Newly moulted Hissers are white with black eyes. They darken within a day as the new skin hardens. They usually eat the old skin to recycle nutrients. They moult about 6 times before reaching maturity in about 7 months. As adults, they don't moult anymore and can live for another 2-5 years.
Hissers have a long life cycle and live for a long time.
Like other cockroaches, hissers are an important source of food for other animals. Insects have 3 times more protein than chicken or beef weight for weight. Hissers have recently become a common pet and often used in classrooms to teach children about insects and ecology. They make ideal teaching insects because they don't bite, don't fly, are generally odourless and not very active. But it certainly is possible for cockroaches to spread diseases by carrying disease bearing bits on their bodies and transferring germs as they eat.