Madagascar Hissing Cockroach — Fact Sheet

Gromphadorhina portentosa · Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Secure, escape-proof enclosure sized for normal movement, feeding, and molting
• Match terrestrial, fossorial, or arboreal space to the species
• Use pesticide-free substrate at the depth and moisture specified in the full guide
• Avoid mesh that traps feet, waterlogged substrate, pesticide residues, and release outdoors

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Stable bark, branches, leaf litter, hides, and climbing or hanging surfaces appropriate to the species
• Leave unobstructed molting space above and below the animal
• Provide water safely without a drowning hazard

💡 Lighting

• UVB is not established as a requirement for these invertebrates
• Use a clear day-night cycle and indirect visible light
• Keep heat sources outside the enclosure and under thermostat control
• Photoperiod: 10-12 h; no bright light at night

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 28-30 °C

• Warm zone: 24-28 °C

• Cool zone: 20-24 °C

• Night: 20-24 °C

• Clear gradient required; the animal must be able to move between warm, cool, and hidden zones

• Measure basking surfaces with an infrared thermometer and ambient zones with digital probes

• Avoid heat rocks and unguarded heat sources

💧 Humidity & water

• Maintain the species-specific humidity range with cross-ventilation
• Keep a moisture gradient rather than saturating every surface
• Use clean water and allow safe drying between misting cycles where appropriate
• Avoid condensation, mold, and stagnant wet air

🪳 Diet

Feed regularly:

• Pesticide-free decomposed hardwood leaves and white-rotted wood; safe vegetables as appropriate

In moderation:

• Fruit, richer vegetables, and small protein extras only as the full guide allows

Avoid:

• Treated wood, conifer, moldy food, seasoned food, and protein-heavy feeding

Supplements:

• Calcium source only where the species guide recommends it

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Failed or malformed molt → humidity, space, injury, or poor condition
• Persistent inactivity outside a normal cycle → temperature, dehydration, stress, or disease
• Missing limbs or wounds → fall, trapping, or cohabitation injury
• Mites or mold → hygiene and moisture imbalance
• Sustained refusal to feed with weight loss → husbandry or health problem

Consult a reptile- or exotic-animal veterinarian for severe weakness, injury, breathing signs, swelling, or prolonged refusal to eat.