# Breeding hoppers



## bradleymarky (May 20, 2010)

ive tried crix and roaches without much luck, has anybody tried breeding hoppers and how can you tell male from female


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## Wolflore (Mar 3, 2010)

I seem to be able to keep the little ones alive for a couple of weeks max. I get a couple of moults but many die off. I'd love to know what the trick to it is too!


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## yacker (Jun 17, 2005)

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/feeder/62128-how-breed-locusts.html


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

I found locusts to be significantly harder to breed than roaches, personally - they like heat, light and space and LOTS of fresh green food.

I will see if I can find the photos my partner took years back showing the difference between males and females, but generally males are yellower and females are much more brownish.

Identifying male and female locusts - DAFF
Shows pictures of male and female of a different species of locust found in Australia - I don't know whether this applies to the two species you tend to find as livefood.


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## Nigel_wales (Mar 24, 2009)

bradleymarky said:


> ive tried crix and roaches without much luck, has anybody tried breeding hoppers and how can you tell male from female


Roaches are unbelievably easy to breed if you cant breed roach I should imagine you'll struggle breeding locust as they are more difficult.

How did you have your roaches setup breeding wise?


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## bradleymarky (May 20, 2010)

Nigel_wales said:


> Roaches are unbelievably easy to breed if you cant breed roach I should imagine you'll struggle breeding locust as they are more difficult.
> 
> How did you have your roaches setup breeding wise?


i did get babies from the roaches..but not a lot so gave it up in the end, i bought 30 roaches but only got 1 female so that didnt help.

i had them in a rub on top of my cham viv for the heat


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## Nigel_wales (Mar 24, 2009)

bradleymarky said:


> i did get babies from the roaches..but not a lot so gave it up in the end, i bought 30 roaches but only got 1 female so that didnt help.
> 
> i had them in a rub on top of my cham viv for the heat


 
Ah right :lol2: 1 female isnt going to help and they take around 6 months to grow to adult size as well. I have 225 females and 80 males in my breeding colony and they produce thousands of babies every month!


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## bradleymarky (May 20, 2010)

Nigel_wales said:


> Ah right :lol2: 1 female isnt going to help and they take around 6 months to grow to adult size as well. I have 225 females and 80 males in my breeding colony and they produce thousands of babies every month!


i ended up feeding them to my beardie which broke my heart...i`d already named them all :blush:


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## bradleymarky (May 20, 2010)

ok i might be a bit thick.....when you guys say locusts you do mean hoppers right !!.

locusts to me are those big things with huge wings and hoppers are the more colourful smaller ones with the big back legs :blush:


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## McToons (May 7, 2011)

bradleymarky said:


> ok i might be a bit thick.....when you guys say locusts you do mean hoppers right !!.
> 
> locusts to me are those big things with huge wings and hoppers are the more colourful smaller ones with the big back legs :blush:


You've maybe not seen an adult hopper then :Na_Na_Na_Na:

Big...check
Wings...check
Big back legs...check

Yeah hoppers and locusts are the same thing :2thumb:


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## Paul P (Feb 10, 2009)

Ive just started doing my own locust, I bought 50 babies and grew them on, after 3-4 weeks maybe just a little less after their finale molt they started pairing up. All the info I read pointed to around 14 days untill the eggs hatched, 14 days came and went, on around day 25/30 i had a population explosion with hundreds hatching at the same time.
I believe if you have a lot of reps its worth doing, it is hard work as they feed constantly and im going through 5 lettuces a week aswell as countless amounts of dandylion leaves.

A heat lamp of atleast 100 watt during the day and heatmat taped to the back of the tank is all they require.
The adults lay in a medium of damp eco earth, I found sand becomes to compacted and the babies struggle to hatch.


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## bradleymarky (May 20, 2010)

ive noticed a few of the bigger hoppers sticking their back ends in the saw dust that is in the tubs they come in (from the pet shop) is this them laying or scratching their arses :blush:


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## SteveCourty (Oct 4, 2009)

Ive bred locusts and tbh they take alot of time to keep clean and absolutely stink. I buy them now


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## SteveCourty (Oct 4, 2009)

Paul P said:


> Ive just started doing my own locust, I bought 50 babies and grew them on, after 3-4 weeks maybe just a little less after their finale molt they started pairing up. All the info I read pointed to around 14 days untill the eggs hatched, 14 days came and went, on around day 25/30 i had a population explosion with hundreds hatching at the same time.
> I believe if you have a lot of reps its worth doing, it is hard work as they feed constantly and im going through 5 lettuces a week aswell as countless amounts of dandylion leaves.
> 
> A heat lamp of atleast 100 watt during the day and heatmat taped to the back of the tank is all they require.
> The adults lay in a medium of damp eco earth, I found sand becomes to compacted and the babies struggle to hatch.


Strange I had more success with the sand finding that they struggled out of the eco earth! I ran two setups and found less live young in the eco earth tank.


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## Paul P (Feb 10, 2009)

SteveCourty said:


> Ive bred locusts and tbh they take alot of time to keep clean and absolutely stink. I buy them now


I agree with this, they do require cleaning out and when that times due the vast number of babies makes it extremely difficult, I find escapies from time to time on my curtains around the house, Still its better finding those than roaches , lol


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## Wolflore (Mar 3, 2010)

Cleaning out!?

Bioactive Substrate System (BSS) anyone?


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## SteveCourty (Oct 4, 2009)

Paul P said:


> I agree with this, they do require cleaning out and when that times due the vast number of babies makes it extremely difficult, I find escapies from time to time on my curtains around the house, Still its better finding those than roaches , lol


Im thinking of starting again but making it so I remove the sand or soil tubs at the right time so they hatch in a clean tank. Only problem is itll take some serious space to do this. Its a mare when your picking out several hundred baby locusts from a big pile of poop in the bottom of the tank!

One other strange thing I found was I had more success in a glass mesh topped tank than in rubs


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## SteveCourty (Oct 4, 2009)

Wolflore said:


> Cleaning out!?
> 
> Bioactive Substrate System (BSS) anyone?


Interesting idea as you could have the locusts laying straight in the sub but locusts poo quite alot! I dont think itd keep up without adding something thatd possibly eath the eggs


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## Wolflore (Mar 3, 2010)

SteveCourty said:


> Interesting idea as you could have the locusts laying straight in the sub but locusts poo quite alot! I dont think itd keep up without adding something thatd possibly eath the eggs


If you had a good colony of 'cleaner' bugs it should be fine. Add a few things like mealies to up the poo consumption, make sure you've got earthworms to keep the whole thing moving. Should work a treat!


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## SteveCourty (Oct 4, 2009)

Wolflore said:


> If you had a good colony of 'cleaner' bugs it should be fine. Add a few things like mealies to up the poo consumption, make sure you've got earthworms to keep the whole thing moving. Should work a treat!


The mealies would eat the locust eggs though


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## Wolflore (Mar 3, 2010)

SteveCourty said:


> The mealies would eat the locust eggs though


That's why I said just a few. They eat sh1t like nobody's business!!


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## SteveCourty (Oct 4, 2009)

Wolflore said:


> That's why I said just a few. They eat sh1t like nobody's business!!


Yeah I know I use them in livesoils. The next problem would be humidity. For the sub to be right for most bugs to survive itll be too humid for locusts!


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## Wolflore (Mar 3, 2010)

If you use a ceramic as a heat source it will dry the air out leaving just the relative humidity in the room. British humidity seems to stick around the 50% mark unless it piddling down or in the depths of winter in my damp flat!

Ventilation would seem to be the biggest issue, much like some of the tarantula species. It could be the moulds that linger in a moist still environment rather than the moisture itself that causes the issue?


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

Ive just started breeding this is what i have done.

Two tubs, swapping adults between tubs weekly to clean the other one. Heat bulb and heat mat in the tub. Mat goes underneath soil/sand mix tubs for laying. I bought 7 adults and 14 4ths... plenty of mating from the adults so far.. all the 4ths are now adults (some died from shedding)

I keep egg crates in the box for climbing, It has a mesh lid to keep humidity out, I feed about 1/4 a lettuce every two days (they eat like crazy) they cant half shift the greens!

Ive not experienced any laying yet, im just being patient, if none happens then i will alter the temps and have a 3 female to 1 male ratio as when they pair up I rarely see the male leave the females back to give her time to lay.

I have no smell from them, the heat keeps the frass dry and odourless.

You can't mate hoppers.. they are basically baby locust. You can only mate the adult winged locust as they are sexually mature hoppers : victory:


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## Wolflore (Mar 3, 2010)

I have my first adult locust and it looks like a she! Fingers crossed for them breeding.


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## runs with scissors (May 11, 2011)

I have been trying this in a big fish tank with a mesh lid for about 3-4 weeks now with plenty of molting but no pairing up. I think my set up is abit wrong so need to change it. I change the beg in mine every other day, the smell can be strong but not to bad. I have four tubs in mine sitting on a heat mat two with soil and two with sand but no luck yet.

But hey fingers crossed


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## Wolflore (Mar 3, 2010)

What music are you playing them 

I also have a male now too. Nice surprise for the morning!


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