Cockroaches are not among my favourite insects, but having lived in hot countries before, I have experienced the disgust of flicking on the kitchen light and seeing these horrible creatures scuttling away to the safety of darkness. They are attracted to food, moisture and shelter, and once you get one, you can bet your sweet life that there are hundreds more.

One female can lay around 128 eggs in her lifetime, so you don’t have to be Einstein to work out how many offspring they could bring. They aren’t particularly dangerous, they don’t attack or bite, but they shed body parts, poo and saliva, all of which isn’t very healthy.


But as a Pet?

Would you consider one as a pet? Not your run-of-the-mill variety, but the mega-sized Madagascar Hissing Cockroach - Gromphadorhina portentosa - is said to make a good pet. Not for me, thank you, but they are said to be hardy, docile and easy to handle. Do they make good pets? Their large size, around 5 cm to 7 cm (that’s up to the length of an average finger for heavens’ sake!) and relative tameness are said to make it an ideal insect pet. With a lifespan of up to 5 years, they are apparently easy to care for and require minimal maintenance.

Known as ‘hissers’ in the world of ‘entomology fanciers’, they are a dark reddish-brown to black colour with a hard exoskeleton. The hissing is used as a defence posture or is used by males during courtship and mating. These gentle roaches don’t fly as they have no wings, and use their antennae to pick up air movements, tastes, and smells. They have special organs on their legs too, which respond to vibrations, and the males have an impressive set of horns used for ramming one another in fights.


Housing and Diet for your Hisser

Their housing needs are simple - a warm, secure tank with wood shavings and a few hiding places. They aren't picky eaters either. On their native island of Madagascar, these large cockroaches eat decaying organic matter, vegetation, fruit, rotting wood, and carrion insects, but captive ones will enjoy a wide variety of foods including dry dog or cat food, food for fish, chickens, or even for monkeys and rats, and this can be supplemented with fruits and vegetables -even your discarded potato skins.


Social Behaviour

The beauty of them is that they can live alone, or in a colony. Adult males may fight with each other, just a dominance thing, and this will just result in more hissing, but won’t result in any physical damage to the insects. Often, a male/female pair will slowly become a colony as offspring multiply, so beware of having one of each sex or you will end up with an infestation!


How do they hiss?

These cockroaches have a really interesting way of producing their hissing noise. Insects in general have openings on the side of their bodies called spiracles. These lead to air ducts and are essentially how insects breathe. Oxygen can diffuse in, and carbon dioxide can diffuse out, which makes the ‘hiss’.

It almost sounds like a cat hissing, and they hiss for a number of reasons. First and foremost, if you disturb them—like picking them up abruptly or shining lights on them - they might hiss as an alarm signal. Hissing can also be a sign of aggression between males, and can also be part of mating rituals with the females. They say that their hissing sounds are different, and you could soon identify which was an aggressive hiss and which was a courtship hiss. They are said to have personalities (I find that hard to believe), with some classed as ‘shy or cautious’, others as ‘bold or explorers’.


Are they dirty?

Are Madagascar hissing cockroaches ‘clean’ I wondered? They don't live in sewers and they don’t smell. They are scavengers that would normally live on the forest floor helping to clean fallen leaves and other organic material, so I guess they are nature’s clean-up crew, and could perhaps eat up some of your leftovers!

Author

Marilyn writes regularly for The Portugal News, and has lived in the Algarve for some years. A dog-lover, she has lived in Ireland, UK, Bermuda and the Isle of Man. 

Marilyn Sheridan