these cockroaches in tanks, make sure that the lids are secure and no large holes are anywhere. This is because baby nymphs are known to be escape artists and can find any way to escape. When housing these cockroaches with bins, make sure to provide proper ventilation. Whether it's drilling holes or cutting holes, you can buy good quality mesh and hot glue them over the holes so that no pests invade your colony or any cockroach escapes. Hissing cockroaches can climb smooth surfaces so that is why it's so important to put mesh over any holes that you think they could escape from. At the top when you put on the lid, you can apply a 1-inch thick band around the whole container with petrolatum jelly. You should do this because the roach's legs cannot grab a hold of this jelly and will fall to the bottom ensuring they won't escape. Hissing cockroaches can be housed with the other genera like the Halloween hissers can be housed with tiger hissing cockroaches, doing this while breeding could cause a rare occasion of cross-breeding!

--Heating & Humdity--

Now whether you're breeding or just having these magnificent cockroaches as pets, heating, and humidity are very important when breeding the cockroaches. You should keep the temperature in their enclosures in the high 80s, I prefer to keep my hissers on a heat mat and thermostat that controls the temperatures. Something very important to know when cockroaches are not breeding well, you should provide heat. You do not want to keep hissers at room temperature. This can cause roaches to get sluggish, very inactive, and slow. For example; for a few months I had them at room temperature and my colony ended up not eating for a week until I provided them with heat. when keeping them as pets, I recommend keeping them at around 75 degrees. When it comes to humidity, no matter if you are breeding or not, you should keep the humidity levels around 70-80%. Keep in mind these roaches are from tropical terrain and climate which can be very humid at times. When heating these cockroaches, heat mats are your best way to heat them. The higher the temperatures are the faster they will breed. Lots of people have said they thrive in dryer conditions and while this is most likely true, this is just what I do and it seems to work. So feel free to try different levels of humidity and see which works out better for your cockroaches.

--Feeding--

Hissing cockroaches are big eaters and their diet is very important. Hissing cockroaches eat mainly vegetables, fruits, and different types of roach chow. Here is the whole list of hissing cockroaches' main diet: Bananas, strawberries, apples, oranges, green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, carrots, kale, and grapes. There are most likely more fruits and veggies hissers can eat but in my experience, these are the main foods they seem to like when feeding. Make sure to NOT feed them ICEBERG LETTUCE. Iceberg lettuce can kill your cockroaches; however, other than those food groups, hissing cockroaches need their protein. Which, you can do this by feeding high-quality kibble, roach chows,  and high-quality fish flakes. I stick to using roach chows because it's an all-in-one meal full of nutrients. I offer roach chow to my adults but they seem to enjoy their fruits and veggies more than their roach chow meanwhile, nymphs love roach chow and devour it within a day. I prefer to use a Repashy Bug Burger mixed with some Pangea growth and breeding all in one pack.  Something also important is to take out any fruits after a day. You must make sure you do this because as fruits grow older and mature, they start to release a gas called Ethylene which is very toxic to the roaches and when getting trapped in an even well-ventilated enclosure can harm your colony. Also, do not feed fruit only as a meal it is important to only give small amounts of fruit this is because some hissers will gorge themselves till they are bloated and fat and the gas build-up can harm your roaches and be lethal. So when feeding fruits I recommend a small amount and only 1-2 and make sure to include veggies with every meal to assure they won't gorge themselves full of fruit to death. I also recommend keeping dry foods (Dog food, and roach chow) in a different dish away from the veggies and fruit. Something just I've noticed when sprinkling the fish flakes on their 

Make sure after 2 days or so to take out any uneaten food because with the amount of humidity, it will start to mold and rot really quickly and you do not want your hissers to eat rotten moldy food. Watering your cockroaches is also very important as well so they don't get dehydrated, I use my reptile mister and spray down their tanks every 1-2 days, and I try to feed my colony every 2 days or so. But, another option is a damp paper towel. When misting or using a damp paper towel make sure the water you use is dechlorinated water when using tap water, distilled and bottled water works fine as well. When you spray down their tank, you will also notice if any roaches are out they will go to the side of their enclosure and drink the water droplets which is really fun to watch! The hissers will also get hydrated if you spray down their vegetables and fruit which is one of the number one ways they get hydrated. Some people say to use water gels but apparently, according to many others on many roaches forums, the roaches are never seen drinking out of the water gels but out of the dampened paper towel instead. Also, something that's not talked about is the nymphs when they're first born need a colony of bacteria startup, if you leave the adult cockroaches' feces within the substrate the nymphs can access this to start their colony of bacteria. And this is actually common in a lot of roach species.

--Breeding--

When it comes to breeding hissing cockroaches it is very easy to get these guys breeding, all you have to really do is provide a nutritious diet, and provide humidity levels from 75-85%. You must also keep heat levels around the high 85-90 degrees. I prefer this because they breed faster and are more active in hotter temperatures. Also, some other requirements are of course in the enclosure there must be many females and a few males if you're just starting to breed, I recommend that if you're starting a colony, start with 5 females and 2-3 males and you should have tons of babies very quickly with proper care. 

Males have horns on their heads and females have no horns. It is very easy to tell males and females apart. Most breeding is the same way even with the different genus if you are breeding Halloween hissers in the same enclosure as Madagascar hissing cockroaches, they won't interfere or breed with each other, but as I've stated before there could be a very rare occurrence of a cross breed which would be really rare due to Halloween hissers being a part of the dwarf genus of the hissing cockroach family. 

When breeding the females will be pregnant and hold the babies for around 60 days, female hissers are ovoviviparous meaning that they give live birth to their young. While the babies are inside the female they are encased in an egg casing called an "ootheca" where they will be until they hatch. The female cockroach will give birth to around 40-60 babies and have around 3-4 liters a year and reproduce very quickly when provided with the correct temperatures. If your hissers aren't breeding try raising the temperature and humidity, hissing cockroaches if held too much may also not breed. breeding also occurs when it's darker in their enclosure.

--Sickness--

Sickness can be commen in hissers when not taken care of properly and im also gonna be stateing some of the commen reasojns your hissers could be dieing and possible pest could be killijg your hissers. Hissers are known to be sluggish when not kept above the temps of 75 Degrees when this happens hisser will eat less and many hissers wont even eat which can result in death, so is reccomended no matter whether your breeding or keeping them as a pet to have warmer temps which I stated before. One of the most commen reason your hissers are dying is dehydration even well your hissers can be drinking water off of the sides when you spray their tnak down with water it is recommended you give them access to a damp ball of paper towel, water gels are not reccomended since it is found hisers don't use these

 but in most cases have  been seen drinking out of damop paper towel, I also reccomend spraying down their veggies and fruit to provide extra hydration keep in mind hissers get most of their hydration from their veggies and fruits. Another possible reason their dieing is food posioning some possible ways are if your using your hands which could have chemicals, soap, or just the general oils that our hands contain get on their food which they later consume so either where latex gloved or wash your hands and getting rid of any soap left behind. Another cause of food posinoning is pesticides on your veggies and fruits, companys commenly do this to stop pest in stores from eating their foods. When buying fruits and veggies for your colonys not all companys do this but I highly reccomend you wash your fruit with water. Hissing cockroaches also have been found to have many mold spores on their body which can cause allergies for humans, this is being adressed because their is a commen thing that can also be found on hisser's. Hissers have a specific specie of mite that is only found on species of hissing cockroacha and nowhere else, these mites (Ansrolaelaps schaeferi) commenly known as "Hisser mites" have a symbiotic relationship with the hissers, the mites clean and groom your hissers and eat the mold spores I adressed before. The hissers benefit of off this can keep your hissers very clean so when you find these on your hissers do not freka out they are good for your colony and are good to have around. These mites do not normally leave your colony and do not go to dogs, cats, or your other commenly owned pet reptiles. You might after picking up or holding your hissers find a few on your hand buy will crawl away. hissers can also dioe from many deseases and infections before maturity. its also to clean your colony every few months because in moss roach species the more build upp of exoskeletons and feces can create a bad enviornment for roaches and shorten theirlife span. When hissers are sick or old they evetually get slugish and stop eatign and evetually will die. Their is many other ways your hissers could be dieing but these are the most commen and some important htings to follow in your cockroafhes husbandry needs.

 --Hissing Cockroaches Known In The Hobby--

There are known to be 20 different species to be found and most likely many more are hidden. But, there are only around half that amount that has been domesticated so far (Hisser Strains not included). In this part of the care sheet, I will introduce you to every genus of hisser there is and their scientific name! Something that is incredible is that there are many genera, but there are two distinct genera which are the larger genus and, the dwarf genus which has species of smaller hissers. Their are also many strains and stocks but will only including the most unqiue and popular strains.

• Larger genus

1.  Common Hissing Cockroach- Gromphadorhina portentosa: The common hissing cockroach is the most common hisser you can find for sale, these giant cockroaches get around 2.5 inches and have a black color around their heads and a nice chestnut color mixed with bright oranges that include very bright yellow stripes in between. These hissers are very common and have been selectively bred into many morphs or known as strains.

2.  1972 Cleveland Aquarium Strain- Gromphadorhina portentosa: The "Cleveland" Strain was a strain of pure stock of Gromphadorhina portentosa and is very well known for their bright beautiful orange colors that satisfyingly lead to a dark cherry red color surrounded by dark black colors located on their metanotum and mesonotum, what's unique about this strain in that they were produced to not have the familiar black stipes which would be located where the cherry red color now is. These awesome colors make for a magnificent cockroach and love the dark cherry red color.

3. LLE Mahagony Strain- Gromphadorhina portentosa: This strain was hand selected and picked by Limber Lost Exotics in 2016 from a common stock of pure hissers that were brown and had no black stripes what so ever, these hissers have bred over and over again any hissers with black markings where taken out. As time went by the hissers were mainly producing over 90% of these brown hissers (Mahogany) that experienced no black markings. Roach Crossing aka Kyle is the only other person breeding this incredible strain.

4. Black Tiger Hissing Cockroach- Gromphadorhina grandidieri: The black tiger hisser is another very common hisser in the roach hobby there are many beliefs about whether they are a locality of Gromphadorhina portentosa but some people believe they are a fully black locality of Tiger hisser when it gets to this subject it can get confusing but what is what I believe is true is that there a fully black version of tiger hissers and are most definitely a locality of them. This beautiful hisser is a fully black hisser with straight black color which is beautiful and awesome. These cockroaches according to Kyle from Roach Crossing seem to be more of an hisser which produces more offspring than other hissers. these hissers also are very close size with regular Gromphadorhina portentosa.

5. Tiger Hissing Cockroach- Gromphadorhina grandidieri: The Tiger Hisser has very close colors to the "black' tiger hisser, the tiger hisser has yellow stripes getting smaller leading up to the head of the cockroach on each side of its Thoracic pads dark cherry brown colors the black stripes going up the abdomen are the shape of a smiling face without the eyes and gets smaller and smaller. Some hisser individuals can have a whitish yellow be in between the yellow and black stripes.

6. Wide Horn Hissing Cockroach- Gromphadorhina oblongonoto: This less common species of hisser is known to be the largest hissing cockroach reaching the size of 3 inches! This species as an adult has a deep maroon color and can faint yellow making around the Metanotum, these hissers are called wide horn hissers are called this as the name says their horns are more spread apart and larger than regular hisser species, and the horns seem to be thicker and duller then pointy. And their deep maroon stripes can be quite thick these roaches can be hardy if kept correctly.

7. Vibrant Hissing Cockroach- Princisia vanwaerebeki: Vibrant hissers are overall mostly black and have light brown sandish stripes that start on each side of the hisser and are very short stripes in the middle of these stripes the black takes over and cuts it off to only be a thin line of brown color and middle thin lines tend to be darker like a normal brown.  The horns on these hissers also seem to point more outwards to the direction their pointing and have more volume and point to these horns like other hissers. The stripe can vary on their abdomens and can be thick or thin with bright yellows which vary in individuals. These hissers also like Gromphadorhina grandidieri have very dark maroon colors on each side of their Thoracic pads. Something also I'd like to point out is how vibrant hisser also have space at the top of their pronotum are shaped like Aeluropoda insignis's pronotums and curve inward to expose the top of their head briefly (Not as much as Aleuropoda insignis).

8. "Black & White"- Princisia vanwaerebeki: This hisser strain is known for its bright white color and black stripes that create an awesome hisser strain, this hisser has only small brown spots on the thoracic plates. Like I have stated before when coming to the topic of crossbreads between the gromphadorhina grandidieri and Princisia vanwaerebeki and even Grompahdorhina portentosa it can get very controversial and confusing, thier is beliefs weather some of these species where cross bread, or even formed after breeding over and over agian. their is beliefs weather it's a possble locality. For know I am stateing this hisser as a locality for my sanity which is not confirmed. Im sure within 20 years information will be proven what these species are. Continuing this hisser ios very ehutiful for its white color which im guessing was orginally yellow but changed over time which you can see that the white has a tint of light yellow.

9. Side Stripe "Unidentified" Hissing Cockroach- Gromphadorhina sp: This hissers name as says it suggest is unidentified and is referred to "Sidestripe hisser" because of it's faint brown chestnut colors that are stripes on the sides. This hisser is mostly brown missing the normal orange colors regular Gromphadorhina portentosa have. Instead of abdomens being fully orange with black stripes these hissers under their brown faint chestnut stripes have darker oranges that make the parterns their is also orange on the Thoracic Plates. This hisser was newly imported and still remains unidentified.

• Dwarf genus

1. Halloween Hissing Cockroach- Elliptorhina javanica: Halloween hissers are very well known for their eye appealing colors of orange, yellow, reds and blacks. It is called the halloween hisser because of its halloween themed colors. Females seem to have bright red colors for stripes and on their pronotums tend to be larger then males, males have black coloring and have black on thier Pronotums after time of holding them over and over agian they seme to get more docile and hiss less and i find them very cute. Iv'e also have seen from my experiance Halloween hissers seem to grow faster then Gromphadorhina Portentosa(Not sure if its true) I am not confirming this but it seems like they do. halloween hissers also look relativily close to Elliptorhina chopardi.

2. Bumpy Hissing Cockroach- Elliptorhina davidi: Bumpy hissers are very rare and hard to find in the hobby only a handful of enthusiest have a breeding colony of these handsome cockroaches. These hissers are known for thier grandulated bumps all over their exoskeletons. It has been knwon that this genus is prone to massive die offs in colonys and is extremely difficult to breed and maintain. Both males and females can have these amazing bumps but is more commen with females and most males can be more smooth rather then bumpy. These hissers are known to be very beutiful because of their nice dark deep chest nut colors mixed with the bright yellors and their abdomens, their is also more yellow found on their mesonotum and metanotum. The male pronotums seem to be more bumpy and the rest of their body is smooth with occtional bumps.

3. V-Horn Hissing Cockroach- Elliptorhina laevigata: V-horn hissers are tghe largest hisser in the dwarf genus, it is knwon as the v-horn hisser because the males horns are chaped like a "V". These hissers are knmwon to be somewhat rare but have hte most amazing colors on hissers. males are darker in color haviong deep blacjk colors with dark maroon colors found on the Metanotum, leading down to thje abdomen males have black and yellow stripes with soemtimes faint ornages mixing in with the yellow. females are quite larger and have orange colors, females have mostly dark maroon pronotums and that leads straight down to dakr orange with balck stripes. female abdomens have brightly colored orange and yellows stripes similar to Gromphadorhina Portentosa and lead down to a dark black color around the vent area. In my opinion these are one of the most coolest hissers because they experiance the nicest color in stripes.

4. Flat Horned Hissing Cockroach- Aeluropoda insignis: Flathorn hissers are called flat horned hissers because of their uncommen flatness in hissers, and adults are accordingly less then a centimeter thick according to Kyle from roach crossing. males have a oddly shaped pronotum that does a dip down with a slightly carved in area that faintly reveals the top of the cockroaches head. Adults have very eye appealing bright cherry red colors on their abdomens and can have black fading into the cherry redness on each side of the abdomen.  Some individuals can of course have slightly darker colors depending on how the parents look but most adults ahve bright red cherry red colors, and females seem to have even brighter cherry red colors then males.

5. Dwarf Hissing Cockroach- Elliptorhina chopardi: Dwarf hissers are the smallest hisser in the hisser colony including the dwarf genus. Dwarf hissers have bgith whitish yellows mixed with darker orange making these cockroaches look somewhat golden. And are knwon to be the cutest roach out of the hisser family because of it's small size.  And something I quite find eye appealing is whenever these hisserrs pile up it really shows how magnficent their colors are, and I really hope I can get my hands on breeding these guys soon. the horns on males are more pointier then other hissers, both males and females have black pronotums. the sub adults of this specie seems to look very similair to Elliptorhina javanica, so maybe possibly it is a locality of them that is not known yet?

6. "Dark" Dwarf Hissing Cockroach- Elliptorhina cf. coquereliana: This new possible locality of dwarf hissers is known as "Dark" dwarf hissers. This hisser is very rare and is being cultured only by a feel hobbyist in Europe and hope to see them arrive in the US sometime soon, information on these hissers is very scarce. Males have very pointy horns and most individual colors will remain the same with offsprings on the abdomen of these hissers there are black and light orange stripes, on each thoracic pad seems to have a very very dark brown color including above that color a very very light orange color.

Some of these species shown are rarer to find in the hobby, specifically, the Elliptorhina davidi. Most of these can be extremely hard to find and need even more care that needs to be proper husbandry or some of that species' colonies can die off very easily. And only a handful of roach breeders have some of these species. Some good breeders and collectors I know of are, Bugs In Cyberspace, Roach Crossing, and Cape Cod Cockroaches. There are plenty more breeders but these are some of the most popular that I know of, another good place to buy these roaches in bulk and larger quantities for a fair price is T-rex Ranch.

--Sources:--

Roach Crossing. (n.d.). Hissers Archives - Roach Crossing. https://www.roachcrossing.com/category/for-sale/cockroaches/roach-type/hissers/

Pure Hobby Hisser “Key” (WIP 2021). (n.d.). https://www.invertebratedude.com/p/pure-gromphadorhini-in-culture.html

Common Hisser (Gromphadorhina portentous) LLE Mahogany. (2018, May 10). Limberlost Exotics. http://limberlostexotics.com/common-hisser-gromphadorhina-portentous-lle-mahogany/