OMG - I saw a Madagascar

[kimmie]

roach shedding yesterday morning!

I totally forgot to post this. I went in to check on Angie, clean out any poops, give her her salad, etc and then check on the roach bin (oh my it does need to be cleaned, getting a wee smelly but not too bad). That's when I freaked out at first wondering WTH was in there on top of the egg crate. It was HUGE and partially white (but in the middle) so it thru me for a loop. Then I watched and actually HEARD the cracking of the shell as it slowly, but right before my eyes, shed from it's old exoskeleton. WOW! Had I not needed to go to work, I'd have stayed to watch the whole thing.

When I got home, there were TWO HUGE white madagascar hissers in there. My son said he even heard one hissing at the other!

I'm hoping to get my daughter to help me transfer the colony over to a larger bin - giving more room for food and water crystals but I won't do it by myself - too creepy! (Obviously I've STILL not gotten over even keeping these things) :lol:

Oh and I saw another female with a very VERY long egg sack too! So I'm doing something right!

I'm not sure if I should seperate the Hissers from the Dubias or not though! Any suggestions?

 

[PepNYC]

Haha. You probably had the same expression on your face I did when I first saw that. It was like something out of a sci-fi movie. I remember it well. I had no idea they even did that when i saw mine do it. I thought it was dead. Another interesting fact is they actually eat the exoskeleton. Apparently there are valuable nutrients in that nasty stuff. Ah...good times....

 

[Reeferman20]

how did u end up with hissers in your dubias?

 

[kimmie]

I got a Dubia colony from the Roachguy here and then got another colony of both Dubias and Madagascars off CL. The CL guy had them all together (in bark) so I sifted them all out and put them in the same bin. I took out the two large Madagascars (male & female) and had them in a seperate tank until the female died. So I put the lonely male in with the others.

Is there a problem with them together? I'll seperate them if need be - I have a 2nd bin (actually the bin they are in now until I move them to the bigger one).