# Breeding Locusts



## Dan T-D (Jul 27, 2009)

Ok so it's only on a small scale, but after a few days thinking it through I decided to set up a locust breeding project. My girlfriend gave me her old fish tank and yesterday I got to work trying to turn it into a locust breeding tank. After some fiddling with polysterene and a lot of mess I had finished the tank and placed my 4 aldult locusts into it and to my suprise within a few hours one of my females layed two sets of eggs and I caught another pair mating, anyway I got a few photos so I thought i'd share them.


Ok see here is my tank:












Two glass jars of peat built into polysterene and you can see the female laying her eggs:













Here is one of the females laying her eggs:












This is the other pair mating:












I have a couple of questions as well;
1. Anything I need to know to give my eggs the best chance of hatching? Any tips?
2. How long will it take for them to hatch? I've been told anywhere from 10-14 days.


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## forteh (Feb 9, 2009)

The female thats laying might only be probing, they do this to test the suitability of the media, a good sign though. If she has laid then you will see the silvery backfilling they use to stop the hole collapsing, should be pretty easy to see against the dark media 

Again the mating pair are just riding, I think this is a precursor to mating, they will lock their abdomens together; again its a good sign, looks that everything in the tank is just fine for them.

Depending on the tank temperature you might want to incubate the pots seperately. If you keep it at 80*F then the eggs will hatch fine as long as the media doesnt dry out completely, Ive found that lightly dribbling water over the surface seems to work, misting just made the top wet but not the lower areas where the eggs are laid. Should take about 2 weeks at 80*F.

Its about 20-30 hoppers yeild per batch, you might find that with 2 tubs you may get overrun quite quickly. Mine have only been hatching for 2 weeks now and Ive already got 600 hoppers with about a quarter of them already moulted to 2nd instar. I have about 35-40 breeding adults though, in reality I think 10 adults would be sufficient for my requirements


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## Dan T-D (Jul 27, 2009)

forteh said:


> The female thats laying might only be probing, they do this to test the suitability of the media, a good sign though. If she has laid then you will see the silvery backfilling they use to stop the hole collapsing, should be pretty easy to see against the dark media


Yes the first time she was just probing, but the second time she left the silvery backfilling and I can also see the eggs at the side of the jar quite far down.



forteh said:


> Again the mating pair are just riding, I think this is a precursor to mating, they will lock their abdomens together; again its a good sign, looks that everything in the tank is just fine for them.


They have locked abdomens many times and I do have a picture I just used that particular one because it was clearer.



forteh said:


> Depending on the tank temperature you might want to incubate the pots seperately. If you keep it at 80*F then the eggs will hatch fine as long as the media doesnt dry out completely, Ive found that lightly dribbling water over the surface seems to work, misting just made the top wet but not the lower areas where the eggs are laid. Should take about 2 weeks at 80*F.
> 
> Its about 20-30 hoppers yeild per batch, you might find that with 2 tubs you may get overrun quite quickly. Mine have only been hatching for 2 weeks now and Ive already got 600 hoppers with about a quarter of them already moulted to 2nd instar. I have about 35-40 breeding adults though, in reality I think 10 adults would be sufficient for my requirements


Thanks for the advice, my tank stays above 80 and I think i'll leave them in there. That amount wouldn't be too bad, i'd look at selling some on to a few friends for a little extra cash anyway. To be honest i'd be happy if just 1 baby locust came out.


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## woodrott (Sep 14, 2008)

hi there

this post is brill for some one with only one or two beardies 
a great saveing on your food bill 

this is a great post one i enjoyed reading spot on

lets see more please

id love to try this but i use thounds in a week and ive no room to do it

but please more:2thumb::2thumb::2thumb::no1:


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## Dan T-D (Jul 27, 2009)

Thankyou I've got a couple more pictures I might put up in a little while, I only have one leopard gecko to feed so I'm not really doing it to save money it's just something I wanted to do. I suppose I'll save some money and may even make some, plus I guess I'll know the locusts are healthy and well taken care of.


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