# The Hoover Pooter! How to quickly and effectively pickup Locusts.



## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

If you breed locusts you'll know how much of a pain it is having to remove them from their setup one by one for a full clean down especially if you have hundreds of little ones. I was asked how I go about this and so decided I would post a few images of the contraption I use for this exact predicament. 

I'm sure some of you are aware of pooters, remember the little glass jar things we used to use when we were in school to collect bugs? Well this is a larger and more powerful automatic version, no sucking them up by power of lungs! 

This is the second one I have built, the first being pretty flimsy and eventually falling apart on me, this one is much better. Its pretty much finished, after a trial run I just need to bore out the adapter slightly so that the Hoover pipe fits in a little better as at the moment it is popping out after a few seconds of use but that's an easy fix. I have sucked up a few locusts when trailing it before the Hoover pipe fell off so I at least know it does the job, no locust were harmed! You should be able to get the principal though from the images below. 

The 5ltr water bottle, adapter and hose. 










Fine mesh secured inside grey adapter. 










Pieced together. 










And finally attached to the Hoover. 










Simple yet very affective! :2thumb:


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

tomcannon said:


> If you breed locusts you'll know how much of a pain it is having to remove them from their setup one by one for a full clean down especially if you have hundreds of little ones. I was asked how I go about this and so decided I would post a few images of the contraption I use for this exact predicament.
> 
> I'm sure some of you are aware of pooters, remember the little glass jar things we used to use when we were in school to collect bugs? Well this is a larger and more powerful automatic version, no sucking them up by power of lungs!
> 
> ...


Good job  I was thinking of something similar for fruit flies, using one of those mini USB desktop hoover things and liter bottle........all that sucking on a little tube is bugging me! (pun definitely intended!)

Dave


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Couldn't agree more. When I first started breeding locusts and first came to clean them out I literally spent an hour and a half sucking! Needless to say I was extremely worse for wear and thought I'm never doing that again! I have a mini handheld vacuum which I tried at first with my original pooter, I stuck the tube in it but it was much smaller than the opening so I blocked the remaining gap with a sock! It kind of worked but wasn't powerful enough especially for the larger locusts. It kind of progressed and ended up with this. This bad boy is plenty powerful. I thought it would be too powerful and the locusts would be sucked to the top of the bottle against the mesh but they're not in the slightest. Works like a charm. Well will do once I've got the vacuum hose to stay in it properly. Left my dremel at my parents. :bash:


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## regtuck (Oct 7, 2012)

It's so simple it's brilliant :no1:
Many thanks for sharing Tom.
Regards Reg


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## lewkini (May 12, 2009)

Cheers for getting round to showing some pics! When its on do they not all get stuck in the mesh blocking the suction? or are they all at the bottom of the bottle?

Also is this purely to get them out of do you suck all the crap up aswell?
Lewis


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

lewkini said:


> Cheers for getting round to showing some pics! When its on do they not all get stuck in the mesh blocking the suction? or are they all at the bottom of the bottle?
> 
> Also is this purely to get them out of do you suck all the crap up aswell?
> Lewis


They stay at the bottom of the bottle. There isn't enough vacuum inside the bottle to lift them as its such a large space. Its solely to get them all out of the viv quickly, you inevitably pick up some crap while your at it but its minimal. Once they're all out you then clean the viv out and replace the locusts by shaking them out of the top of the bottle. Easy!


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## lewkini (May 12, 2009)

Sounds perfect! Where did you get the adapter from?


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

lewkini said:


> Sounds perfect! Where did you get the adapter from?


My shed! Its a random piece of plumbing, I have no clue what it actually is and I had to sand and chop it with the dremel to suit.


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## lewkini (May 12, 2009)

Haha thats cool! ill have to give it ago once im set up!


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## SouthSidePets (Mar 22, 2013)

What a brilliant idea!


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

SouthSidePets said:


> What a brilliant idea!


Thank you! I've patented it so hands off! :lol2:


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## Dragon Farm (Aug 7, 2009)

Maybe you need to go on to 'Dragons' den.


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Dragon Farm said:


> Maybe you need to go on to 'Dragons' den.


Haha, I like it. :2thumb:


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## joe1981 (Dec 14, 2012)

Really good idea Tom i could do something for my crickets little ****ers are impossible to get from one container to another,


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Cleaned out the locusts today so gave the Hoover Pooter mk2 its first proper run, worked like a charm. My only gripe would be that its not quite powerful enough so if you have a large adult gripping on for its life it can take a few seconds to get it to let go! Other than that its perfect and my tank was empty within 5 mins. 

Below is a (very poor) video, it really is a 3 hand job with the camera too so I apologise for the quality but you get the idea! You can hear them thudding in to the tank and a big fat adult gets briefly stuck on entry to the tube so I had to stop the video, he then proceeded to let go and was fine.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k...C02FFA3-1302-00000198052CE3DA_zps3c2324a5.mp4

And my nice clean tank with them all back in. 










I honestly can't recommend this enough if you find yourself spending hours cleaning out your locusts. It literally saves me a good hour and a load of escapees!


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## Firetaster (Apr 7, 2013)

Would work well with my roaches as well ;-)


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Firetaster said:


> Would work well with my roaches as well ;-)


Indeed it would! :2thumb:


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## lewkini (May 12, 2009)

Haha cracking up at the thud noise lol! Works so well! Deffo gonna steal the idea!


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## HowseR21 (Nov 5, 2011)

What an awesome idea!! Why is this not a sticky :no1:


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

HowseR21 said:


> What an awesome idea!! Why is this not a sticky :no1:


Very good question! I think it has to be suggested to the admins for a sticky and its something I have not done. Doesn't stop you though! :whistling2:


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## hitchins08 (Jul 15, 2013)

*My Hoover Pooter*

Hi all i know this is a old thread but thought i would let you know i also made one of these about a year ago and it still going today, i breed locust as a second income i use a old upright dust collection unit bit of modifications and its great i will post some pics up soon :no1:


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