About the life of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and their maintenance at home

Together with the Mexican hairless dogs, sphinx cats and Vietnamese lop gilts, the Madagascar cockroach confidently wins the title of an extravagant but beloved pet by many originals. It is hard to call him a sweet or very responsive friend (even the term “four-legged” is not suitable for him!), But many features of biology and a very original appearance make him an attractive pet for lovers of the exotic.

Moreover, Madagascar cockroaches are very convenient in maintenance: they do not stain in the apartment and do not emit smell, are harmless and calm, and in most cases are not noticeable at all to guests.

Nevertheless, the Madagascar hissing cockroach does impose certain requirements on the conditions of detention.Therefore, for successful breeding of these insects in the house, even before you buy them, you need to be well acquainted with the features of their biology and take into account the experience of hardened cockroaches.

 

Appearance of cockroaches and their photos

Madagascar hissing cockroaches are not one species, but a whole family of cockroaches living exclusively in Madagascar, and in other countries of the world found only in lovers' terrariums or in random boxes with bananas.

In total, 20 types of Madagascar hissing cockroaches are known to science; systematists still argue about the status of some of them.

A characteristic feature of Madagascar cockroaches is their lack of wings at all stages of development. In the overwhelming majority of other cockroaches, wingless birds have only larvae, and adults (adults) have wings, and some species even fly very well. In Madagascar originals, it is sometimes even difficult to distinguish an older nymph from an adult insect.

Madagascar hissing cockroaches have a very distinctive appearance: a very powerful chitinous shield on the cephalothorax, a wide and rather thick abdomen. But their main feature is size - imago of some species can reach 9 cm in length! In the photo you can easily estimate the sizecockroach versus human hand:

The color of the abdomen of these insects varies from light red to almost black. As a rule, their nymphs are darker than adults and have a slightly denser constitution. The top photo shows nymphs of early age, on the bottom one larva of late age:

A real adornment of an adult Madagascar cockroach are peculiar outgrowths on the upper part of its breast shell. Only adult males have such “horns”, and it is thanks to them that in some species, males are well distinguished from females.

In the photo above - the male, below - the female of the species Gromphadorhina portentosa - the most popular Madagascar cockroach:

In those species of Madagascar cockroaches, in which males do not have processes on their backs, sexual dimorphism is less pronounced. However, it is possible to distinguish males from females by other characteristics:

• as a mustache, in males they are almost always broken and crooked, since insects actively use them in the fight for the female. In females, on the contrary, the antennae are even and full. The photo clearly shows the differences between the sexes;
• on the last two segments of the abdomen: in females they are both black, in the male only black is the last. And indeed, females have a slightly wider belly.The photo is clearly visible.

In the nymphs to distinguish the floors visually impossible. The nymphs themselves are very similar to adult insects, but their cephalothorax is not as developed as their parents.

 

Lifestyle and ecology of Madagascar hissing cockroaches

Madagascar hissing cockroaches - insects are very timid and shy. Under natural conditions, they inhabit the jungles of Madagascar, hiding in the forest in the daytime, and at night crawling along its surface and eating various rotting plant and animal debris. They do not bite and can not cause any harm to a person.

To save them from predators, these insects chose guerrilla tactics: they try to impersonate themselves as little as possible by movement, and if a lemur or a bird finds them, they are pressed to the surface with all their might.

Because of the smooth back, the animal cannot grab the cockroach from above, and to hook it from the bottom also turns out to be a big problem. And here the cockroach throws out his trump card, for which he, in fact, was named.

Madagascar cockroaches can hiss very loudly and sharply hiss. The hiss is reminiscent of the frightening sound of some snakes and is beneficial to cockroaches, because it can help them get rid of annoying pursuers.Such a hiss may even frighten experienced terrariumists, since insects produce it very sharply.

All adult cockroaches hiss, using special organs - spiracles - on the surface of the body. The cockroach is quite sharply bend the body and cut the lungs to emit a hiss, in some species resembling whistling.

Female cockroaches sizzle only in case of danger, scaring off the sound of enemies. Males use hissing additionally during the period of grooming a female and during a fight with other males.

It is noteworthy that in the colony of Madagascar hissing cockroaches among males a clear hierarchy is established. During the fight, the males are pushed by their horns, and the weaker male eventually turns on his back, demonstrating his defeat. Most males wear some kind of damage on the body during fights.

Many are interested in how many Madagascar cockroaches live. As a rule, in nature, the average life expectancy of an insect is 1-1.5 years, in captivity - about 3 years. Very rarely, individual individuals live to 5 or even 6 years. At the end of their life, they tend to brighten a little.

Another equally interesting question is what Madagascar cockroaches eat.In this regard, they are no different from most other species, eating rotting remnants of fruits, berries, green parts of plants.

It is interesting

In Madagascar hissing cockroaches, one species of ticks constantly lives, which is not found on any other living creature. At one time it was assumed that these mites parasitize insects, piercing their chitinous membrane and feeding on lymph or blood. But studies using tinted liquids that allowed cockroaches to drink showed that this is not so: ticks feed on the same food that cockroaches consume - fruits and green parts of plants, and cockroaches themselves are used only as a vehicle.

Like all cockroaches, Madagascar sizzling hiss to places with a pronounced smell of wood or with the presence of wood rot and sawdust. Therefore, in nature, they are easiest to find in the rotten stumps and under the decks in the forest.

 

Reproduction of Madagascar hissing cockroaches

Madagascar hissing cockroaches are viviparous species. After fertilization, the eggs in the abdomen of the females stick together and form a special chamber, the oteca.Most of the time, the oteothec is located in the female's abdomen, but it has the ability to push it through the anus to ventilate the eggs.

It is interesting

In those species cockroaches that breed live birth, the library has a light white or white and yellow color and seems soft. In other species, the females of which shed their oteca long before the larvae emerge from the eggs, the ooteca is solid and has a patronizing coloring. The photo shows the Madagascar library and the house of the house black cockroach:

The development of eggs lasts about 50-70 days. This time depends on the ambient temperature - the colder the air, the longer the original pregnancy lasts.

Nymphs come out of eggs in the body cavity of the female, and then immediately pushed out, along with the remnants of the oteca. Newborn larvae are small — only a few millimeters long — and have a white soft shell. They diligently eat the edema and darken for several hours, turning into small copies of the mother.

It is interesting

Madagascar is one of the few cockroaches whose females take care of nymphs. Until the larvae themselves crawl apart, the mother hisses angrily at all insects and animals approaching her,and makes lunges in the direction of a potential enemy.

In one brood of cockroaches there are usually 20-25 larvae. A few days after birth, they stay with their mother, and then crawl away.

The chitinous cover of the larva cannot grow in size, and therefore the insect itself grows inside it, as in clothing. Several times during his childhood, a nymph molts - her shell cracks on her back, its halves diverge to the sides and a bright, grown-up nymph crawls out of it. Her new shell is soft and light, but while the insect eats up its previous small shell, the integuments harden and the nymph gets its usual dark brown color.

The larval stage from hatching to the last molt lasts, depending on the environmental and feeding conditions, from 6 to 12 months. During this time, the nymph molts 6 times.

As a result, as a pet, the Madagaskan will delight its owner for about 4-5 years. But for such a joy insects need to create more suitable conditions ...

 

The content of cockroaches at home

We immediately say that Madagascar hissing cockroaches are bred at home, not only for pleasure, but also as a very convenient feed for terrarium animals - lizards, amphibians, snakes, spiders.They are calories, harmless to animals, do not emit an unpleasant odor, and, therefore, are very attractive as food.

It is interesting

It is Madagascar cockroaches that are used as a running insect in cockroach run - very popular entertainment in many countries of the world. In addition, they are also used in food, no matter how terrible it may sound - an adult insect is an excellent high-calorie source of protein, surpassing dietary chicken and veal in many ways. And today, extravagant couturiers even use living Madagascar people to make necklaces, but such bewareness is unlikely to ever be widespread.

Regardless of the goals, the maintenance of Madagascar cockroaches at home is usually carried out in spacious plastic cages, in which:

• There is a litter of sawdust. It is undesirable to use sawdust softwood, but coconut dust or ordinary sawdust for cat litter fit perfectly. Sawdust can be mixed with sand. The litter should be changed once a month to prevent tick infestation.
• Shelters are located. The practice of cockroach lovers shows that the ideal shelters are trays from under the eggs, laid one on another.
• Maintained high temperature in the range of 25-30 ° C. Cockroaches normally tolerate a decrease in temperature to 18 ° C and an increase to 35 ° C, but at such extremes they cease to multiply.
• Wet - the entire tank should be sprayed with water from a spray bottle at least once a week. In the ideal case - warm water, which immediately turns into a fog, ideal for cockroaches. Constant wetting of the substrate should be avoided - it may rot or moldy.

Cockroaches constantly need water. In nature, he gets it from juicy fruits or with dew. In the cage, it is necessary to install a drinking bowl in which cotton wool is placed and filled with water. Insects should not be able to drown, but they should have access to water.

Care for Madagascar hissing cockroaches is to spray the cage with water, regularly supply them with food and add water to the drinker. Knowing how to care for Madagascar cockroaches, you can ensure that they will be very active to multiply and live long enough.

You shouldn’t worry too much about what to feed the Madagascar cockroaches. They perfectly eat any fruit (especially willingly - bananas), boiled cereals, vegetables, dry fish food, bread. The main thing is that food is always in their cage and was diverse, otherwise insects can show cannibalism or begin to engage in self-healing.

It is not difficult to buy a Madagascar cockroach in Moscow or another large Russian city: today they are sold in many bird markets and in zoos. Knowing where to buy a Madagascar cockroach, many terrariumists do without a forage crop for their reptiles, constantly buying the larvae of cockroaches of the right size.

Today, cockroaches can be bought even through the Internet. It is only important to take into account that in a packed package insects can travel no more than 3-4 days, so the online store should be chosen from those that are close to home.

Today, the nymphs of Madagascar cockroaches cost about 100-150 rubles, depending on age, the price of adult cockroaches is about 400-500 rubles. Given the simplicity of their content, these insects can please even those nature lovers who cannot afford to keep a cat or a dog, but want to have a small piece of the wild world in the house.

 

Nuances of keeping Madagascar cockroaches at home