# Locust breeding questions.



## jadeyydoe (Apr 27, 2009)

Hi I'm planning on breeding Locusts for a little while, until mu OH start breeding then hes going to take all my adults and breed them for me.
(free livefood FTW!):lol2:

hes told me to put jam jars in my old quarentine tank with moist soil/sand.
Can I use spagnum moss instead because I have too much of the stuff and would be very helpful if I could use it?
if not I'll use soil 
What age should I buy the locusts, I know they only live about 30 days before they die so i'm guessing I shouldn't buy full adults.
wheres the best/cheapest place to buy them from?
how many should I buy?
I only have a baby beardie and Leo so not many mouths to feed so don't need too many locusts.


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## forgottenEntity (Sep 7, 2008)

jadeyydoe said:


> hes told me to put jam jars in my old quarentine tank with moist soil/sand.
> Can I use spagnum moss instead because I have too much of the stuff and would be very helpful if I could use it?


You are best with moist soil / sand... reason being is the female push their back ends down into the soil and sand, as deep as they can get, and then release the egg sets... Leaving behind a hole into the soil / sand where they laid them. I don't think a locust would want to lay into moss, sorry.




> What age should I buy the locusts, I know they only live about 30 days before they die so i'm guessing I shouldn't buy full adults.
> wheres the best/cheapest place to buy them from?
> how many should I buy?
> I only have a baby beardie and Leo so not many mouths to feed so don't need too many locusts.


I've got adults that have made it well past 60 days, never mind 30. So long as you feed them well and give them plenty of heat (you have got a heat source set up for them I take it?) then you'll be amazed how long they will last for. I've answered a similar thread to this one on another section earlier today. I think it's in the breeding section. Have a nosey if you want.


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

buy 24 X-Large (aka 5th instar) locusts. i say 24 because most places sell in tubs of 12, but anywhere around that number is a good starting point and not hugely expensive.

use a RUB or an old fish tank or anything that is locust-proof (bearing in mind the hatchlings are very small and can climb any surface) with the top fully open with mesh on it for ventilation (you can get fibreglass mesh on ebay for about £7 for a huge sheet of it). dont use substrate, it just makes cleaning harder and they dont need it. get egg trays, and its also useful to have some twigs in there for them to hang from to shed. if they cant shed cleanly then they die. feed them on bran and leafy green vegetables (mine live on curly leaf kale and nothing else). and provide them with either jam jars, or plastic drinks bottles that youve cut in half, basically anything with a wide top opening and about 6-8" of sand/soil mixture. put about an inch of water in the bottom, add the sand/soil, then mix it all up. thats about the right amount of water to have in the soil. too little water and the eggs wont hatch.

provide a light bulb at the top at one end, aim for temps around 29-32°C. too low and they wont mate and lay, mine hover around 30°C and are at it like rabbits all day long. stick a heat mat under the floor to keep temps up at night too.

then you just have to wait! the XL locusts usually start to shed a few days after arrival. usually they will have all shed within a week to 10 days. once they shed they are adults, but it takes them another 2-4 weeks to become mature adults. they wont mate until they have matured. its hard to tell, but typically they become much more yellow in colour when they mature. the females and males are hard to tell apart except that the female has a slightly different looking tip to their abdomen, and a slightly larger head. they are generally slightly larger than the males as well, but not always in my experience. without them on top of each other its really quite hard to tell them apart.

once they have mated youve usually got to wait a few days to a week before they start laying. they will be mating and laying constantly from then on for upto 2 months before they start dying off. my first deaths are occuring after around 3 weeks of mating, and its only 1 locust so far. once they have laid you should have hatchlings within a week to 10 days. but dont get impatient, if you disturb the sand/soil chances are youll disturb the eggs and they wont hatch. if you dont see locusts laying or any signs they have laid, also dont be alarmed, you cant always see the evidence. if nothing hatches after a couple of weeks then up the moisture of the soil/sand mix. you should be keeping it moist by spraying it every few days anyway.

for ideas on setup have a look at my picture thread here...
http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/feeder/334856-some-pictures-my-locust-turkistan.html

its pretty painstaking work to get them breeding, im still waiting on hoppers. lots of eggs have been laid, nothing has hatched thus far. im playing it patiently, but im concerned that maybe the sand is too fine and the hatchlings cant escape. il add another laying pot tomorrow with a different mixture in it. i think sand alone doesnt really work.

good luck with your efforts though!


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## jadeyydoe (Apr 27, 2009)

forgottenEntity said:


> You are best with moist soil / sand... reason being is the female push their back ends down into the soil and sand, as deep as they can get, and then release the egg sets... Leaving behind a hole into the soil / sand where they laid them. I don't think a locust would want to lay into moss, sorry.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


okay thought I should ask anyway lol 
I'll use soil 
Yeah I'm going to use my spare heat mat, does it have to be a percific tempor can i just turn teh heat mat on?
I also notice people saying use a bulb, is this completely nessarsary since they will be living infront of my window anyway? 




Jim2109 said:


> buy 24 X-Large (aka 5th instar) locusts. i say 24 because most places sell in tubs of 12, but anywhere around that number is a good starting point and not hugely expensive.
> 
> use a RUB or an old fish tank or anything that is locust-proof (bearing in mind the hatchlings are very small and can climb any surface) with the top fully open with mesh on it for ventilation (you can get fibreglass mesh on ebay for about £7 for a huge sheet of it). dont use substrate, it just makes cleaning harder and they dont need it. get egg trays, and its also useful to have some twigs in there for them to hang from to shed. if they cant shed cleanly then they die. feed them on bran and leafy green vegetables (mine live on curly leaf kale and nothing else). and provide them with either jam jars, or plastic drinks bottles that youve cut in half, basically anything with a wide top opening and about 6-8" of sand/soil mixture. put about an inch of water in the bottom, add the sand/soil, then mix it all up. thats about the right amount of water to have in the soil. too little water and the eggs wont hatch.
> 
> ...


wow lot of info :| 
thank you 
hopefully it will go well, I have David to help just incase lol


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