# locust breeding problems



## bumbleyjoe (Feb 5, 2010)

Hi, i recently set up a locust breeding colony but so far i have had no luck what so ever! they are in a 4foot fish tank, with branches, egg boxes and a big pot of moist sand (a plastic geo thing) with ramps up 2 of the sides. there is a 60w white bulb at one end which is on for 12 hours a day and a huge heat mat that wraps around the same end of the tank on 24-7. i originally brought, 6 adults, and then lots of various sized hoppers (so that there would be a constant turn over of adults and so that i would have enough to feed to my reptiles). The first 6 adults seemed to breed quite well and holes appeared in the sand, but after about 3 weeks of nothing emerging and no new holes i emptied the sand into a tray to find that there were no eggs! i have read alot of the posts on here and cannot see what im doing wrong, i feed them every day/other day and they have a couple of small pots of water crystals. i now have somewhere between 20 and 30 adults in the tank and have only spotted 1 pair breeding in the past few weeks, but still no holes have appeared in the sand! 

Any ideas of what im doing wrong? This is getting to be a really expensive money saving plan! 

Also any good ideas of how to keep the sand moist without the top of the sand forming a crust while the rest of the sand ends up dry?

Thanks to anyone who can give me some advice!! Sorry its a long post!

Hal


----------



## lottus321 (Oct 16, 2007)

When i was starting out i had a few problems with it and found it mostly came down to heat, everywhere suggested high 80 low 90 but i found the hotter the better.

Once locus are breeding you find they dont detach from each other for days so it shouldnt be that your missing them breeding. Also just because the locust has reached it wing stage it does not mean that it is an adult of breeding age, usually takes about 3/4 weeks after they have got wings that they will start breeding.

As for the eggs, if holes have been made it would suggest that eggs have been layed, they sometimes dig a number of holes but will lay once the right spot is found, the best was to tell if the hoe has been layed in or not is a small white fluid that will be left at the top of the holes that have been layed in.

When eggs are layed they develop rather than just layed, they start of as tiny eggs, like very small african land snail eggs. As they develop that become long about 1cm and skiny, they get a brown colour and almost look like a tubar.

Try changing your laying tub to a clear plastic one and you will be able to see this when a female lays at the side.

If your eggs are not getting to this stage it again may be down to heat but also humidity.

I had this problem too, Try removing the egg tubs after they have a number of holes im them, put a mesh top over them and place them in another tub with just a heat mat under them, the bulbs seem to dry the sand out very quickly but the heat mat will warm the sand while keeping the humidity longer.


----------



## bumbleyjoe (Feb 5, 2010)

Thanks for the advice, but the problem is that there are no holes, at all! keep checking everyday but there are never any holes, when i had a few to start with there was never any of that white stuff you mentioned. And after a while i seived out the sand and there was nothing in it! I have had a range of sizes in there for over a month now, so im guessing some of the adults must have reached the breeding age by now! Was trying to count them earlier and lost count at 40! You would think that 40 adult locust would do something!!! i really dont know what to do, im gunna try to change my setup and see if that will help but as far as i can see from reading posts on here im not doing anything wrong!


----------



## lottus321 (Oct 16, 2007)

Ok, Ive just had a look at your original post, 4 foot fish tank with a 60w bulb on one end.

Does the tank have a lid? if not this is almost certainly your problem. The bulb with produce 95% of the heat as well as light, if there is no lid heat get out too quickly and locusts dont get to breeding temp.

I had mine in 110L tub with lid with drilled holes all over it.


----------



## forteh (Feb 9, 2009)

I have a 60w spotlamp in my farm dimmed to about 40W, its a wooden box approximately 18" wide, 24" high and 10" deep; cool ambient is 75*F, below the lamp is 85-90*F and hot basking perches all round the lamp of up to 120*F. Im guessing youre not getting the whole lot hot enough for them.

I dont use sand for exactly the reason you stated, it forms a hard crust and is difficult to keep evenly moist. Ive found a finely graded soil and vermiculite mix to be very effective, failing that vermiculite on its own works well. Once you have some eggs (with the white silk) incubate the whole pot at 80*F and cover the top with some clingfilm to keep the eggs moist enough.


----------



## jonnyboy86 (Jul 7, 2009)

hi everyone, ive bred thousands of locusts last year and the main thing is food, heat and time. it takes 3-4 weeks for the locust to mature after they get there wings. you should notice a big change in their colour at this stage.
after they mate they wont lay eggs straight away, instead the females will make test holes for a week or so. maybe these are the holes you saw?

also if you dont feed them enough they wont lay eggs. missing even one feed might put back there egg laying. keep food in there all time and try to put fresh in there as soon as it finishes. use dry food like bran to keep costs down along with potatoes are nice and cheap. hope it helps


----------

