# Im a dad - locusts finally hatched!!!!



## forteh (Feb 9, 2009)

Well 4 months after setting up the farm and several hundred eggs lost because of sand being too wet and lack of decent incubator temperature. Ive finally got some hoppers out of the incubator   

Only got 25-30 which is about 1 lays worth of eggs, there should be another 5-6 sets of eggs in there 

A word of warning though, if your incubator is seperate to the main farm then prepare to spend a long time trying to catch the little buggers! Its taken me about 45 minutes to collect 90% of mine. Found the best way is to get them to jump into your hand and close your fingers around them loosely, trying to pick them up with your fingers is nigh on impossible 

My media is 100% vermiculite, kept damp by occasional spraying in the incubator. I have a 50/50 mix of peat compost/vermiculite with some eggs in aswell that Ill bung in the incubator soon. I have found that with the vermiculite the tunnels do seem to collapse (no sign of any eggs) but this lot seem to have got out ok.

My incubator is a polybox, a crappy 4w exoterra heatmat (wouldnt trust it on any of the reps) stuffed in the bottom with a layer of egg box on top to diffuse the heat alittle. Plugged straight into the mains the heat mat gives a temp of 80-82 degrees in there which is about perfect.


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## RawrIsDinosaurForILoveYou (Apr 11, 2009)

hehe, i never have luck with locusts


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## forteh (Feb 9, 2009)

Neither did I till I asked [email protected] about it at donny show 
My sand was too wet and not incubating hot enough.


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## ozyshane (Dec 17, 2008)

hi, i have a contraption that i made to catch my hoppers and crix. its much easier than waiting for them to jump on your hand. ive put a pic on my public profile album coz i cant work out how to put pics on threads. its made from a coffee jar, two pieces of gaden hose,duct tape and a bit of the missus' tights (very important!) the tights stop any thing from ending up in your mouth. could be worth a try. CONGRATS ON BEING A NEW DAD:2thumb:


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## forteh (Feb 9, 2009)

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Well bugger me thats ingenious!!!
Will be making one for sure, cheers for that


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

forteh said:


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we had a contraption like that at school when i was about 6 years old for catching bugs lol. simple but effective!

i dont bother to incubate mine, they are in the RUB with the adults, and they are everywhere now. 2 escaped with the food bowl though, i caught one, the other is gone. i need to re-think my locust setup for the future because it doesnt work how it is now. i cant get my hand in without adults trying to get out, and with hoppers its impossible.


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## Elmodfz (Jan 18, 2008)

Quick question as you have successfully kept your locusts alive long enough to breed them, what should I feed them? I only ever buy the tubs of about 8 and my leo only ever eats about half, but I feel bad starving them to death. I put potato in the other day, and they all dropped down dead except 2 lol.

Any ideas? My meal worms are fine with potato etc, but it seemed to kill my locusts lol.


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## forteh (Feb 9, 2009)

Potato is probably too wet for them, moisture kills them very quickly. I feed mine on spring greens and they love it, although any dark greens are recommended; they will also eat white cabbage but not as readily.

For my 40 or so adults I get through 4 spring green leaves a day, works out to be 2 quid a week from morrisons, assuming I get the theroretical 100-150 locust hatchlings a week out of it thats a fair return 

If theyre still sub adults (without full wings) then you need to give them space to moult, if they havent got enough space then they die mid-moult. IMHO beyond 4th instar (about 1.5 inches long with little stub wings) they need more than a cricket box with some egg carton in to be able to moult.


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## htf666 (Jun 23, 2007)

The device for sucking them up if I recall correctly is called a pootah.Harry


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## Scott W (May 19, 2007)

forteh said:


> Neither did I till I asked [email protected] about it at donny show
> My sand was too wet and not incubating hot enough.


 
No worries, glad to see it worked out for you


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## BoaQueen (May 3, 2009)

forteh said:


> Well 4 months after setting up the farm and several hundred eggs lost because of sand being too wet and lack of decent incubator temperature. Ive finally got some hoppers out of the incubator


Congrats forteh!!! :no1: Well done. I have given up on this so many times because it was just driving me mad. I could see the locusts laying eggs and nothing ever hatched!!
So thanks for the tips :2thumb: defo think it's worth a go because we go through minumum of 6 boxes of locusts a week which amounts to £21.00 because they are so expensive over here.

Elmodfz - Try Cress - its about 15p and they absolutely demolish it!!!!


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## forteh (Feb 9, 2009)

I tried mine on freshly seeded and grown grass and they loved it, on advice from more experienced peoples though spring greens are better for them 

The incubation is the hardest bit, to be honest I didnt think these would hatch as the vermiculite theyre in is now dry to the touch and there were no signs of any tunnels left (I knew there were eggs though).

As a bonus, another set hatched this morning, in theory this tub should continue hatching for the next week yay


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

i feed mine on curly leafed kale. 99p per bag from Sainsburys, sometimes they have old stuff on offer for about 60p because its about to go out of date. my locusts dont much care lol. i get through 2 bags a week for about 30 adults.


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## RawrIsDinosaurForILoveYou (Apr 11, 2009)

Jim2109 said:


> i feed mine on curly leafed kale. 99p per bag from Sainsburys, sometimes they have old stuff on offer for about 60p because its about to go out of date. my locusts dont much care lol. i get through 2 bags a week for about 30 adults.


 i used that too lol
but i gave up nd have crix laying eggs now...


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## ozyshane (Dec 17, 2008)

forteh said:


> Well bugger me thats ingenious!!!
> Will be making one for sure, cheers for that


 
Dragons Den here I come :lol2: I feed my locust on leftover salad/greens from my beardies as well as offering them spring greens


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## Nix (Jan 23, 2008)

forteh said:


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It's called a pooter, been used for decades to catch bugs. They are brilliant. I used to use one to catch moths for the rescue bats we had.


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## purple-vixen (Feb 4, 2009)

It's good he has finally succeeded to be honest, as I have 21 hungry little lizards, and it's starting to get quite expensive to buy locusts for them all, to be fair 3 or 4 won't touch live very often if at all, but bless him, Forteh stuck with it and he has been rewarded with over 200 hatchlings now!

We are going to move it into the spare room as he is now looking for a way of easy cycling and growing them on.

It's been quite interesting to watch and seriously, the little hatchlings look cute! Some of them are proper bright green!!

Well done babe x


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## forteh (Feb 9, 2009)

Aww thanks:flrt:


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