# locust eggs arent hatching...



## Jim2109

im a little puzzled with this one. ive had my locusts setup for probably near on 2 months now. all the adults matured, they are all mating all day every day. i had a 6-8" deep sand tub in there. a few weeks back after not seeing any locusts laying, and no evidence on the surface that they had laid, i pulled the tub out and decided id empty it into something a little smaller and deeper. only to find hundreds of eggs at the bottom. obviously i have written these eggs off, i dont expect them to hatch, and thus far they havent.

so anyway, several weeks later, i still see locusts mating all day long. but nothing is happening. so i thought maybe the sand was too fine and was collapsing on the eggs. when locusts lay they leave behind that white stuff. i wondered if maybe this is a tunnel of some sorts for the babies to climb back out of? and with the sand this doesnt happen, so i added a tub of sand/soil mix. there is one perfectly formed "tunnel" now laid in this, that im hoping will hatch, its only been there a few days.

but im puzzled as to why the hundreds of other eggs laid in the sand tub have never hatched. is it for the reasons i considered above?

also, a couple of times now locusts have been mating, stopped mating mid way through, dropped eggs on the floor, then carried on. WTF?!? they dump them on the floor, or on the walls, wherever they happen to be. its happened twice now in quick succession so it has me a little worried. ive provided plenty of substrate and im keeping it moist. temps are 30°C by day and around 24°C by night. they get 14 hours of bulb light (plus daylight through the window), they are heavily fed on Kale and have water gel. everything is being done totally "by the book", hence im at such a loss as to why i lack any hoppers.

im going to keep faith, im designing a much better setup for them that will also make life easier for me. if i get no results this time il just have to add some more XL hoppers when the current batch start dying and keep trying.


----------



## zoe6660

i never bred locust coz i cant stand them, i would leave it longer and wait i think they take longer to hatch than crickets.


----------



## Jim2109

zoe6660 said:


> i never bred locust coz i cant stand them, i would leave it longer and wait i think they take longer to hatch than crickets.


most of the information i can find suggests anything from 7-14 days so long as moisture and temperatures are correct. some of these eggs are at least 10 weeks old, since i disturbed them that was 11 days ago. so id expect some progress by now.

ive got nothing but time, the laying box is still sat there doing nothing, so its not like im going to change anything. if they are going to hatch im sure they will, i just want to make sure im not doing something wrong. its incredibly frustrating if my locusts have laid several thousand eggs (which they must have done by now), and i get no hoppers out of it!


----------



## summerskye

i have been lucky enough to have batch after batch of locusts hatching. im not by any stretch of the imagination an expert and cant see that you are doing anything wrong.i had completely written any success off until one day my daughter pointed out that there were loads of babies!!!! everything i know about locusts i have found on rfuk so i cant really suggest anything else to try except to be patient. it seems that when it does happen you will have an endless supply. good luck


----------



## spirit975

Its sounds as though your sand is too dry if its falling back on top of the eggs. It needs to be pretty damp...other than that i guess just give it time and keep doing what you`re doing!: victory:


----------



## Jim2109

ive got hoppers!!!!   

loads of them, looks like they hatched out of the sand. its also no coincidence that in the last 3 days or so ive been keeping the substrate much more wet. i spray it 2-3 times a day now. so that is almost certainly what i was doing wrong i think.

theres at least 30 hoppers, hopefully there are hundreds more to come in the next couple of days


----------



## kanz

Try mixing a little soil in with the sand. I found sand colapsed on it self to easy. Soil stays the way it is.


----------



## forteh

Im in the same boat, been set up since march and the 1st 30 hoppers hatched today 
Its a warm fuzzy feeling inside


----------



## Jim2109

i only started mine around a month ago (seems like so much longer!) and there are 22 by my count in there at present. the thing is every few seconds a few disappear, and more appear. so its impossible to tell the total number, if there are 22 visible il bet there are just as many hiding. i think it was probably just one cluster of eggs that hatched though.

im hoping more will crawl out tonight.

also they hatched out of the sand, which had all collapsed, so im hoping now that the other eggs will hatch out fine. there are literally hundreds, maybe thousands inside the sand box. and probably only a few hundred in the soil/sand box.


----------



## little li

*locust breeding*

i have tried to breed in the past by using soil tubs without success so i gave up i use wood pellet cat litter in the bottom of my tank and last week found i had loads of babies the locusts had just buried there tails in between the pellets and now i lost count how many i have got seems to be everyday there is more


----------



## grumpyoldtrout

Thanks kanz, I now have loads of babies, I take the tubs out after a few days and stick them in the incubator, and put new ones in of course,  the incubator was on anyway, easy then to get them into a large faunarium with some greens. My sand to soil is about 50 - 50. :2thumb:




kanz said:


> Try mixing a little soil in with the sand. I found sand colapsed on it self to easy. Soil stays the way it is.


----------



## guinnesss

Hi all and thanks for giving me the opportunity to ask about this topic.
I know this is an old topic but I am in a similar situation (but slightly different)
I started my setup about 5 weeks ago and my adult locus are mating every day all day.
I have 3 sand tubs with 25 /30 holes in each (which i have removed and put into another tank with a heat mat)
The new sand tub in the mating area has got about 15 holes in there so it will soon be ready to transfer.
The only thing is although the holes / tunnels are there; there is absolutely no sign of eggs or white stuff as mentioned in this topic?
Is it possible that they have been tunnelling but not laying and i am trying to hatch something that is not there? :blush:

Also i have noticed that the holes in the tubs, in the incubator tank have started to disappear (should i damp / spray these with water?)
Very very new to all this but i would love to get to the baby hopper stage

Any help would be appreciated
Many thanks
Mick


----------



## AOTP

Ive seen some people put plastic cups over the top of their sand tubs once they incubate them. This keeps the moisture in and means you dont have to spray them once they are removed from the adult tank. And it still allows the hoppers to hatch out.


----------



## guinnesss

*missing eggs?*



AOTP said:


> Ive seen some people put plastic cups over the top of their sand tubs once they incubate them. This keeps the moisture in and means you dont have to spray them once they are removed from the adult tank. And it still allows the hoppers to hatch out.


thanks for replying to my problem.

I can give this a go and that should keep the moisture in the box solving one of my problems of the tunnels / holes disappearing
do you have any idea about the zero appearance of eggs !
I know they are mating and they are always on the sand with their tails burred deep into it when i go in to feed leave there cabbage first thing in the mornings but where are the eggs.

Could it be that my containers are not deep enough ( they are the tubs the hoppers come in from pets at home).
thanks again
mick


----------



## AOTP

That should be deep enough, I bought a variety of plastic tubs from poundland, get like 8 for a £1, i bought cylindrical ones and rectangle. About 5-6inches deep.

Ive just started my locust breeding project so have no real experience to go on just the memorized data of every single locust thread from about 8 different places  

I bought 50 adults and every single one was male so now ive dumped 50 extra larges in there with them to spice up the bash. Il see what happens over the next 7 days or so as they begin to moult.


----------



## guinnesss

AOTP said:


> That should be deep enough, I bought a variety of plastic tubs from poundland, get like 8 for a £1, i bought cylindrical ones and rectangle. About 5-6inches deep.
> 
> QUOTE]
> 
> I am thinking that this may be my problem because my tubs are only about 2" deep
> I am going to try a completely new set up i think, because my adult setup is quite small and anything bigger than 4" x 2" x 2" (that is the size of the sand tubs) and i won't have any room for the twigs and food let alone adult and baby locus .
> So with that in mind can anyone tell me if it is ok to build a breeding farm out of plywood (5mm thick)?
> I have plenty of this just sitting around doing nothing so i could build quite a reasonable size breading farm and section it off into adults / breeding - incubation - and baby's
> Please let me know what you al think, while i start my design.
> 
> Thanks again for your help and thank you to Dave for taking the time to send me a message.
> 
> I await any advice that anyone has the time to give me
> 
> Mick


----------



## AOTP

Yeah id get a bigger setup matey, im using a 18"x18"x18" exo terra with mesh lid, i got a couple of heat bulbs suspended in there and a heat mat which gets left on at night when the lights go off. Tem in there is around 30C with closer to the lights at 40. The hotter it is the faster they moult eat and breed. 

This is my first locusts attempt so when / if i have success il post up a step by step and some piccies.


----------



## guinnesss

That’s great AOTP
I am on it as we speak (type)
Just hope it will be ok in ply wood and not glass
Thanks again for the help
I will have to put the search for the missing eggs on hold for now :blush:
Mick


----------



## DaveWillisBHS

My locust set up is 1m tall and 50cm long each side. Big mesh panels and a heavy duty light bulb and heat mat. As another poster said, hotter the better, 30C and they will grow like mad. the trick is keeping the substrate damp. feel free to Cut and post my message if it helps others.


----------



## AOTP

Plywood will be fine as long as you have good ventilation, what with throwing fresh greens / grass/ trees etc in every day it can build humidity fast so i keep mine near a window also and the top is all mesh.


----------



## guinnesss

thank you for all your posts / help and advice - i will keep posting here to let you know how i got on

thanks again
mick


----------



## Alasse12

In the wild, locust eggs are stimulated by the onset of the wet season. When the rains come, they soak the ground and prompt new plant growth, which is what the hatchling locusts feed on. What I have done in the past is wait until the females lay their eggs and then leave it a couple of weeks and then give the sand a good soaking to simulate the rains. After a couple of days I had literally hundreds of nymphs all over the tank. 

Try that if they still don't hatch.


----------



## AOTP

Thats an interesting idea to try, as most people keep them a little moist and they hatch 8-14 days average. 

But the more natural approach seems worth a go also if youve had good success with it. : victory:


----------



## AOTP

I found this information very useful, and also great to read to know a little more about the insect itself.

http://www.library.ubc.ca/ereserve/biol120/locust/locust.htm


----------



## simon31uk

when u put heat mat in incubator do u put it under neath the tub on the outside or inside the tank with the tubs


----------

