Critter Folio

Name: Heidi Stucki, Alison Balls, Meagan Miller, Brenda Danner

Title: Critter Folio

Subtitle: Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, Gromphadorhina portentosa

Natural Habitat: Madagascar hissing cockroaches are found on the island of Madagascar off the African coast, they are most often found in rotting logs.

Source: They can be found at a few pet stores, however they are easiest and cheapest if you order them on-line. They are not found in the US but people have bred them here so they are available in the US.

Classroom habitat: A clear container with air holes. These cockroaches need comfort, warmth, food, water, and cover. It’s best to have the bottom of the cage covered with newspaper or wood chips. Madagascar hissing cockroaches like vegetables, fruit, dog food, and bread. Make sure that you place the water in a shallow dish so that the cockroaches can actually drink it.

Life Cycle: The female carriers the egg and neonate nymphs for approximately 60 days until they emerge as nymphs. The nymphs undergo 6 molts before reaching maturity in 7 months. Once the cockroaches have matured they grow into full adults they can live for 2-5 years.

Safety Precautions: Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches are extremely safe to handle - they are clean, they don’t bite, and they are not poisonous in any way. However, to be safe you should always wash your hands after dealing with these animals, because they do go to the bathroom in their cage and wallow in it. Furthermore, cockroaches may have mites on their skin. Although they won’t live on or harm humans, it is good to be aware of them on the cockroaches. Also, for the cockroaches safety you should clean their cage weekly and change their water frequently as well.

Uses in the Classroom: Students could make observations about the cockroaches and answer scientific questions concerning their observations. Also, these animals can be used as food for reptiles and snakes if you had those in your classroom.

Possible investigations children can do: What kind of food do they like the most? What kind of flooring do they prefer? Do they like the light or dark more? What do they stick to? Can you tell the difference between the males and females? What is the purpose or reasons for hissing?

March 8-15

• Both Pete and Repeat seem to be more active at night or at least when it is dark.

• I couldn't find Repeat today and it was kind of scary. I eventually found him on the bottom of the cage, underneath all of the newspaper.
• They have been drinking a lot more water lately. I think this is because it has been warmer lately.
• I have noticed while holding Pete and Repeat that Repeat struggles to cling to my hand but Pete is very good at clinging; Pete can hang upside down, doesn't fall when I turn my hand over, etc.
• Pete is still so much more active than Repeat. I worry that Repeat is going to die because he never moves.
• I actually saw Pete eating today. At least, I think he was eating. He was sitting on a graham cracker for a long time and seemed involved with it.
• I really have to provoke the cockroaches to get them to hiss now. I think they are used to my contact or contact with the other girls, so they don't hiss as much.

Ali Balls
Ali Balls

1/29-2/5

• When I first received the cockroaches, Repeat was very immobile and Pete was very active.
• I noticed that Pete was more black, while Repeat had stripes - from research, I found that this is because Repeat is older.
  
• I also noticed that Repeat had tiny little bugs all over him - I researched this and found that these tiny bugs are called mites.
• Both Pete and Repeat love to be covered by the newspaper in their cage.
• Pete loves to hang from the top of the cage, but Repeat prefers to stay under the newspaper always.
• I think the cockroaches have gotten used to me - they don't hiss very much when I touch them now.
• I fed them graham crackers and cucumber. I never see either of them eat, but I have noticed that the food seems to gradually begin to disintegrate.

Ali Balls

March 30 - April 7

• On March 30-31 Pete and Repeat did not move positions. Pete remained on the side of the cage and Repeat stayed under the newspaper. When I would try to move them, they would both hiss, so I decided to let them be for a little while.
• On April 2 I observed that Repeat was sitting in the water dish, and seemed to be drinking the water, but I could not tell for sure.
• I noticed on the cockroaches’ backs different color and sized stripes. The stripes were more on Repeat, and I wonder if that is because he is older.
• My apartment was a few degrees warmer than it has been other days and both the cockroaches were much more active. Repeat was moving across the bottom of the cage, while Pete was climbing everywhere.
• On April 5 I noticed that Pete and Repeat do not often walk near each other in the cage. The two cockroaches are never eating at the same time, or climbing on each other.
• I fed the cockroaches a piece of bread and 2 carrots and they both seemed to enjoy it
• The more I hold Pete, the more agitation he needs to make him hiss. I wonder if that is because he is so used to my human contact that he did not feel threatened.
* When I hold the cockroaches in my hand I notice them feeling around my hand with their antennae all the time before they move.

Meagan Miller

February 22- March 8 2010

• The cockroaches do not react to light whenever I turn on my closet light where they were located. I am wondering if this is simply because they are used to natural light and being in the cage. I tested out my theory by using a flashlight and shinning light on them in the dark, but they both did not react
• Cleaning the cage was a lot of fun for me. Pete had some mites on him, so I took a damp paper towel and brushed off the mites. I let the cockroach’s fun around in a confined area, which Pete took advantage of, but Repeat would move here and there once in a while, but not consistently.
• I wanted to hear the cockroaches hiss so I would stroke their back until they did. Repeat took a lot of stroking to make him hiss, but Pete hissed right from the start.
• I did some research to find out why the cockroaches hiss, or how they made the sound and this is what I found out.
o Hissing plays an important role during male-male interactions. Hisses of males also contain information about the size of the male hissing, and may be used to assess the opponent’s size.
o Males also hiss during courtship interactions with females (Mating)
o The cockroaches make their sound by forcibly expelling air through a pair of modified abdominal spiracles (breathing pores)
• In observing the cockroaches I wondered how cockroaches mate. I read that males push up their abdomens under and along the female’s body until he engages the end of her abdomen
• Repeat cannot climb to many objects. I am wondering if that is because he is getting older, and the little claps he uses to climb, are not as sharp, or strong.
• Pete has no problem climbing any surface it seems like.
• I fed the cockroaches an apple, which they seemed to enjoy. I still could not tell if they were eating or drinking, or simply laying on the food
• In cleaning the cage, the Repeat was much more active when he did not have as much newspaper to hide under. He still moves very slow
• Pete tends to climb over Repeat if Repeat is ever in his way. Repeat does not hiss or do anything.

Meagan Miller

January 22-29 2010

• When I first received the cockroaches I instantly noticed a difference in behavior from Pete and Repeat. Pete climbed on the sides of the cage and would often be there for many hours. Repeat on the other hand was usually under the folded side of the newspaper.
• I read in an article that cockroaches liked cucumbers so when I first got them I put a fresh piece of cucumber in the cage and they both seemed to enjoy it. I also put a graham cracker in the cage and Repeat immediately went to the graham cracker and sat on it.
• When Repeat was on the graham cracker I could not tell if he was eating it, but I assumed he was.
• On the 22^nd, both Repeat and Pete were not very active. Pete would often times go on the bottom of the cage and hide where I could not see him. He did this quite often and it made me wonder why. Repeat continued to stay under the folded newspaper.
• On the 25^rd I took Pete and Repeat out of their cage to play with them and still Repeat did not move very much, but Pete was very active. He is a very good climber and was a lot faster than I expected.
• I wondered in observing the cockroaches how to tell the difference between males and females and males possess large horns behind head. In my research it also said that males antennae are hairy while females antennae are relatively smooth. One additional difference is male cockroaches are only aggressive, not females.

Meagan Miller

Observations from 3/15/2010 - 3/22/2010

• When I received the cockroaches this time, once again, I noticed that they weren't very active, so this made me wonder if they just aren't very active during the day time.
• I looked up some information about the cockroaches to see if this was normal behavior for them. Sure enough, I found out that they are most active at night, so then I began to be less worried about them.
• I began to wonder if these cockroaches liked being around each other at all. I noticed that they never really come near each other. They were always on opposite sides of the cage, or Pete was climbing around and Repeat stayed on the bottom of the cage. This too made me wonder if this is normal behavior for cockroaches.
• I read that cockroaches really liked fruit, so I let them try eating a grape and they really seemed to like those.
• Again, I noticed that Repeat still doesn't move around much, whereas Pete is all over the place, whether on the bottom of the cage, or climbing all around the cage. He is a very active cockroach most of the time.

Heidi Stucki

Observations 2/5/2010 - 2/12/2010

• When I first received the cockroaches, I noticed that they weren't very active at all, so I was slightly concerned because both of them were well hidden under the newspaper and I could not really see them in the cage.
• The very next day, I noticed that Pete was up climbing the walls of the cage, so at that moment I knew everything was okay. Repeat, however, still remained pretty much in the same spot in the cage so I could barely see him in the cage.
• On Sunday, Pete was still really active and crawling all over the cage, especially right near the top of the cage. That night, I noticed that their cage needed some major cleaning, so I attempted to clean it. That night I wasn't feeling so, good and could not get myself to take the cockroaches out of the cage, so I had my home teachers come over and take them out of the cage so I could clean it. Then they had a nice clean cage again.
• For the next few days, the cockroaches did not move hardly at all. I became really worried that something was going on with them. I had to keep tapping on the cage to make sure they were still moving. I really thought that I was killing them. In fact Repeat hardly ever moved really moved and I worried about him the most. But for several days neither one of them moved and they just stayed at the very bottom of the cage, underneath the newspapers.
• One thing that I really noticed about the cockroaches during the time that I had them was that Repeat never climbed up the sides of the cage. So then I started to wonder if cockroaches lose the stickiness on their feet as they get older.

Heidi Stucki

Observations from 3/22/10 to 3/30/10

• I gave the cockroaches some fruit this time because I had only given them vegetables before. I gave them a slice of an apple, and they really seemed to like that. I saw both of them eating it several times.
• Next time I gave them a strawberry. They seemed to like the strawberry as well. The strawberry was also nice because it doesn't go bad as quickly so the cockroaches could eat more of it.
• I never see Pete and Repete together they are usually on opposite sides of the cage.
• I observed that once Repete is active he does not move for a couple of days after that.
• Pete hung on the side of the cage for several days.

Brenda Danner Oswell

Observations from 2/12/10-2/22/10

• When I first got the cockroaches Pete (the younger one, because of his stripes) was in the back left corner and Repete was hiding underneath the newspaper.
• I did not see the cockroaches change position for the first couple of days.
• The cockroaches did not react to light in the mornings
• I gave the cockroaches fresh lettuce and water on the 15th and the cockroaches did not react to me putting new food in their cage and I never saw them eat any of it.
• 16th to 18th I never saw the cockroaches moves. I tapped the cage made lots of noise but they did not budge. I thought I killed them. My husband lightly poked Pete with a fork and he moved a little. I was happy to see I did not kill them!
• On the 20th we cleaned the cockroach's cage. Both of the cockroaches were very active because they couldn't hide (I think). Repete was drinking a lot of water and Pete was crawling all over the cage. When we cleaned the cage we put in a smaller piece of newspaper so Repete could not hide in it.
• I also observed the Pete could crawl on the cage and Repete could not. It seems like Repete lost his stickiness on his legs because of his age.
• With the smaller piece of newspaper I could see that they moved much more. I witnessed both of them eating a piece of bread.

Brenda Danner Oswell