Giant Burrowing Roach

I got myself some treats! 12 (6.6) nymphs direct from Australia, and 6 larger sub-adults from a local seller, those larger ones are probably all males though.

There is 1 deformed male, he never burrow, and just start on the substrate surface and he's much smaller than his brothers. I will take a photo of him next time.

Madagascar Hisser nymphs grow fast!

I got these guys on June 23, 2011, and they were tiny little buggers, no more than 10mm at most, many were smaller than 8mm.

Look at them, today is July 31, 2011. Only took them 1 month for some of them to triple in size, though some grew a little slower. They didn't eat much or grow in first 2 weeks of so, but I noticed their appetite has increased significantly in last 2 weeks, and of course growth has been taking off along with it.

This guy is the biggest among them, he's at least a good 25mm long! I guess he's the bully getting all the food? :P

Finally bite the bullet

Finally took my time to separate those black strings from others, as well as take that madagascar hisser to where she belongs, with those very small nymphs. Funny thing is that now every small nymphs is trying to get under her belly for protection, and she's doing a very good job (just stay there)!

Madagascar Hisser nymphs molting

Although I had some deaths recently, most of them remain happy, molt happen constantly across the colony, which is a good sign.

Odd ball?

Among the few I acquired as Tiger Stripe Hissers, a few are black, which I consider maybe just black strings. But one little guy actually turned out to be a Madagascar Hisser after her last molt, guess she would join the other tank of nymphs of Madagascar Hissers before she's matured soon.

Maybe I should just separate the black ones  as well, since someone in allpet forum told me that they look like hybrid more than black string. What do you think?

Dying nymphs 3rd July, 2011

I have acquired 20 Madagascar hisser nymphs about two weeks ago, some of them very small, about 5mm, while some are almost 15mm. They were doing great at the beginning, eating, hiding, and molting happily, but until recently they started dying. I have 4 dead nymphs so far, and I suspect that it is because humidity is too low since I have water the cage less frequently in the last few days. Its either that, or they are just too weak to begin with.

Some of the big ones are fine, I still have 16 of them unless there are some dead ones that I haven't located yet, which is very possible since some of them are so small. So I guess at the very least, I will have a healthy starting colony of around 10 at the end. Let's hope that high humidity will stop them from dying.