# what is required to breed locust?



## amylou (Oct 28, 2009)

just read the sticky about breeding locus and it seems easy, and would save alot on food bills for my dragons. go a few questions tho, so if anyone could answer them then i would be really grateful;

Q 1; Would it be alright to use RUB'S? 

Q 2; Do they need light? 

Q 3; What heat source do they need? 

Q 4; What temp they need to be kept at?

Q 5; what food is best to give them? 

would be a great help to anyone who can spare 5 mins to answer my "few" questions

thanks


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## amylou (Oct 28, 2009)

anyone??


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

heres my original setup http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/feeder/334856-some-pictures-my-locust-turkistan.html its still similar, but with twigs and branches inside and an extra laying tub.

it works just fine, locusts mate, lay their eggs, and the eggs hatch. im yet to yield a large enough generation of babies to replace the adults and also have enough spare to feed off though. their mortality rates are awful during the first few sheds, from 50 hatchlings il get to maybe 5 "XL" locusts, then 4 adults. considering the adults live for 2-3 months and breed non stop, its a fairly poor return. from the 100 adults i had at the start of my current breeding cycle, ive had maybe 20 babies already mature to adults, and another 30 on their way. and ive only fed off a handful, maybe 20 tops. in 2-3 months!! it costs me £5/week to feed this many, and £1 in lighting, and for £6/week i could buy 40 mediums locally, which is considerably more than my colony has ever produced.

im probably going to give up on the locusts and stick to my roaches. roaches are a million times easier.


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## amylou (Oct 28, 2009)

Jim2109 said:


> heres my original setup http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/feeder/334856-some-pictures-my-locust-turkistan.html its still similar, but with twigs and branches inside and an extra laying tub.
> 
> it works just fine, locusts mate, lay their eggs, and the eggs hatch. im yet to yield a large enough generation of babies to replace the adults and also have enough spare to feed off though. their mortality rates are awful during the first few sheds, from 50 hatchlings il get to maybe 5 "XL" locusts, then 4 adults. considering the adults live for 2-3 months and breed non stop, its a fairly poor return. from the 100 adults i had at the start of my current breeding cycle, ive had maybe 20 babies already mature to adults, and another 30 on their way. and ive only fed off a handful, maybe 20 tops. in 2-3 months!! it costs me £5/week to feed this many, and £1 in lighting, and for £6/week i could buy 40 mediums locally, which is considerably more than my colony has ever produced.
> 
> im probably going to give up on the locusts and stick to my roaches. roaches are a million times easier.


 
*where about you get your RUBS from? carnt seem to find any "big" tubs localy. *

*what kind of light would i need? and what wattage bulb?*

*do i need heatmats aswell to provide heat?*


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## amylou (Oct 28, 2009)

can anyone help?


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## Danny Action1 (Apr 30, 2009)

www.reallyusefulproducts.co.uk/uk/ 






amylou said:


> *where about you get your RUBS from? carnt seem to find any "big" tubs localy. *
> 
> *what kind of light would i need? and what wattage bulb?*
> 
> *do i need heatmats aswell to provide heat?*


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

i get ym RUB's from my local Staples store. theyre about the same price as online and theres no expensive postage. i use either 64 or 84 litres for my livefood (they are the same size at the base, but the 84 litre is taller), i think my locusts are in an 84 at present. they cost about £18 iirc.

i use a 60W reflector bulb on for about 12-14 hours a day. thats the only heating i provide, the RUB is sat on top of my CWD viv though directly above the ceramic heater, so it gets the heat from that.


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## amylou (Oct 28, 2009)

Jim2109 said:


> i get ym RUB's from my local Staples store. theyre about the same price as online and theres no expensive postage. i use either 64 or 84 litres for my livefood (they are the same size at the base, but the 84 litre is taller), i think my locusts are in an 84 at present. they cost about £18 iirc.
> 
> i use a 60W reflector bulb on for about 12-14 hours a day. thats the only heating i provide, the RUB is sat on top of my CWD viv though directly above the ceramic heater, so it gets the heat from that.


 
thanks, will look into gettin the light fitting and get it all sorted out sometime this week

thanks 4 ur help


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## kimmie86 (Aug 19, 2009)

ok can you help with the fact that my adults seem to have turned on themselves, and started eating each other!! LOL I ve put food in with them.


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

the only time they eat each other is if they are underfed, or if they arent able to shed properly and then they drop to the floor whilst stuck in their old skin, and then get eaten. fully grown adults should never be eating each other unless one is either already dead, or they arent being fed sufficiently. they eat a LOT!


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## serpentsupplies (Sep 4, 2009)

LOADS of heat


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## luke071183 (Sep 8, 2009)

what 'c / 'f heat wise they like it??

an whats betta to use, plastic tub or a wooden built tub?


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## forteh (Feb 9, 2009)

I have a 60w spotlamp dimmed down to give about 85-90*F under the spot, cool sides of the tank are about 75*F, there are basking perches up near the lamp which get up to 130*F; quite often locusts will sit on the bulb itself 

I keep the nursery at about 80*F on heatmats.

Either plastic or wood, plastic is cheaper unless you have the wood to hand and fancy being creative.


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## amylou (Oct 28, 2009)

got some spare wood but was planning using plastic. 

but when i got 100 locust (small) i kept them in a plastic tub, with air holes, yet it seemed to get too much humidity inside the tub and killed alot of the locust off..... is there any easy way to prevent this?


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## forteh (Feb 9, 2009)

Dead locusts create alot of humidty, it can spiral out of control very quickly if you dont get them out. Were these bought or grown locusts? I have had a bulk bag of 100 drop down dead through no fault of my own, sometimes they can get packed too tightly at a distributors and start to sweat, disease starts and kills the lot of em a couple of days later.

How many air holes were there and what size tub? You need alot of ventilation for locusts, 50 in a cricket tub should be good up until 3rd instar as long as you dont overfeed the greens and the bran substrate is deep enough.

Keeping the tub warm does help them grow, one of my batches that hatched about 10 days ago are now 2nd instars


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