# Hatched Locusts Finally...



## Slurm (Jun 6, 2008)

yay for me after 2 months of trying to breed locusts i have finally suceeded, about 30 little hoppers....

Just in nick of time for my new born leo's.....

I have loads more eggs too about 20+ lines of eggs,, :2thumb:


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## lottus321 (Oct 16, 2007)

i have been reading that a normal batch of locust would be about 200, but people breeding them are getting numbers around the 30 mark. 

Is this normal?


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## Slurm (Jun 6, 2008)

I think it depends, I am still learning but from what ive seen each row of eggs looks to be about 15-40 or so in numbers. but from what ive seen they can lay quite a few rows. The eggs are quite small when laid but grow nicely.

I have only 12-14 females and about 7 males so im not exactly large scale.

I have had many egg rows but they have failed to hatch due to me failing the conditions.


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## howie91 (Nov 20, 2007)

Does anybody know how to sex locusts? as i have a about 10 that are adult, and i want to breed them.


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## Slurm (Jun 6, 2008)

Males are more yellow and smaller.
Females beige/pink and larger.

That method works for me oh and if they on top of each other usually the male is on top, i say usually as i had a male/male pairing, which funnily enough did not provide eggs..:cheers:


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## howie91 (Nov 20, 2007)

nipps.. 

Cos by the look of things, i only have females, cos all of mine are pinkish colour... I know this sounds strange but could somebody send us some male locusts??


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## lottus321 (Oct 16, 2007)

Mate, i had that issue with mine at first. I have since desided that just because your locust are at adult stage they may not be at a "mature" stage.
Im sure you will have males and females just keep them warm and well feed it wont take them too long week maybe a bit more and you should start see the differences.

What were the conditions you were having trobule with your eggs? How are you keeping them now?


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## Slurm (Jun 6, 2008)

They were too wet during the incubation process, the eggs just went black and mushy.

I cleared out all my laying cups and have new ones in with the adults, this morning i took a look and whoa i have about 6 lines of eggs.


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## howie91 (Nov 20, 2007)

Cheers for that. I think I'm just getting to worrid (how sad am i over locusts!!) I'm sure i will, have some males. It's just that i have never had locust to there adult stage before they all died, so I'm starting to do things right...!!! I'll just leave them in the sun and also with a heat mat, like they are now... 



lottus321 said:


> Mate, i had that issue with mine at first. I have since desided that just because your locust are at adult stage they may not be at a "mature" stage.
> Im sure you will have males and females just keep them warm and well feed it wont take them too long week maybe a bit more and you should start see the differences.
> 
> What were the conditions you were having trobule with your eggs? How are you keeping them now?


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## Slurm (Jun 6, 2008)

My GF seems to think i have thing for locusts, oh and the dandelions i collect for them...

From my limited success i think its the females that die quicker than the males, if they cant lay apparently they die quick...


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## Willenium (Apr 17, 2008)

I tried to breed Locusts before with no luck. What do you guys do? Just need to see where I went wrong.


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## Slurm (Jun 6, 2008)

I got 21 or so adults, in a big box, a light inside the box(40w) on a timer, 12 on 12 off. the box has a false floor with 6 tesco Party large plastic clear cups filled with sand. The cups rim is just above the surface.

you MUST feed daily and feed them well. When the cups have lots holes, ie egg lines then remove and heat and replace...

Im on my 4th set of hatchlings and have around 100 babies... mmmmm baby gecko food.....

I tempted to move to a larger scale.

Oh and my top tip is this, DONT buy adults, buy 5ths, when you buy adults there is a good chance they could be near the ned of their life...


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## lottus321 (Oct 16, 2007)

Still having a problem with the incubation. Going with the humidity i think.

I have in the region of about 40/45 lines. but most have now gone past the 10 day stage with no results.

Do you use dry sand?


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## Slurm (Jun 6, 2008)

yes, i originally started with wet building type sand and although i got eggs never any babies, since i have changed to dry kids play sand things are looking up.

It seems the wet building sand went solid, poss too hard for them to get out.
I think its best to be dry as the countries they breed naturally in are dry.....
im still learning too.

What temp are you inc'in at?


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## lottus321 (Oct 16, 2007)

well im running two set ups at the moment. One with a 60w bulb, not keep a temp of that but it gets to a good heat. this is the one that i keep the adults in.

A second im using as an incubator which i have a heat mat in and this is at 27.5.


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## Slurm (Jun 6, 2008)

I think 27.5 is too low, I would sugest over 90f for the eggs, from my experience light will help the hatchlings go to the top and escape, but im not sure,


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## lottus321 (Oct 16, 2007)

Well it turns out that I fried my eggs!

I placed a heat mat on the floor of the tub and placed the bucket of sand on the heat mat. This gave me a temp in the tub of 27.5.

However as i didn’t get any results i wend digging today (literally) stuck a digital thermometer in the sand to find it at 41.2... Oh dear!

Have now changed the set up but have no eggs left and my adults are dying off. have some large ones in a tank that ill be growing on and starting again.

Does anyone else use dry sand?

When you say you are now using dry sand is it damp or totally dry? how do you know when they have laid?


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## Slurm (Jun 6, 2008)

ive just moved to dry sand so watch this space...


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## Pleco07 (Aug 15, 2007)

lottus321 said:


> Does anyone else use dry sand?
> 
> When you say you are now using dry sand is it damp or totally dry? how do you know when they have laid?


 
Im successfully breeding locust, to the point that im overun with them lol. Ive got 4 pint glasses filled with sand, I add 10ml of water to the surface of the sand once a week so its slighty damp. Too much humidity just kills the colony.


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## Slurm (Jun 6, 2008)

well ive had 6 lines of eggs hatch this week and probably got 20-50 more lines to go in the incubator....

Got some greens nearly ready in the garden so im on easy street soon.... WOOHOO.

Now for the mealworm farm:2thumb:


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## lottus321 (Oct 16, 2007)

as per my last post were i thought that i had fried my eggs....

Since then i have removed the sand containers from the incubator and got it ready for another go...Being a bit pushed for time i left my sand containers on the side and me being me didnt move them for the last 5 days. (you see where this is going)

I came in today to find that some had hatched and they were everywere!! Hopping oround all over the place.
The had been out the incubator for about a week and in the incuabtor for about 3. So they have spent a total of 4 weeks in incuabtion.

Think ive captured them all about 70ish.

leason to be learnt, dont be lasy and leave locust eggs lying about


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## FeV (Sep 23, 2007)

lmao. bet that was fun for ya! 
im thinking about starting to breed them myself. could somebody post me a pic of there set ups and incubators for the eggs.


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