Back after a month missing!

[RandomWiktor]

One of my favorite hissing cockroaches, Chip, went MIA a month ago when I didn't secure his enclosure properly. I was bummed because my room is hazardous to the little dudes, what with roach traps and fish tanks and things that might smush him, not to mention that venturing out of the room puts him at risk of getting eaten by the kitty. I was pretty sure he was a goner, but I found him in one of my millipede bins today during feeding!

He's a little skinny/dehydrated but otherwise unharmed. Here's a photo of him:

Kinda scrawny

Making a beeline for the food of course!

I decided that I like Chip enough that I want him to be one of my few remaining breeding hissers. I'm trying to sell my entire hisser colony off right now, and plan on keeping just a few breeding pairs of my favorite and best looking roaches. He might not be the prettiest thing but I do like him, and found a LOVELY unbred (I know this because she was in the B. dubia bin, sneaky lil escapee like him!) jet black female to pair him with:

For an idea of why Chip is named Chip, here's what he used to look like:

Yeah, one of his cagemates thought it would be a swell idea to eat part of his head. His headplate is still a little wonky, but not nearly as bad as it was before he shed a few times.

 

[hartleybun]

for some reason chip reminds me of a trilobite - he looks like a survivor from a prehistoric age, like the ceolocanth fish. his mate-to-be looks like a piece of jet

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

eeeeewwwwwww i am itchy now,lol, i dont like bugs,lol. I remember last year my son had milipedes, fiddler crabs and frogs in his science class and they were allowed to adopt them at the end and my son wanted the milipedes so bad and i saiD NO!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

 

[RandomWiktor]

While I'm sure a popular opinion of roaches, do please remember that it's a tiiiiny bit rude to "ewww" at someone's beloved pet I don't think anyone would be happy if their rabbit elicited such a response.

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

i apologize to me it is a "bug" not a pet, but to you it is your pet, so sorry. I get that with my hermit crabs, but to me they arent EEEWWWWWW i think they are cute,lol

 

[Happi Bun]

What is it like having hissing cockroaches as Pet's? Chip is a handsome dude, love the prehistoric look. I'm happy you found him unharmed! These pictures bring back memories from when I was in Hawaii with the family. My cousins and I found a injured cockroach in the closet. We named him Bob of course! Not knowing what to feed poor Bob, we just offered bits of all kinds of random food and water. Before our vacation was over Bob was feeling much better and we released him back outside. Originally he was missing a few limbs, not sure if they grow back for those guys.

 

[RandomWiktor]

No hard feelings Fran

And, hissers are a pretty decent pet as far as invertebrates go. No real odor, eat just about anything, very hardy, and one of the calmest roach species for handling. Chip is better natured than my feeder colony of hissers because I handled him a lot from a young age, and while I wouldn't say they 'enjoy' handling they certainly acclimate to it. I keep him and a few others "tame" because my fiance and I sometimes use them in education programs, and it helps if the animal you're letting kids handle isn't completely freaking out, heh.

 

[naturestee]

I'm glad you found him! I got to keep one of those guys for my college entomology class. She was pretty neat, although she was the only one in the class that wouldn't hiss at all. We were supposed to figure out what made them hiss, what they liked for food and bedding, etc. so I was lacking information. Boo.

Now my roommate who hated her has to take care of a colony at her nature center, lol!

Do you have pictures of your other odd critters somewhere?

I don't have any insect pets but I do like feeding the antlions in the dunes of a nearby state park!

 

[Jessyka]

I wonder what makes people so freaked out by bugs? I am so irrationally terrified of them. A friend of mine breeds roaches for his lizard to eat and I tried my damnedest to pick one up and couldn't do it. They're pretty fun to watch though. Anyway! Glad you found him unharmed. :thumbup

 

[NorthernAutumn]

I really like the looks of Chip so close up... insect photography is always so beautiful... amazingly adaptive little ones!

Any more pictures of your crew? (Frankly, I think you need a whole thread just for your pets, Ren )

 

[hartleybun]

thanks to chip and this thread i just had to google hissing cockroaches! - very interesting!

 

[RandomWiktor]

NorthernAutumn, I'll have to make a thread at some point, or introduce my critters in my blog, since a few folks seem to want to see more

And that's cool hartleybun! I'm glad he's eliciting interest more than disgust - it's part of his job as an education animal after all, haha.

 

[NorthernAutumn]

Is he a well-educated educational animal