They Nest! (Don't look if you've just eaten)

[Zath]

Sorry about the poor quality. Something about the glass or the lighting was preventing the camera from focusing properly.

MH Roach birthing by the_bugman_cometh, on Flickr

Mmm...yummy
MH Roach offspring by the_bugman_cometh, on Flickr

Hitching a ride on Mama
Roachyback Ride by the_bugman_cometh, on Flickr

Not sure if more are on the way or not. I scrambled to put together another enclosue, expecting to be overrun with little roaches, but he's the only one I found. :/

 

[NemJones]

How cool! Hissing cockroaches are awesome. Im willing to bet you will get 25+ later this week.

 

[fdfederation]

Some people consider them a delicacy.

 

[Acro]

That looks like an aborted egg case with only a few nymphs that actually made it. Hissers don't drop egg cases that hatch later like other roaches. Nice capture in your photos either way.

 

[swords]

Are you feeding them high protein dry cat food? I was told that's what they needed for good nutrition so I bought Sprout brand natural high protein cat food. I gave it to them as pellets but they really ate it up once I started grinding it into a powder in the coffee grinder. Before long I ended up with far more roaches than I needed!

 

[Zath]

That looks like an aborted egg case with only a few nymphs that actually made it. Hissers don't drop egg cases that hatch later like other roaches. Nice capture in your photos either way.

It was gone an hour after those pics were taken. Would they...um..."recycle" it, if it were aborted?

@ Swords:

I feed them the same food I give my dogs; Pure Balance brand.

 

[Acro]

When a female is mated and forms an egg case, she will protrude it from her body (allowing it to dry), and then, instead of dropping it, she will pull it back inside.

Photos of a hisser egg case drying before it's pulled back in:

When a hisser "gives birth", the eggs simply hatch inside her then the babies (nymphs) pour out:

And yes, hissing roaches will "recycle" (eat!) an aborted egg case.

 

[Zath]

Thanks Acro!

Those pictures are darn near a FAQ in and of themselves, lol. I guess I'm lucky I got even one nymph, judging by what an awful mess her egg-case was, as opposed to the smooth, cylindrical ones in your pics.

Now I've just got to try and figure out why. Judging by the amount of time I've had them, I'm pretty sure this is the first litter any of them have had, and wonder if, as in some other critters (cresties come to mind), the first try can often fail, while successive attempts are met with more success?