# My Locust Background Tank Build



## lewkini (May 12, 2009)

Well from doing my fake background on my beardies viv I thought id do something different for my locust tank!!

I bought a 30x30x45 exo terra and as you guys know this come with a background! 

As I was concerned about the locust eating the polystyrine and also getting behind the background through the cut outs at the bottom, I thought I may aswell fill the gaps with some left over insulation and grout it!

This is the process I took

Empty exo terra lol



I first cut out the correct size pieces to fill the gaps which I then carved following the line of the original background











Then I started to grout, first layer on and you can see it starting to cover insulation peices





I gave it 3 or 4 layers of grout I think possibly 5 this is what is looked like after




Once this was fully dry I then started to paint

I did the deeper grooves in solid black and dry brushed the rest in black, I then dry brushed over that in grey and then again in brown and finally a top coat of white I hope that makes sense but basically all these coats were very light and hardly anything on the brush, i then gave it 3 coats of dead flat finish varnish to seal it, this is the out come







On to the next thing to try and hang a bulb in a exo terra! I bought a arcadia clamp lamp and disasemmbled it I didn’t use the metal hanger part in the end.

Where the exo terra lids sit there is a lip of plastic around the edge this is about 10/15mm wide. My thinking behind this was to buy a peicee of aluminium which b&q sold, this was 30mm wide by a meter in length.

I measusred across the top of the lid and cut the aluminum to length, I then drilled through the metal and the plastic lip and bolted it together using a spacer. (pics will explain better)

The arcadia clamp lamp had a plastic collar that held the bulb holder together so I unscrewed this and drilled a hole in the middle of the aluminium, I placed the coller above the aluminium and screwed the bulb holder the other side again the pics below will explain better.







Finally I placed the background in with the fake plants and also got some twigs which I poured boiling water over and baked in the oven and added the bug grub this is the final effect



Finally some locust


----------



## lewkini (May 12, 2009)

Where it sits in position



Thanks for looking comments welcome

Lewis: victory:


----------



## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks good! Fair bit of effort for a locust tank but I'm the same. Just finished building a custom wooden viv for my locusts as I found they didn't breed to well in the exo's. too much ventilation. The one I have now is perfect.


----------



## Bradley (Aug 26, 2009)

It looks good!

I would just be worried the locust may also eat the plastic plants in the tank.

What made you put the bulb inside and not on top?


----------



## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Bradley said:


> It looks good!
> 
> I would just be worried the locust may also eat the plastic plants in the tank.
> 
> What made you put the bulb inside and not on top?


As long as there's plenty off food readily available then they shouldn't eat any fake plants, I've never had issues anyway and I've had bare poly on show in a tank before. 

I'd imagine it wouldn't generate high enough temps if the bulb was on top of the viv, I had to do the same with mine. You could of course increase the wattage but you're then unnecessarily wasting electricity.


----------



## blabble182 (Dec 26, 2010)

Do you just leave yours in the tanks to incubate and raise up the small ones? I've heard before that you HAVE to separate them


----------



## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Yeah, you don't have to separate, that's rubbish. Some find it easier, I don't!


----------



## lewkini (May 12, 2009)

Cheers for the comments

Yeah is a little bit ott for a locust tank but i like things looking good!! Plus if im honest this was a piece of piss to do compared to the viv!

Reference 2 tanks and separating them I'm going by what tom has told me so i don't plan on separating them but i haven't got that far yet into breeding. Believe it or not i bought 100 size 2 locust and 50 size 3 on a thursday as i planned to pick the BD up on the monday but it never happened so ive had to keep these going. They have gone from those size 2 and 3 to the size in them pictures in about 4 weeks!

I put the light inside as i hate the idea of the light dome on the top i think it looks messy, this way its nice, neat and tidy : victory:

If im honest i have notice quite a few of the fake plants being nibbled which I'm a bit concerned about as some of the locust poos are red :gasp::gasp: i presume there not meant to be?

How often do you feed yours tom?

After all this I'm slightly concerned that this tank isn't big enough? 

Thanks once i again:2thumb:

Lewis


----------



## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

lewkini said:


> Cheers for the comments
> 
> Yeah is a little bit ott for a locust tank but i like things looking good!! Plus if im honest this was a piece of piss to do compared to the viv!
> 
> ...


I wouldn't worry about red poos, mine often do the same.

I feed every day pretty much unless there's a little left over, mainly spring greens but I add pak choi, kale, watercress, whatever I have around. 

That tanks plenty big enough, they do well in cramped conditions, in the wild they live in swarms, thrive this way.


----------



## lewkini (May 12, 2009)

Is that once a day or more? how much do you put in? just so hard to know whats right and wrong when your starting out!

Also once they have mated, how long is it before the female lays eggs? say she lays the eggs one day could she then mate again the next and lay a load more or does it not happen that quick?

Thanks for clearing the poo bit up for me, was slightly concerned!:notworthy:

Lewis


----------



## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

lewkini said:


> Is that once a day or more? how much do you put in? just so hard to know whats right and wrong when your starting out!
> 
> Also once they have mated, how long is it before the female lays eggs? say she lays the eggs one day could she then mate again the next and lay a load more or does it not happen that quick?
> 
> ...


Once a day for me but my number of adults is drastically lower. It's usually about 3 spring greens leaves or similar, enough to last them a day but not dry out, I then restock the following day if need be. 

They won't mate until they're fully matured and a yellow/brown colour depending on sex. They usually lay a few days after mating as they can't hold the eggs to long and they usually continue to mate and lay a week ish later again. So it is pretty quick yeah, they'll stop mating after a while and then die off. 

I assume you know you'll have to put a laying container in?


----------



## lewkini (May 12, 2009)

tomcannon said:


> Once a day for me but my number of adults is drastically lower. It's usually about 3 spring greens leaves or similar, enough to last them a day but not dry out, I then restock the following day if need be.
> 
> They won't mate until they're fully matured and a yellow/brown colour depending on sex. They usually lay a few days after mating as they can't hold the eggs to long and they usually continue to mate and lay a week ish later again. So it is pretty quick yeah, they'll stop mating after a while and then die off.
> 
> I assume you know you'll have to put a laying container in?



Christ i may be spoiling them then! I put in 3/4 leafs in the morning and then another 3/4 when i get in from work! 

I didnt plan to have this many but cause of the mess up with the BD i had to keep them all hence why i have so many adults!

What i may do it let a few die off and then put the lay boxes in, would that work?

Yeh knew i got to have a lay box will have to try and fit that in somewhere! :2thumb:

Thanks for clearing the time scale up i was thinking it could be the next day they would be laying again, i suppose a week later is still pretty quick 

Thanks for help
:2thumb:


----------



## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

lewkini said:


> Christ i may be spoiling them then! I put in 3/4 leafs in the morning and then another 3/4 when i get in from work!
> 
> I didnt plan to have this many but cause of the mess up with the BD i had to keep them all hence why i have so many adults!
> 
> ...


You're looking at getting a baby aren't you? If so I'd consider selling/giving someone some adults, there really is no need to have so many and this is why you're having to feed them so much so often, just wasting money. Also, seeing as theres no need to gutload I'd feed on grass until you get your dragon, you'll be suprised how much money you save. If you don't want them breeding then leave out the lay box as you've said, they'll dump the eggs but of course they won't hatch.


----------



## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

Great work.. I haven't bred locusts because I thought they were too much work, but this idea looks a bit easier.. Lol.. 

Tiger

Sent from my LT18i using Tapatalk 2


----------

