# Breeding locusts



## kanz (Jan 4, 2009)

Hey there peep's :mf_dribble:

Well I was looking around for a guide to breed locusts , but I could never really find anything , most of what I found was usually very limited. So after I messed about for a while I managed to get it to work :no1:. 

Since this I decided to write a little guide as how I went about it , help some people ya know.

Well first off this is my set up 

 


Its a simple little viv , All I put in it was twigs , dry food and some leafs or cabbage etc. Once you have that set up you will need you will need some where for them to lay the eggs. I used the tubs the locusts from the shops come in . I filled it up 3/4 the way with soil and a slight bit of sand mixed threw it. Then I put a small layer of sand on top of that.

As such 

Always remember to keep it moist , you can do this by spraying it .
Once you have your setup ready and some where for your adults to lay there egg's you will need to get some adults either buy them , or bring them up from young . Bringing them up from young is usually better.

Once you have them all together the locusts will begin to mate this will look like such 

After a while of this , they will begin to probe the sand with a bit of luck :whistling2:. Once they have probed that keep an eye for them laying the egg's once they lay keep it moist. With a bit of luck in 2-3 weeks you might end up with 


This was my first attempt at doing something like this so if I missed anything out or you have any questions , gimme a email and ill see if I can help ya out : victory:.


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## kanz (Jan 4, 2009)

Some new info this is what it should look like when they are probeing or laying.



And this is what you should see if they have layed.


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## kanz (Jan 4, 2009)

.....


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## acker123 (Jun 3, 2009)

cheers mate some good info and pics there:2thumb:

ive been playing on breeding locusts, but i ordered a heatmat off ebay and it aint come yet so have to wait. also im going down to devon this weekend i think so cant order the locusts yet:bash:

o well, my set up is similar to yours, but sadly not as high, although it is longer.
ive got a polystyre incubator for the eggs and ice cream tubs with argos playsand for laying in.

ill post how i get on: victory:


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## kanz (Jan 4, 2009)

acker123 said:


> cheers mate some good info and pics there:2thumb:
> 
> ive been playing on breeding locusts, but i ordered a heatmat off ebay and it aint come yet so have to wait. also im going down to devon this weekend i think so cant order the locusts yet:bash:
> 
> ...


Sounds good, Tho I always find my biggest problem is actually getting them to lay , the incu bit itsn't to hard . Trying loads of new things trying to get these suckers to lay more.


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

kanz said:


> Sounds good, Tho I always find my biggest problem is actually getting them to lay , the incu bit itsn't to hard . Trying loads of new things trying to get these suckers to lay more.


i found that maintaining temps between 29-32°C helped! my setup was around 25-27°C before, i added a 60W bulb instead of an energy saving one (my locust RUB sits on top of my viv above where the ceramic bulb is. so it heats itself mostly) and all of a sudden there were piggy back rides all round, and lots of eggs in my laying box. as per a thread i made yesterday, i didnt realise this until i started tipping sand out into a different container because i thought they werent laying lol


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## kanz (Jan 4, 2009)

Jim2109 said:


> i found that maintaining temps between 29-32°C helped! my setup was around 25-27°C before, i added a 60W bulb instead of an energy saving one (my locust RUB sits on top of my viv above where the ceramic bulb is. so it heats itself mostly) and all of a sudden there were piggy back rides all round, and lots of eggs in my laying box. as per a thread i made yesterday, i didnt realise this until i started tipping sand out into a different container because i thought they werent laying lol


Yeah i keep on top of viv to cheap heat source :flrt:. Sometimes they mate like hell , sometimes nothing , so it may be the temp's. Tho sometimes they are going at it like mad , but what happens is they don't lay , don't think they can find the pot with soil in it :bash:.

Trying a new thing with the complete floor covered in about 4-5 inch of soil. Tho I Might have to scrap this as I think the humidity is just getting to high. So far Ive pulled 2 dead ones out of about 15 adults I put in. Gonna give it a few days if I get more i think ill have to put them back in the normal tank and go back to the drawing board. :blush:

You wouldnt happen to have any pic's of your locust set up would you?


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

no pics, i can get some tomorrow. i ought to really to document it for future reference. i should get some of my roach setup as well.

ive found that they dont always look like they are laying, but they are. i emptied a sand pot yesterday that hadnt been laid in (or so i thought) to find a dozen or more egg clusters in there right at the bottom. if they lay deep enough you just dont see the white stuff they surround the eggs in. and they seem to fill the hole back in on the way out. i think in my case this is due to quite a fine substrate. the substrate needs to be coarse enough and moist enough that it can hold its structure when they withdraw the abdomen. ive got mine a bit more wet to see if that helps, long term i think it requires some much coarser sand though, or possibly a sand/soil mix.


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