# Locusts - dying off - what am I doing wrong



## heatherjhenshaw (Jan 30, 2010)

Hiya

My leopard gecko and my new rankins love locusts, I've had some for quite a while and they seemed to be doing ok, hopping around, climbing the tank wall, but suddenly they seemed to be dying off in large quantities :bash:, I thought maybe I'd had them too long so got a new batch yesterday, cleaned out the faunarium they are in, removed any dead ones, but today I've a load more dead ones :devil:, where am I going wrong

- They are kept in a large faunarium, plenty of ventilation
- They have some cardboard apple 'crates' (like egg boxes but apples come in them from supermarkets)
- I feed them on leafy greens and odds and ends of carrots, potatos, apples
- They also have a bowl of crushed up food, dog biscuits and parrot pellets, all ground down
- They are kept at room temperature

Can anyone help, I'm buying 50 at a time and although I'll buy anything for my babies it's expensive to throw money away

Heather


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## Alasse12 (Jul 29, 2011)

Once they reach adult phase, locusts don't last too long. Depends how old they were? Could be that the dog and parrot food might be drying them out (dessication) if your hoppers are dying off too. Have you been washing the veg prior to feeding it to them? If so, I'd advise to just stick with giving them veg, but ensure it's pesticide-free. You could try giving them some of that bug gel too (hydrates them) in a milk cap or bottle lid. Watch for humidity levels because high humidity also quickly kills them. 

Locust also go mad for grass and now that Spring is approaching, you should be able to get some fresh grass easily enough for them. They also like it hot. I have a colony of locusts that I'm growing for breeding and I keep them in a well-ventilated (mesh lid) fish tank with a 100 watt bulb beaming down on them. They spend their entire time eating and basking and, when they reach maturity, hopefully mating!

Another consideration is that, if they're not getting enough food, they will eat each other. Give them a big pile of (pesticide-free) greens daily and they'll chomp through it. Ideally, you want to give them fresh grass as a lot of the green veg has high levels of oxalates in it which could be passed on to your lizards and prevent them from metabolising the calcium. When I kept locust in the past I used to freeze bags of grass and just throw it in frozen. It'd quickly defrost under the lamp and the locust would get moisture from the melting ice too. 

Just my opinions! Best of luck.


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## heatherjhenshaw (Jan 30, 2010)

Sorry if I sound thick :blush: but I'm new to this :lol2: what's the difference between locusts and hoppers, and if they are the same, why do some people call them locusts and some people call them hoppers ?

Anyway the ones I have are all 'size 2' or 'small' , my Leo and my rankins are just babies so I'm no where near adult locusts yet :2thumb:, so it can't be their age can it ?

I'll try taking out the ground up try food and put in just the leaves and try and get some damp grass. I don't have any bug gel :blush:. , I'll also put them on the heat mat with my roaches, see if that helps

Thanks for replying


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## Kuja (Dec 14, 2011)

Hopper seems to be more of a generic name for the whole grasshopper subspecies.

Locust just narrowing that down further, could also be perceived as hopper being a younger form of a locust.

In whichever case they are the same lmao

and to the topic at hand, are you sure the humidity didn't suddenly get higher? I lost a fair few due to this(moved them and condensation amongst other things formed) Similar sort of thing, few died though nothing of it, then more, and finally i thought ah crap and moved the remaining live ones out into smaller tubs while i figured out what went wrong lol.


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## Dee_Williams (Aug 15, 2010)

they need ot be kept warm or they snuff it. bran and greens seems to be the best diet for keeping them healthy too.


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## heatherjhenshaw (Jan 30, 2010)

Ok thanks I'll give that a try, i had moved the faun from the side of the roach hotel to a different part of the room so maybe it was just that bit colder

and thanks for the explanation about hoppers :lol2: I was getting very confused


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## AilsaM (May 18, 2011)

heatherjhenshaw said:


> Hiya
> 
> My leopard gecko and my new rankins love locusts, I've had some for quite a while and they seemed to be doing ok, hopping around, climbing the tank wall, but suddenly they seemed to be dying off in large quantities :bash:, I thought maybe I'd had them too long so got a new batch yesterday, cleaned out the faunarium they are in, removed any dead ones, but today I've a load more dead ones :devil:, where am I going wrong
> 
> ...


I've bought my first tarantula so getting used to having live food, I bought a box of medium locust today, about 9 in the box, got them sorted in a large faunarium, they're in a warm room so wont get cold at all & am gonna give them bits of carrot/potato and apple, also could I give them crushed up cat biscuits as bran stuff (having cats I always have plenty fo this).


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

hoppers just means baby locust?

keep them warm and well ventilated.
damp = dead hoppers
feed them cabbage - its what their breeders feed, mine go mad for spring greens


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## heatherjhenshaw (Jan 30, 2010)

Spring greens I have, by the box full, my guinea pigs live on it lol


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

tell me about it, mine are addicted to carrots`n`cabbage
i have a few more than you though


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## heatherjhenshaw (Jan 30, 2010)

I used to have lots more, I've cut down a lot, highest number I've had was 204, but that was 12 years ago, I've averaged at about 100, but my health isn't great now for all the heavy mucking out etc


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

i`ve cut down too, years ago at my mostest i had 196
looks scary when you write it down though
:gasp:


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## AilsaM (May 18, 2011)

I just put in some crushed up cat biscuits for the locust I bought today to do them till tomorrow as I forgot to get them some carrots and stuff, I found 1 dead , they're in a large faunarium in a warm room with only wet kitchen roll to drink from if needed, why do they die off?


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

probly the damp from the kitchen roll.

i`d take it out and feed them cabbage only, they eat loads of it and should get theri moisture from that.


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## AilsaM (May 18, 2011)

pigglywiggly said:


> probly the damp from the kitchen roll.
> 
> i`d take it out and feed them cabbage only, they eat loads of it and should get theri moisture from that.


I only put it in as I don't have greens in the house yet, not till tomorrow, should I just take it out or leave it in till I get the greens?


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## Lucci (Jan 9, 2012)

the minimum heat recommended is 25c if that helps


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## superharber (Jan 1, 2012)

do u keep locusts at room temp?


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## Alasse12 (Jul 29, 2011)

Another point about locust diet when it comes to feeding them cat or dog biscuits: make a note of the protein content in the biscuits, as high levels of protein can also be detrimental to the health of the lizards. I know protein is an important aspect of the diet, but too much (like anything) can be bad and could cause damage to the livers of the lizards (say that 10 times over!) Think about the natural habitat of the locust: the ones available in the pet shops are the desert locust which is found naturally in north Africa and other desert regions - can't imagine there'll be many boxes of dog and cat biscuits lying about in the Sahara. 

Personally, and this is just my opinion, I would steer clear of dog/cat food for the locusts and just stick with greens or grass, dusted with vits maybe 2-3 times a week. 

Regarding temperature, again, where they live naturally gets very, very hot and, in my experience, the hotter, the better for them. I have a 100 watt bulb on my locusts for 12 hours a day and the little ones have tripled in size in about a week.


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