# Locust Breeding (Pictures too)



## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

Okay so i've decided to get my own locust colony on the go ready for when i buy my ackie...
. So im going to put together a guide and a documentation of exactly everything that is going on  .. this will help show people how simple (or not) it actually is 

Firstly I bought two tubs, 25 inches x 15 x 10








I have now punched very small holes through the top of the lids for ventilation.
For light and heat I have wired a 40W bulb into the side of the plastic tub..


















I am using cut up strips of egg crate for the locust to hang off and I am feeding them a generic lettuce and any fruit/veg scraps. They eat like gannets. I tried cat food but unlike crickets they showed absolutely no interest and it just made the boxes smell.

In the one tub I have some pre adults, and in the other I have adults. This si so when they adults lay and die they can be immediately replaced.. any locust that reach their final moult in the pre adult box get put into the other box.

In the other box I have Adults, these are currently mating and getting ready to lay. In their box I have some egg crates, lettuce, and some deep dishes with sand and sandy soil in for laying.

*Day one *
I set up my boxes and put my locust in.. nothing much happened, they ate, had about a million poo's and chilled out on the egg crates.

*Day two
*Again they ate and did the same routine, I didnt see any mating although some might have happened while I was away. They went through about 1/4 of a lettuce and 8 cherry tomatoes. Two of the pre adults reached their final moult, they are now in with the adults waiting for sexual maturity.

*Day 3
*I saw some definite mating today (and a possible attempt at a threesome?)








Now to wait for laying time.

Today I also cleaned out the tubs a bit, using some kitchen roll I wiped up all the condensation from off around the tubs and cleared up a reasonable amount of poo. No food needed to be removed as it all gets eaten.

I am not sure of the temperature of the tubs, but they must be okay as mating is happening and all my locust are still alive.

*I will keep you updated as to what happens next:2thumb:*


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## ZOO CENTRE (Apr 1, 2010)

Dear friend,

I am afraid that your breeding will not be working for long time.

For example:
Today I also cleaned out the tubs a bit, using some kitchen roll I wiped up all the condensation from off around the tubs and cleared up a reasonable amount of poo. No food needed to be removed as it all gets eaten.

-there must not be NO CONDENSATION!! - they need fresh air or they will steam up and die - put mesh on the all cover (this is a minimum!)


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## swift_wraith (Jan 4, 2009)

Also, you'll be better feeding them greens instead of lettuce as lettuce has absolutely no nutritional qualities. best foods are: Spring greens, cabbage, carrots, apple, pear.
As said, moisture will kill them, they orignally come from extremely arid areas and the only moisture that should be present is from the laying boxes.

I ended up making a custom breeding box out of wood & mesh, works a treat. Has a mesh sub-floor and roof. So get good airflow which minimises moisture, also their frass (poop) falls through the sub-floor onto a layer underneath. Means I only have to open the box to feed them and a quick clean once a week. just hoover up the frass from the layer below every other day.

if you want pics, give me a shout.


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

Thanks for the advice guys  
As I say this is my first time so im trying to show people who have also never done it before what works and what doesnt.
i will get a mesh very soon, condensation is getting quite bad. :2thumb:


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

*Day four
*
Today I altered the boxes, taking the advice given I have now fitted the lids with a plastic gauze, I bought an entire roll of this for £5 at my local garden centre.
I used a Stanley knife to cut a hole in the tubs, then used a heat gun the melt the plastic gauze to the plastic lid.. I hope there is now enough ventilation for to prevent any unwanted humidity.










Inside the adult box was something that resembled the last days of rome, plenty of mating... :lol2::lol2:









I had one more pre adult reach adulthood today and their diet now consists of any kitchen scraps and kale, plus I put a bit of crushed wheetabix in a tub which they seem very fond of.

Thanks for the advice so far:2thumb:


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

*Day 5
*
The gauze appears to have worked, there is now no humidity in the tubs ( thanks to those who suggested it).

The adults are becoming very flighty and there is constant mating occurring, I am now just waiting to catch some laying going on so I can move the laying pot to the juvenile tub. Most of the pre adults appear to be nearing their final moults.. i've already had four reach adulthood, the process is rather spectacular, they appear to just walk out of their old skins and leave them on the floor. I first though I had lost a few locust in the night, but it was just their old skins laying on the ground.
Since I have moved them onto the fresh greens as opposed to lettuce they eat less in volume (lower costs) and they appear to be pooing a lot less, So thanks for that suggestion too : victory:


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## jonnyboy86 (Jul 7, 2009)

i used to feed mine progrub and dog food as well as cos lettuce. had thousands of babies from about 100 adult locusts


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## Kotori (Jul 3, 2011)

Hmm...I just might try this...

Good luck. Also if you have many Dandelions, they'll probably eat that. And grass, though what you're giving them is probably more nutritious.


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

As of yet no laying by the way. Ive got a horrible feeling that the two males were the ones that died off. Ive purchased another 24 hoping for better odds on mixed sexes, I will post again next as soon as I experience success, when they begin laying, hatching and becoming a sufficient size to feed off of. : victory:


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## silverdun (Jul 7, 2011)

Good luck with your venture! Am trying this too. I have a damp peat and vermiculite box in with mine for laying purposes - will eggs hatch in this? Or should I have used sand? :blush: Looking forward to reading more.


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

silverdun said:


> Good luck with your venture! Am trying this too. I have a damp peat and vermiculite box in with mine for laying purposes - will eggs hatch in this? Or should I have used sand? :blush: Looking forward to reading more.


I have heard that people have had issues with vermiculite, peat, soil etc with the locust not being able to find their way out once they lay. I have no experience with it though so its your choice, i would presume it holds the moisture better than sand and will be overall better for the eggs... also will the female be able to get her abdomen down into the vermiculite? Maybe put a tub of sand in there too and keep us posted on which laying tub she chooses .. (if not both) and what kind of experiences you had with each?? I would like this thread to be able to fill in all the small details people may be searching for when they are researching the topic.


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## swift_wraith (Jan 4, 2009)

jonnyboy86 said:


> i used to feed mine progrub and dog food as well as *cos lettuce*. had thousands of babies from about 100 adult locusts



Lettuce has very little nutritional value, its all water. Better off with the greens youre using. Most cabbages are good.


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## Nix (Jan 23, 2008)

Have you seen the sticky at the very top of this thread? Locust breeding by Markhill. This is the way I used to do it and it works.


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

Nix said:


> Have you seen the sticky at the very top of this thread? Locust breeding by Markhill. This is the way I used to do it and it works.


Yea but it misses out small details.. im trying to fill in the gaps here


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## silverdun (Jul 7, 2011)

Okey doke, will try both  

I hadn't seen the other locust breeding link, will go look! ty :notworthy:


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## silverdun (Jul 7, 2011)

how are u getting on speedywheels? I had some babies born since moving the laying tub nearer the bulb. Didn't see them hatch but found them wandering about, tiny little dark things! Sooo cute :flrt: Mine are in a seperate bug tub with bran until they grow. Who knew they'd be so small, or so easy to handle :2thumb:


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

I went on holiday and left someone else in charge, they laid eggs in the pot the night before I left. 

I came back to half of my locust dead, no obvious signs of laying and the laying tubs were dry ...............:censor:

Cleaned the tub back up, cleared the frass and the dead... moistened up the boxes, will hopefully get back on track now :2thumb:

Congratulations on getting some hoppers


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## Gemmatony10 (Oct 13, 2010)

I have also tried, and sadly failed at breeding locust...very frustraiting :devil: using the rub and then a converted fish tank method. Owning 5 chameleons, who eat them by the bucket load, and a hubby who is cricket phobic, it is my biggest expence costing around 30-35 quid a week.

Gladly I have my meal/morio worm colinies well on there way, so at least I can save a little cash there :2thumb: 

waxworm is another thing I have failed at, my moths hatch, and it never seams to go further than that, so if anyone has had sucess with this please PM me :notworthy:

I now have a empty 45x45x45 exo terra, and am going to have another attempt, hopefully with sucess this time.

I have a 60w dome heat lamp on the top, with branches, egg crate, bug grub, bug gel for a constant source of moisture, and 2 eco earth/sand laying boxes, with cups of whatever greens etc my iguana is getting.

I have it in my snake room (boiler cupboard room), so there is a pretty warm ambient temp 24 hours a day. 

I think spiking humidity and poor ventilation has been my mistakes in the past, as I never did witness any funky behaviour, and they always just seamed to reach adulthood then die.

I just today recieved my bulk bag of 50 (there was accualy 70+) of pre-adults, who are busy having a munch and basking, so fingers crossed I have a little more luck this time.

Would also love to hear peoples sucess stories, and different methods for incubating the eggs, as ive heard alot conflicting advice on this.

Good luck to everyone who is giving it a try :notworthy:


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## swift_wraith (Jan 4, 2009)

I just had about 40 babies and keep finding more. I tried changin the laypot (large utterly butterly tub filled with damp eco-earth & heat mat underneath) every week but they didnt want to lay. So used the same pot but just kept it damp and theyre laying a lot. I've seen at least 4 laying over the last few days so will be expecting 120 ish in 6-10 days.

I use a custom built locust box made from marine ply. 3ft high x 14" wide. shelf 6" from bottom with wire mesh floor to allow frass to fall through onto base so I can sweep up daily without disturbing them. Wire mesh on top to allow ventilation & 60w reflective bulb for heat. Plastic door fitted into routed grooves that slides open. If you want pics, let me know.


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

Mine are now laying like crazy. I have 3 old cricket tubs in there filled with moist sand/soil mix. I see at least 6 new holes every day, and thats not even the ones i miss that are covered over before I see them.
Loads of my locust have died off and the less that are in there the more they pair up it seems. I have at least 4 pairs mating at any one time out of about 12 locust.
I don't have any births yet im just waiting to see what happens, Im expecting some in the next few days.


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

Okay time for a major update...

Ive now removed the old laying pots which are full of eggs, as they are shallow you can see the egg formations in there. They are on a heatmat in their own box, I am keeping these moist. I have a feeling the hatchlings might struggle getting out though as the moist sand is now quite compacted, Ive loosened it out with my fingers a bit being careful not to disturb any eggs.

I have left a pot in there for laying but they no longer seem interested in just one pot.

I have had a lot of deaths in my adults which I suspect from overcrowding. It seems you dont need a huge amount of locust in there to lay lots of eggs, the females seem to want to lay fresh eggs daily or every 2-3 days. I only experienced laying once the numbers dwindled so if you want breeding on a bigger scale then take into account the size tub your going to need for them.

I am now just waiting for these eggs to hatch out hoping it wont take too long as im now getting excited and impatient.


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

SUCCESS!! This morning I finally had hatchlings in my tub.


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## swift_wraith (Jan 4, 2009)

Yay!! congrats, heres to a continued flow of babies!!


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

:cheers:


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## bw89 (Jan 11, 2010)

SuperSpeedyWheels this is a really cool thread,:notworthy: and I especially love the 'diary' aspect of it. It will help a lot of people (and probably has already).

I also wanted to congratulate you on your baby locusts. Keep up the good work:2thumb:

Bill


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

The hoppers that were born are doing well, I caught one in the moulting stage today.. It was fascinating....
They basically hang from an object and drop out of their old skins... 









I also forgot to replace the laying tub in the adults, which have now been moved into an exo terra cube for size and easy access to tubs as they dont jump out of the front as they did with the lids of the tubs.
The result was the eggs being dropped down the rock wall.










The eggs are yellow and the white is a froth plug that they seal their laying holes with.
I have now decided to buy some small tupperware tubs, this way when i take a laying box out I can keep the nymphs in there until they moult twice, at this point they can join the others in a larger tub, this is because I am finding it hard to determine who hatched when, and they are very quick and invisible to the eye when they hop somewhere, I have had a few losses due to this.
If I put every laying box in a smaller seperate tub then I can make sure every egg batch hatches before recycling the sand and I can keep the smaller locust away from the larger ones.


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## rafjamier (Aug 3, 2011)

Thanks so much for this thread! after reading it and not realising why my locusts were dying so easy im now feeding them apples etc and they are moulting and living alot longer!


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

*IMPORTANT NOTE

*Wash all locust feed before giving it to them. I just wiped out my colony. I believe pesticides to be the cause, they were all on the ground writhing in agony... WASH ALL YOUR GREENS!


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## Racheykins90 (Jun 2, 2011)

poor buggers  not a huge fan of bugs but it wasnt nice to see them dying off like that!


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## MarcusF (May 9, 2010)

Awesome thread :2thumb:

Could you just describe your latest set up please? Do you keep hatchlings the same as the adults/older locusts?

I need to get onto this breeding lark; it'll save me a fortune!


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## violentchopper (Jun 20, 2008)

SuperSpeedyWheels said:


> *IMPORTANT NOTE
> 
> *Wash all locust feed before giving it to them. I just wiped out my colony. I believe pesticides to be the cause, they were all on the ground writhing in agony... WASH ALL YOUR GREENS!


Thanx for realising and letting us know. I stopped washing my veg after a while but this has made me start again


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## swift_wraith (Jan 4, 2009)

i always wash mine, 3 goes in a sink full of fresh water.... wash, empty, wash, empty, wash, empty. guarantees clean veg.
Now if i could just stop my greens from going bad all the time ill be a happy bunny


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

Ive given up on the locust, They were costing too much to get set up. Im doing crickets dubias and turkistans instead now. I really couldnt be bother buy loads more adults, hatching the eggs out, swapping soil trays around etc. I think you really need a big cage to breed locust effectively


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## reptilian 101 (Apr 18, 2012)

*Needs advice*

Ok, so last week I bought a box of 6 adult locusts for my bd. This was all cool until I got to the last three. So I bought 2 bulk bags on the net just to see if it would be cheaper than constantly buying each box for £3 :gasp: anyway, I saw a bright yellow adult locust in the box of 3 on one of the other two pale brown ones. I assumed that the yellow one was a male .... Goin to town... With a female. So I just left the three of them and as I was unpacking all my livefood today I went and looked in the fanarium and behind a waterdish thingy there was a long strand of orange stuff that looked like tiny eggs, are they? I proceeded to remove the two locusts that were breeding into a seperate box and another male and female into another leaving the eggs on their own cos I thought they might get eaten by the adults.... Is this ok? Help if you can thanks.


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

reptilian 101 said:


> Ok, so last week I bought a box of 6 adult locusts for my bd. This was all cool until I got to the last three. So I bought 2 bulk bags on the net just to see if it would be cheaper than constantly buying each box for £3 :gasp: anyway, I saw a bright yellow adult locust in the box of 3 on one of the other two pale brown ones. I assumed that the yellow one was a male .... Goin to town... With a female. So I just left the three of them and as I was unpacking all my livefood today I went and looked in the fanarium and behind a waterdish thingy there was a long strand of orange stuff that looked like tiny eggs, are they? I proceeded to remove the two locusts that were breeding into a seperate box and another male and female into another leaving the eggs on their own cos I thought they might get eaten by the adults.... Is this ok? Help if you can thanks.


She has released the eggs as she didnt have a suitable place to lay them. Those eggs wont hatch unfortunately.


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