breeding locusts

Hi all, anybody ever try to breed locusts for feeding to large fish?. ive a 2ft tank doing nothing so im trying to breed locusts in it. I bought 3 tubs of adults about 15 to 18 in total, i put a layer of sand and lots of bog wood as hides, feeding lettuce. the tank has 2 t8 lights in the lid for heat. ive looked up some web sites and it seems easy enough to breed them but any advise ye might have will be a help. thanks.

Sorry to thread hijack but yesterday, in my back Garden, for the first time ever, I saw a Grass hopper which thrilled me as I love the sound of Crickets and Grasshoppers. Is there any where you can buy or get species that will survive and use my yard as their Home?


H.

Homer, I would recommend setting up a locust viv in your front room. These make AbFab superb pets, and you can even let some free-roam (just make sure they get food).

On the locusts, Paulv, the ones bought from pet shops for reptile feeding are the ones to use (some locusts are toxic).
Lettuce is not really a good food for them. You could use cabbage (but it will stink), and it is no way as good as their aphrodisiac food = fresh shoots from garden grass.

I don't bother anymore to raise the young to anything more than small hoppers as it is simply not worth it for me as the main species that I feed adults locusts to are tarantulas (and they do not need feeding that often).

Another great food are Dubia Cockroaches. No smell (fed on oranges and carrots), extremely nutritious, and nice pets as well.

ian

many thanks ian and john, seems my fish tank is not right yet for the locusts but now ive read ian's write up on them i can set up my tank the right way and hopefully will have lots of my own soon to feed. i buy the adults from a garden center that sells them for feeding lizards, im buying them over a year now the snake head goes mad for them so as all the other top feeding fish, my aro will jump and take them from my fingers. a box is costing my 4euro for about 6 or 7 adults, so breeding my own makes total sense, mayb even have some to sell to others . I did try feeding roaches but the fish dont like them as much as they have hard exo skeletons and have nasty bites to the fishes mouths.

Your tank may be suitable, it is just that I find my method to be the best.....used it for decades...as it gives enough ventilation and allows the high temps.

Was it the Dubia Roaches you tried? or another species?

With the Dubia roaches, you have the added advantage of being able to give the roaches a good variety of food which is then transferred to the fish when they gobble the insects.

ian

to be honest ian i dont know what kind of roaches they are, i got them in orchard garden center, they have a big range of live food and on my way to celbridge to do the weekly food shopping so easy for me to get to.ill have to change my small tank to better suit breeding locusts. i prefer locusts both for the fish and for me to catch as they just sit there and can be handled so easy, i use them as part of the fish diet along with shell fish/ king prawn mix i get in aldi's. mayb u have some heat pads in your shop, i must drop in soon and have a chat

paulv wrote:

to be honest ian i dont know what kind of roaches they are, i got them in orchard garden center, they have a big range of live food and on my way to celbridge to do the weekly food shopping so easy for me to get to.ill have to change my small tank to better suit breeding locusts. i prefer locusts both for the fish and for me to catch as they just sit there and can be handled so easy, i use them as part of the fish diet along with shell fish/ king prawn mix i get in aldi's. mayb u have some heat pads in your shop, i must drop in soon and have a chat

If I had a shop, you'd be welcome to pop in for a chat.

There is another person who has long hair, play guitar, has the same "Ian" name as me and is also (maybe or maybe not) a bit mad who does have an quatic shop.....we're easy to tell apart: I'm the good looking one.

ian

igmillichip wrote:

Homer, I would recommend setting up a locust viv in your front room. These make AbFab superb pets, and you can even let some free-roam (just make sure they get food).

I can just imagine trying to get a pass for this in my house .. :- D I V O R C E

igmillichip wrote:

paulv wrote:

There is another person who has long hair, play guitar, has the same "Ian" name as me and is also (maybe or maybe not) a bit mad who does have an quatic shop.....we're easy to tell apart: I'm the good looking one.

ian

Just 2 add onto what ian said although it may not have been ment as a suggestion but the other ian doesn't keep these sort of foods in his aquatic shop but also has a shop in old bawn where he keeps them instead... not to be a smarty pants but i've been told what is said to customers who assume he still keeps them there and calls in for some.... what I'm saying is yes he is also mad but a good source of a bit of banter

bmcg38 wrote:

igmillichip wrote:

Homer, I would recommend setting up a locust viv in your front room. These make AbFab superb pets, and you can even let some free-roam (just make sure they get food).

I can just imagine trying to get a pass for this in my house .. :- D I V O R C E

You are soooooo wrong about that.

Here's my lovely lady and one of the free-roaming locusts in our place: that is called love.

igmillichip wrote:

Here's my lovely lady and one of the free-roaming locusts in our place

in china would that be lunch ?

bmcg38 wrote:

igmillichip wrote:

Here's my lovely lady and one of the free-roaming locusts in our place

in china would that be lunch ?

What?
Curried Justine? I'm gonna tell her what you said

igmillichip wrote:

bmcg38 wrote:

igmillichip wrote:

Here's my lovely lady and one of the free-roaming locusts in our place

in china would that be lunch ?

What?
Curried Justine? I'm gonna tell her what you said

sounds tasty .. ho ho

bmcg38 wrote:

igmillichip wrote:

bmcg38 wrote:

igmillichip wrote:

Here's my lovely lady and one of the free-roaming locusts in our place

in china would that be lunch ?

What?
Curried Justine? I'm gonna tell her what you said

sounds tasty .. ho ho

I'll tell her that as well.

There is another person who has long hair, play guitar, has the same "Ian" name as me and is also (maybe or maybe not) a bit mad who does have an quatic shop.....we're easy to tell apart: I'm the good looking one.

WHAT another ian with long hair and plays guitar; que the music to the twilight zone . the good looking one is a deep well of info on all things fishy.

paulv wrote:

There is another person who has long hair, play guitar, has the same "Ian" name as me and is also (maybe or maybe not) a bit mad who does have an quatic shop.....we're easy to tell apart: I'm the good looking one.

WHAT another ian with long hair and plays guitar; que the music to the twilight zone . the good looking one is a deep well of info on all things fishy.

I haven't been over to see the other Ian for a while now.....but always a great chat we have. The less-good looking one also has a wealth of knowledge, and I do think his middle-aged-man car may be faster than mine.

ive given up on using the fish tank to breed the locusts, its to big and not easy to ventilate, instead im trying to buy second hand vivarium with proper heat mats and ventilation. i still have maybe 8 or so adults alive in the tank so hopefully soon i can move them into a proper set up and take it from there. more to follow.

An update on my attempt to breed locusts, i bought second hand reptile equip on adverts.ie and bought 3 boxes of 5 star adults about 18 to 20 and set them up in the vivarium. within a week 6 or 7 died, most likely from transport from the UK to the shops here, the others are all developed into winged adults and feeding very well on cabbage and grass, i also bought some insect vitamin powder from a reptile shop, the ground is fine desert sand, a large heat mat is stuck on the under side of the tank and a heat lamp over the middle. im using the heat mat only as i found the lamp is giving a temp of over 40c in the tank. I put 3 old live food containers filled with wet garden compost that i spray every day to keep moist so the females will lay there. From what ive read online it takes about a month for the adults to breed and lay eggs and another 2 weeks for the babys to hatch, so hopefully in another month ill have my first babys. This is mostly a learn as i go process so hopefully my rather attractive winged locusts like their new home and will make lots of babys.

i did have some pics with my last post but for some reason they did not upload

another go at uploading the pics.

failed again, maybe some body in admin can help me out.

pics

more pics after resizeing them.

thanks john, ye im getting it right at long last, just had to find a resize that worked.

my locusts laying her eggs, there are lots laying now, im now taking advance bookings for live food opsss maybe i should not count my locusts before they are hatched

Imdoing something wrong. Hopeing Ian G can reply with best advise. Im trying to breed locusts with no success. You can see my set up from the pics. They are mating and laying eggs every where in the viv including on the floor and glass sides. I have old live food containers half filled with garden soil and sand. Every day im spraying this with water but its only the surface gets wet. So far no eggs are hatching. Its not so easy to maintain a steedy temp of 30deg, its goes from 26 to 36, the soil gets very dry and hard. Should I be pouring water into the egg laying soil to keep it all wet? Will I need a thermostat to maintain 30degs.any ideas what im doing wrong.

Are you sure they are laying?

Do you have pictures of the eggs.......just to make sure that they are eggs.

The temp does not need to be constant.

ian

Yes ian im almost 100% sure they have eggs and layed all over the vivarium, but ill put up pics tomorrow just to be sure. Im asking help cause from what I read on breeding locust its easy and successful but im failing. Is it possible that the locusts im buying are some how made infertile so as to discourage home breeding. Thanks as always Ian for your reply and help.