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+--- Thread: Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches (/Thread-Madagascar-Hissing-Cockroaches)
Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches - jenb128 - 06-10-2012
I'm "fostering" a colony of hissers right now. I worked at a science museum, then the museum closed due to funding issues (temporarily, we hope), and somebody needed to take the museum's educational cockroaches home to care for them during the closure. Nobody wanted them, so I took them.
For the most part, they're super easy. However, their tank is starting to stink, so it's time to change the bedding. The problem is - there are babies hiding everywhere throughout the bedding! Does anyone have any tips for cleaning the tank without sending baby hissers loose through my house (or my backyard)?
RE: Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches - Ram - 06-10-2012
Sorry I don't have a solution for you right now. Do you have a photo of the enclosure you use to hold these roaches?
Maybe we can think of a way when we see it.
I am no fan of roaches though.
RE: Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches - beyre - 06-10-2012
Oh wow! I really don't envy your situation LOL. I guess you can try and find a forum dedicated to hissers or call up a zoo or something. Who was the one who took care of them at the museum as I'm sure their habitat was cleaned out before the museum closure.
RE: Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches - ArmyOfDreams - 06-10-2012
Come to think of it there are a few tanks of MHCs under my care at the university I attend/work for. Neat critters, I enjoy observing them, although I'm not sure I would want them in my house for this very reason!
I'm not sure if you need it or not, but this site is a little helpful for general care of MHC.
I would think that pulling out handfuls and emptying any little ones into the tank or into a separate container would be a good way to go. Tedious, but should work. I don't know of any better ideas...
RE: Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches - jenb128 - 06-13-2012
Thanks for the input, all!
I think I'm currently in the weirdest animal foster situation ever, lol! We actually hadn't had them at the museum for very long before the shutdown... maybe a few months, so there wasn't an official caretaker. I was the one who did most of the feeding and watering, and another co-worker changed the bedding, but that was before all the babies showed up.
They're just in an aquarium (twenty gallon, I think). I'll probably have to do the separate container thing, and if it takes me all afternoon, oh well! I'll get a pic of the critters once their cage is all cleaned up. I'm actually a little embarrassed by it right now.
RE: Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches - Fishbone - 06-14-2012
I'm not sure what you use for bedding/substrate at the moment, but the old bug staple of eggcrate might be useful. Most bugs will hide from bright light, so if you have a few stacked pieces of eggcrate on one end of the tank, they will hide in there most likely if you put them under a bright light, then you can remove the egg create and clean the rest of the tank, or shake all of the debris to one end and keep the eggcrate on the other, and sweep it out with a whisk type broom. I've never had hissers, but it has worked with many other types of insects.