# locust temperature



## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

hi, i have some locusts i bought today and i have fitted a lamp into the tank and got it all set up but the temperature is staying around 26'c and i am going to be turning the lamp off at night but not sure how much the temperature will drop, will they be able to breed and live at 26'c, if so i will just leave the lamp on at night, if they wont breed at that temp i will have to put a reflector bulb in instead of the one i have got now cheers


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

anyone??


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

26c isn't high enough I'm afraid. You're looking more for 30 at least. They'll survive longer at 26 and should hopefully digest food ok but I'm not sure. I doubt there would be much breeding either and incubating at that ambient temp would be difficult too. 

What's your setup and what wattage bulb are you using?


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

tomcannon said:


> 26c isn't high enough I'm afraid. You're looking more for 30 at least. They'll survive longer at 26 and should hopefully digest food ok but I'm not sure. I doubt there would be much breeding either and incubating at that ambient temp would be difficult too.
> 
> What's your setup and what wattage bulb are you using?


Iv put the rub in top if my fish tank and stays at around 30-31'c now in the daytime, drops quite a bit at night to about 24-25'c, I think the bulb is a 40w and I'm using a about 100 litre tub, i have xl locusts which I bought yesterday and all seem to be doing okay so far, they sit in the light and heat all day and eat all of the food I leave out for them, do you think they will do okay at 30-31 in the daytime and around 25 at night? 
Cheers


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

That should be fine, if not just up the wattage, may get better results.


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

tomcannon said:


> That should be fine, if not just up the wattage, may get better results.


So will the temperature at night not be too cold for them? It was 23'c thi morning


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

No it'll be fine. I have my lights off during the day too.


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

tomcannon said:


> No it'll be fine. I have my lights off during the day too.


Oh right good!  do u have a heat at and what temp does urs usually stay at when the light is off?


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## Dragon Farm (Aug 7, 2009)

tropicaljoey said:


> So will the temperature at night not be too cold for them? It was 23'c thi morning


Thats pretty warm ! Almost certainly you are keeping desert locusts, and they would be used to temps cooler than that at night in the wild. In fact I believe a strong temp drop is important, if not essential for good breeding. I have my locusts drop much lower than 23c.


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

Dragon Farm said:


> Thats pretty warm ! Almost certainly you are keeping desert locusts, and they would be used to temps cooler than that at night in the wild. In fact I believe a strong temp drop is important, if not essential for good breeding. I have my locusts drop much lower than 23c.


thats great then!! thanks man  would 8 hours of heat at 31c be enough for them because i switch light on at 4ish until around 12 every evening or would i need it to be on longer, stays around 23-26 until i turn the light on?? thanks for the reply to


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

tropicaljoey said:


> thats great then!! thanks man  would 8 hours of heat at 31c be enough for them because i switch light on at 4ish until around 12 every evening or would i need it to be on longer, stays around 23-26 until i turn the light on?? thanks for the reply to


Could you put it on a timer so the lights came on in the am and off in the evening? That way the temp will drop better at night. My lights are on from 7 till 9ish.


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

tropicaljoey said:


> Oh right good!  do u have a heat at and what temp does urs usually stay at when the light is off?


Sorry, didn't see this. I don't use a heat mat, temps drop to 18ish, room temp.


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

tomcannon said:


> Sorry, didn't see this. I don't use a heat mat, temps drop to 18ish, room temp.


I don't have a timer or anything with the light, there wouldn't be much I could do with the light other than turn it on at them times I'm afraid, would this stop them from breeding or will it still be okay with 8 hours of 30c? And if urs do well at 18 at night then I Deffinitely won't need a heat mat


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

Here's my tank by the way  not sure how long it will take until they molt to adults but hopefully soon


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## Dragon Farm (Aug 7, 2009)

I would second what Tom is saying. I would strongly recommend you get yourself a timer (they are very cheap nowadays), and set it to be on for around 14 hours. Otherwise your breeding results are likely to be poor. 

Locusts like very good ventilation. The box in the picture looks like it needs alot more. Plus you need to have good populations for them to breed well. In that size box I would recommend you stock with about 50 locusts or more.

EDIT Locusts are one of those species can be very productive when the conditions are just right. But they do need to be just right. Small differences in keeping can result in total failure, not like with Dubia roaches for example that are more tolerant of different conditions.


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## Lucy1980 (May 10, 2013)

I agree with the comments so far


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

alright cheers, might just get dubia roaches instead


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