# Caring for crickets/locusts



## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

So...I have a leo and have been feeding him on a mixture of brown and black crickets and locusts. Normally they don't last that long and I'm never that sure on what to feed them (they usually just get a bit of lettuce). I did feed them carrot peel once but they seemed to die faster than normal . So...

what is the best food to feed them? Cabbage? Lettuce? Vegetable peel?

If I did want to set up a colony what would be the best way to do this? What type/size of enclosure should I use? Do they need any special heat or humidity care? What type/depth of substrate? Lastly...I'm not fond of grubs and would not want to handle any or have any chance of them escaping...would this be a problem?

Is all the above suitable for all three species or do any (I would be most interested in locusts because I see these as semi cute and therefore easier to handle ) require different or special treatment?


----------



## ladybird (Sep 9, 2006)

I made a cricket breeding guide for the black and silent species here Breeding Black & Silent Crickets, but it's the same setup for the other species too. Locusts are much, much harder to breed for a small breeder, they need a heat lamp, _constant_ food, and development times are much longer


----------



## MrEd (Jul 12, 2008)

as for feeding crix i use raw potato and vag that i sprinkle lightly with vit/calcium powder to gut load them. i do that about 3-4 times a week, with slices of new potato. they uisually eat all of it apart from the skin. I do the same for my mealies aswell but less often. I dont have a prob with crix dying and usually have 2-3 dead in the pot i have to remove, and the usually last more than a month.

Only prob i have is they get to big lol


----------



## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

Hmm, I don't know if I could face breeding crickets...locusts are much less smelly and noisy.

Is heat needed to keep locusts alive for the maximum length of time or can they survive fine at lower temperatures and just need the heat to breed?


----------



## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

I've just started breeding locusts, buying them in all the time can get heavy on the wallet.

You need to keep locusts at 30C+ with 0% humidity. I'm using a heatmat and a light bulb. I tried keeping locusts at room temperature and they all died off very quickly. The one thing locusts do well is eat and eat... and eat so you need to keep supplying them with fresh food, they get their water content from the food. At this time of year weeds are abundant so you've got tons of free food but come winter you'll have to get creative and use various fruit and veg. I give them bran as well to munch on. If you want to breed them they need a pot or 2 of moist substrate to lay in. Remember locusts are fairly big insects and need a lot of space.

Here's my set up, I've only started down the breeding route this week but I've run my set up by someone who breeds locusts and got the thumbs up.


----------



## Pleco07 (Aug 15, 2007)

Ive personaly find locust really easy to breed (over run wiv the bloody things now).

The setup is really cheap as well. Ive got mine in a two foot tank on its end, wiv the open side cover wiv an old pillow case for ventilation. Ive got a household 60w bulb positioned at the top of tank. 4 pint sized beakers wiv sand in for layin and an assortment of branches.

As said above tho they eat constantly, thank god for dandy leaves.


----------

