# Hissing Cockroach Ootheca?



## 34531 (May 27, 2009)

Saw a similar sight to the below on one of my hissing cockroaches a few days ago... This means she's recently mated? 










"*This is a sight often seen with female Hissers that have recently bred. These roaches have relatively recently on the evolutionary scale begun to retain their ootheca (egg case) until birth rather than deposit it immediately for external incubation. The function of this behavior is unknown, but it appears as if the female is almost 'air drying' the ootheca before retracting it into her body. Such behavior is quite common and the ootheca nearly always subsequently carried to term except in cases of environmental stress, illness, or malnutrition"*

When can I expect to have little baby hissers? And what do I do with them - keep them in with the adults and feed them the same?


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## AZUK (Jul 9, 2007)

Yep. expect lots of little ones soon. As far as I am aware they will carry the eggs internally and regulate there temperature like this (sticking egg sack out of body when to warm). Watch out for the young which are born live and very fast. I once took a female alone to a show, she must have been ready to pop because when I got there there were little ones every where !


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## tarantulamatt (Nov 12, 2009)

nice you should have some little babies soon i love hissers i need to get some:2thumb:


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## gjd1989 (Oct 9, 2008)

AZUK said:


> Yep. expect lots of little ones soon. As far as I am aware they will carry the eggs internally and regulate there temperature like this (sticking egg sack out of body when to warm). Watch out for the young which are born live and very fast. I once took a female alone to a show, she must have been ready to pop because when I got there there were little ones every where !


 
you may be right but read somewhere that the female pushed the eggs out to dry them before bringing them back inside to hatch a while later


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## 34531 (May 27, 2009)

gjd1989 said:


> you may be right but read somewhere that the female pushed the eggs out to dry them before bringing them back inside to hatch a while later


 
A while? lol What's a while?


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## AZUK (Jul 9, 2007)

gjd1989 said:


> you may be right but read somewhere that the female pushed the eggs out to dry them before bringing them back inside to hatch a while later


Can't really give a time scale on when the young are due, I keep hundreds of pairs in a large community so it's difficult to know who does what when.
I leave the young in with adults until their about an inch long.
I feed the young on the same diet as the adults. The only thing to remember is to put some fine cloth or muslin over the top of the tank / tub as the young are small and soft and can get though the smallest gaps.


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