Locust breeding

[Jayzie Greenfrog]

Hi, I had a go at breeding them back in the summer when it was warm. Even so I decided that the amount of energy needed to get them to a breeding temperature combined with the work and care needed meant it wasn't cost effective for the small number I required. I would say though that I dont recall them being either smelly or noisy, they dont sing like crickets the only noise I recall is the popping of their legs as they jump. It did take a while for them to start producing but once they did we had a good crop of darling little Locusts. I cant comment on any problems growing the young on as we wanted the newly hatched to feed young frogs, we had 9 young frogs at the time! If you want any tips on how to breed them I would be happy to answer any questins you may have.

[Unnar Karl]

I have 40-50 young locust in a 20 gallon with good ventilation and egg cartons. I feed them carrots and lettuce and the have a 40 watt light bulb dangling in the tank to increase the heat. I will be adding the moist sandbox soon for the eggs.
The only problem is collecting them together to feed the frogs, do you have any suggestions how to get a bunch of them to gather in a small box or do i have to pick one at a time (Exhausting!) ?

[Jayzie Greenfrog]

Hi, I used containers which had lids. I put the containers in with the adults minus lids but full of the moist sand, you can see when the adults have laid as there is either a foamy plug in the sand or a actual hole where the female inserted her abdomen. When I had judged the pots had been used I put the lid on this has the dual advantage of retaining the moisture round the eggs, I initialy had problems with the eggs drying out in the high heat! The lids also keep the newly hatched young contained and it is then easy to move them to a new container of their own so they dont get mixed up with the adults. Of course you could always move the breeding pots out of the adults container and incubate the eggs elsewhere if you so wished. I started off doing that but it took up so much space and meant heating two containers which is why I came up with the idea of putting a lid on the sand pot! I hope this gives you some ideas I just wanted to mention that we fed ours on cabbage as I read somewhere that locusts have difficulty digesting lettuce I do not know how true this is! We also suplemented with Grass and Dandylion Leaves which they seem to love! With regards moving the small locusts about we bought a small vacuum which is advertised for catching spiders, we catch all our small feeder insects with this! I will attempt to add a picture of the sort of thing I mean!





I am sorry it is small I should have done one of those links but havent quite worked out how to do that yet, apologies.

[Unnar Karl]

Thanks for the advise!
But do you know how big the mature one are ?

[Jayzie Greenfrog]

You cant mistake the adults they have wings and are probably between 6 and 8 cm. The females are usually slightly larger, they have more bulk than the males who are slimmer, have a lean build and that little bit smaller. It takes time and alot of warmth before they begin to mate. The temperature has to be right, you will know when mating starts as the males ride around on the backs of the females for days at a time. If it doesnt look like the adults are getting amorous it would probably be worth upping the temps you will need it to be between 20 and 26C but I found I had more sucess when it is closer to the 26C. I am pleased to help I hpe this assists you.

[Unnar Karl]

Great thanks, but how often should i feed them ?

[Jayzie Greenfrog]

Hi, I presume you mean the adults they need a constant supply of fresh food, but again they need it warm in order to digest the food. I found putting in smaller amounts so that it was eaten while fresh was better than giving them too much so it went off before it could be eaten! How are you doing do you have any adults mateing yet? Wishing you every sucess