This is pretty awesome.. Fungus on insects..

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I found out this week, since I am now raising Madagascar Hissing Roaches, that they have resident mites that are symbiotically living on its body to eat the fungi that thrive on food fragments and saliva from the sloppy eating habits of the roach. This is a good thing for the roach. I looked closely at one of my adult hissers and sure enough there were a few small mites that were visible around the head and thorax.

 
I like they way they shot the last minute or so. They must have set up the specimens on a turntable and slowly spun them. The view is momentarily obstructed, and then they move on to the next specimen.

 
Rich S said:
I found out this week, since I am now raising Madagascar Hissing Roaches, that they have resident mites that are symbiotically living on its body to eat the fungi that thrive on food fragments and saliva from the sloppy eating habits of the roach. This is a good thing for the roach. I looked closely at one of my adult hissers and sure enough there were a few small mites that were visible around the head and thorax.
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So you will have to be careful to keep them away from any of your feeders and etc. so as not to spread the mites. The mites getting into any cultures and/or your feeders could have serious consequences. I'm not sure what type of roach these are that you are raising, but they are not being used for feeders at all are they? Aren't they a very large species of roach? Just something kind of in the back of my mind, a vague glimpse of memory. If they are, then they are definitely not something you would be using for feeders, but still something you need to keep well away from your cultures and etc. though due to the mites. Still an interesting piece of information about them though.

 
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The mite Androlaelaps schaeferi, formerly Gromphadorholaelaps schaeferi, is a common parasite of this cockroach. These mites form small clumps of four to six individuals at the base of the leg of their cockroach host. While it was originally thought that this mite was sanguinivorous (blood-sucking), recent studies showed that the mite simply "shares" in a cockroach's food items. This quote from a web site addressing the mites found specifically on the Madagascar Hissing Roach seem to indicate that this is not a harmful mite, nor one that would go from species to species, but is species specific like fleas and many mites. I have not had any bad effects from their presence. I do raise feeder roaches, but not this species. This is a species that is really too special to use as a feeder. If interested in getting some of the critters, send to me a PM.

 
Rich S said:
I found out this week, since I am now raising Madagascar Hissing Roaches, that they have resident mites that are symbiotically living on its body to eat the fungi that thrive on food fragments and saliva from the sloppy eating habits of the roach. This is a good thing for the roach. I looked closely at one of my adult hissers and sure enough there were a few small mites that were visible around the head and thorax.
Click to expand...
When I kept Madagascar Hissers (BEAUTIFUL cockroaches, btw :) ), I used a Q-tip and a can of water and dutifully and meticulously removed the mites from my roaches until all were gone.

(My lovely hissers loved their oranges. :D )

 
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I believe my Science Girl, that the mites are doing the Hissers a favor by providing a cleaning service, while they themselves are being fed with the debris. There was at least one study showing that the roaches whose mites were removed did not fare as well as the ones whose mites were left alone. So I am leaving them alone. BTW have you seen the video on You Tune showing the birth of the baby Hissers (2 parts). The photography is not that well done, but the matter is well seen and you can see things that sometimes when you raise Hissers, you do not always see happen.

 
Rich S said:
I believe my Science Girl, that the mites are doing the Hissers a favor by providing a cleaning service, while they themselves are being fed with the debris. There was at least one study showing that the roaches whose mites were removed did not fare as well as the ones whose mites were left alone. So I am leaving them alone. BTW have you seen the video on You Tune showing the birth of the baby Hissers (2 parts). The photography is not that well done, but the matter is well seen and you can see things that sometimes when you raise Hissers, you do not always see happen.
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They may have been doing them a favor, but I didn't know, and my mom, who was reluctant to gift me hissers for my birthday in the first place, wanted them O-F-F. :D

I just watched that video - very cool!

I saw my girls pushing their egg sack out halfway many times, and then drawing it back in. When little me first saw it, I was horrified. I thought that it was dying or something. I've never observed a live birth, though. Or a mating. I believe that the mating happens when they're younger, but I'm not sure. I always did love the males' hissing fights, complete with head butts. :)

 
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I am a newbee also with the Hissers and the same thing happened to me yesterday about the ooth. I wanted to collect the big pregnant girl and put her in a maternity ward. When I found the time to get her, I could no longer see this huge adult female with the ooth hanging out i/2" or so. She had withdrawn it and now is incubating it some more. I was hoping to put her in her own container so she could get a little better conditions for herself than in a big communal tank. Oh well.

My good intentions were not in order this time.

 

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