# how to keep locusts ?



## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

Hey, am gettin a beardie next week and know im gonna have to feed locusts especially when he is an adult. locusts are the only live food iv never kept as my other animals are small and fine on crickets. iv seen locusts in the shop and they freak me the heck out!!! they are so jumpy and the adult ones are so big, i was holding a tub of adults and one jumped in the box and knocked the box out my hand!!

anyway to the point, i need to keep them in a way that i wont have to really have contact with them, my crix are in a large lee's cricket keeper, would locusts be ok in one of these? as the tubes of the cricket keeper make it easy for me to 'handle' the crickets. i only use one of the 4 tubes from the cricket keeper now, i was thinking og getting a tall plastic box thing and using some of the spare tubes for the locusts, you think that would work? 

also any general advice of keeping locusts like food, substrate etc would be great. 

i always thought i would eventually get over my fear of bugs, keeping reptiles and amphibians, but no such luck, im still a total wuss!


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## Durhamchance (Mar 21, 2008)

I hate the ruddy things too!

We have a small faunarium to keep our locusts in, and I get them out with tweezers.


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

ewww but to tweezer them i'd have to put my hand in, what if one jumped on my hand? what then? i'd die, thats what! of a heart attack at 22!! not a nice way to go, death by locust induced heart attack!

once i had brown crickets, and i couldnt even tweezer them, i had to switch back to black cos they arent as jumpy!

aww am getting so itchy now, thinking they are in my hair! 

when i seriousley think about it, and imagine myself with locusts, am gonna HAVE to use the cricket keeper. i cant be anywhere near them things, i cant believe people hand feed them! i salute you brave brave people out there,:notworthy: i would literally rather stab myself than pick one up, like literally if someone was forcing me to do either, i would choose to stab myself! i wish i could stop being such a loser and just not be scared! :banghead:


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## emma_fyfe (Jan 8, 2006)

you can get really long tweezers so your quite far away from the locust. i used to pick them up with a plastic bag on my hand so they couldnt touch me:lol2: 

im fine with them now, just not keen on them when they have wings!


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

wings? WINGS? please oh please tell me they cant fly. well i know like real locusts like on nature programmes can, but i was kinda hoping these were different types?? :lol2:

i love the idea of a plastic bag like!! i am so not even brave enough to touch one with pillow on my hand never mind a bag. 

its mainly the jumping thing that freaks me out, im the same with anything that is jumpy or flappy like moths n daddy long legs!! eeeewwww!!


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## emma_fyfe (Jan 8, 2006)

LauraMartin said:


> wings? WINGS? please oh please tell me they cant fly. well i know like real locusts like on nature programmes can, but i was kinda hoping these were different types?? :lol2:
> 
> i love the idea of a plastic bag like!! i am so not even brave enough to touch one with pillow on my hand never mind a bag.
> 
> its mainly the jumping thing that freaks me out, im the same with anything that is jumpy or flappy like moths n daddy long legs!! eeeewwww!!


 
yep they grow wings when theyre older, they've usually been eaten before they get to this stage though!

I dont think theyre as bad as crickets, they dont run, just hop. I just never liked their back legs, theyre so strong! lol 

I'm sure you'll be able to overcome your fear though: victory:


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

il give it a go! il just use to cricket tube thing and have to get a high container so they cant jump out! beardie is only gonna be 6 weeks when i get him, so i can start myself off on baby locusts, maybe work my way up to adults lol. thanks for the advice, your bag thing gave me an idea, am gonna wear garden gloves, then i wont feel them at all, hopefully one day i will be brave enough to touch one lol. night x


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## emma_fyfe (Jan 8, 2006)

lol have fun! night x


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## Lucifus (Aug 30, 2007)

I'm not a fan of them either, gives me great satisfaction every time my bosc annihilates an adult, especially one who decided to jump on my face during general cleaning.


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## Durhamchance (Mar 21, 2008)

We pull off the back legs to stop em hopping. I totally freak if one jumps on my hand when I'm trying to catch one mg::shock::evil:

I've got better with time though, but I still run a mile if one gets loose :lol2:


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## RichNick (Apr 1, 2008)

you've just gotta rememeber they cant hurt you. i was worried about them but now im fine with them. So is tasha aswell which i wasnt expecting. much prefer locust to crix as they are abit slower, even if they escape they jump away then just sit there where as crix leg it.So id say bite the bullet and hold one in closed hands and that gets rid of most of the fear as you notice like i said earlier, they cant hurt you.As for wings i was told dont feed them to beardies anyway as something in the wings dont agree with them


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

Nick you sound like my boyfriend, he always says that they cant hurt, n tells me exactly what u said, to bit the bullet and just hold one! its just this irrational psycological thing, i sooo wish i wasnt afraid, am same with moths n daddylong legs, but suprisingly not scared of spiders at all! i think they are all pretty ad interesting if i see them in a tub where they cant touch me, then as soon as there is possible contact summit in my brain just switches on! its horrible. i think am gonna get drunk and play with them lol, dutch courage, i think it may be the only way! 

so when they get wings do you just throw them out? i wouldnt wanna feed anything that could be bad for them. x


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## RichNick (Apr 1, 2008)

well ive just been reading another thread about "how to kill locust" and its very strange i can tell you that lol. personally i'd just leave them to die.


Oh yeah im sh*t scared of spiders can make me go all goose pimply just thinking about them.lol. ive tried "biting the bullet" with them but it doesnt work still scared of them which doesnt help when i have to crawl under floors and loft ect (im not as manly as i was making out lol)


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## hev (Mar 5, 2008)

Hiya,

My Rankins simply won't eat crickets, (YAY - as crickets REALLY give me the willies) so he is costing me a small fortune in locusts (100 per week!). I am a little better with locusts, as they are nowhere near as fast as crickets. I keep his locusts in a cricket keeper - which is ok - BUT because (unlike the crickets) locusts like the light, they rarely go into the tubes - which makes it a bit harder to catch them. I too don't want to handle them much - which is why i'd rather use the tubes. I have tried putting clear tubes in it, in the hopes they would go in them - but no. 

I am thinking of keeping them in a plastic biscuit box (with holes in it - obviously not big enough for them to come out of!! arghh!!). Then put the clear tubes in holes in the sides of the box, so they head for the light in the tubes. hey presto! That way, I would only have to lift the corner of the lid to feed them, and check on quantity.

I have a new batch of small locusts arriving tomorrow, so I will let you know how my invention goes!!


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