Locust experiences

[Insect Direct]

allergies aside does anyone have a way to raise without the need for grass yet?

[alanmin4304]

I am led to believe that the growing grass produces a hormone that stimulates the grass to grow and the locusts to breed. This may be why many people have trouble breeding locusts in the middle of winter and summer when the grass is pretty dormant or going to seed. I feed grass and bran. Some use bran/wheat germ.

[Insect Direct]

I just think if could avoid grass factor then may be more worth the time of day.

[repto]

you should do a study?hours input,grass input,weight of food(locusts)produced against the time used..............locusts would whip the butts off them pesky crickets??? :nilly:

[Insect Direct]

there is benefits to both insects.

crickets much cleaner in my view + I like to be different.

locust farming is known to be bad for health causing respiratory issues as to mealworms and given the reactions I've been getting from crickets more recently id say all three are potentially very harmful. I have polyps growing up my nose and suspected from allergens. no more snorting crickets :facepalm:

[repto]

actually thats why i chucked them in(locusts) was like i had the flu permanently?i did try a respirator thingy but too impatient etc to put it on?

[dragonz1833]

i find crickets take to long to breed and raise on when locusts will grow alot faster and just need to chuck grass in there twice aday so locusts are far easier for me

[Insect Direct]

actually thats why i chucked them in(locusts) was like i had the flu permanently?i did try a respirator thingy but too impatient etc to put it on?

good to know it's not just my stupid nose. is why I gave up mealworms years ago. theyre not so much a problem farming wise just handling them and disturbing the bedding/frass needs caution. Locusts seem to spread fine particles with the flutter of the wings so farming indoors is challenging however one could try design special enclosures and wearing masks may help but I'm yet to find a mask I'm 100% happy with.

i find crickets take to long to breed and raise on when locusts will grow alot faster and just need to chuck grass in there twice aday so locusts are far easier for me

grass pretty much = locusts .. they are amazing insects eh. prob more pratical for hobbysts trying to feed a few pets. still more work than the pets themselves though and the way some people keep their mealworms and so on I'd be iffy on feeding them to my animals.

[reuben.a]

i actually have a few questions about breeding locusts myself, so ive just finished building an adult locust breeding cage out of an old book shelf type thing and got a light, front door, vents all sorted but have seen a few people on the net (overseas mainly) that seem to have a flyscreen mesh bottom with a hollow compartment under the breeding cage and then egg laying jar sunken into the bottom like this http://www.meades.org/locusts/alex_shellard_3.jpg and this is another view of the same enclosure http://www.meades.org/locusts/alex_shellard_4.jpg. ive seen many other cages built like this aswel but was wondering if there was any special reason for doing this? i know there would be but id say it looks like the mesh bottom would be for ventalation and the sunken in egg tubs would be so you can change egg laying containers without having to open the cage etc? heres the full site if anyone is interested http://www.meades.org/locusts/locusts.html

and my final question is, do locust actually need heat? i know the adult breeders do but would i be able to remove the egg tub and sit it in another enclosure to hatch and then raise those babys as feeder locusts and keep them without heat? thanks heaps! :thup:

[alanmin4304]

They need heat to live, breed. hatch and grow on. There are a number of ways to breed them and I have seen quite a few different ways that work. What you need to do is find out what works for you. Temperature and moisture are critical.

[reuben.a]

oh right so i idealy need another heated tank as a grow out/egg hatching one?

[alanmin4304]

I have 10. If you get organised you can grow on the neonates for a week then move to the next one and they end up all of a similar size and you can pick the size you want.

[reuben.a]

oh wow, i dont have the time or money to do a huge breeding set up but i was thinking, 3 enclosures, 1 for adults and egg laying, second for incubating eggs and third to keep hatchlings in. is the incubating tank actually needed? or can i just have one egg hatching/growout tank?

[alanmin4304]

You can do whatever you want.

[kinnadian]

Hi Reuben, you can really do whatever your space and money allows. The more enclosures you have, the easier your workload will be in the long run.

We have just 2 enclosures, 1 150L glass breeding tank for the adults (insulated with lights and a vent lid), and a little ~80L home made MDF box with lights/heater and a vent lid.

The incubator box has both the jars with eggs in and babies everywhere. We suck the babies out (with a pooter) every so often and put them into 1L sistema containers (with pantyhose over top) and back into the 150L until they are ready to be used.

I am thinking about adding another couple boxes to make things easier, but this will increase the costs a lot (for making the boxes and also running the lights 24/7).

Here's my setup: in the 150L I have a 60W incandescent and a 25w house bulb, this gives good temps (for now, will probably lower the 60W to a 40W in summer), between 31-35 degC. I've just got 2 cheap $10 lamps from the warehouse for these bulbs, then sticks and strips of egg carton all over the place. For food, we put grass into a jar with water in the bottom (the water allows the grass to remain not dried out for longer), and another shallow dish with bran/oats in. We refill the jar with grass every day, and go out and fill a big bucket with grass every 4 days or so (with water in as well).

For laying containers we bought a bunch of large jars (need to be at least 6" high, and probably 3" across minimum), and then fill them with 30% builders sand and 70% soil (eg potting mix). We tried various mixes of sand, soil, vermiculite, fertilizer, etc, and this mixture seems to be the best. While making the mixture make it moist (not soaking though) and then re-spray once or twice a day with a spray gun. Swap the jars into the incubator every 3-4 days and have a numbering system so the oldest jar goes back in (with new soil).

I couldn't get the incubator temps right with the bulbs I had (and imo the incubation temperature is more sensitive than adult temps) so I use a 45W bulb and a thermostat with a ceramic heating element, maintained at 31 degC. The babies get the same food as the adults, with a smaller grass jar and only bran (oats are too big).

The incubator DEFINITELY needs to be heated. In my first iteration I made an MDF false floor in the incubator, so that the jar tops were level with the bottom of the incubator. This meant that the heat wasn't getting through the false floor and underneath, so the jar soil temperature was actually quite low and so we weren't getting hatchlings. I took the false floor out and within a few days we had hoppers everywhere.

If I did this again, I would make the adult tank out of MDF as well, and make a mesh floor with a drawer underneath so that the locust poop would fall through and could be cleaned out easier, and I would probably go with 2 incubators.

Good luck!

[reuben.a]

Wow thank you! Nice write up, so ive gathered that the best way to do it is to start with plans other people use and then change them so it best suits you. Ill try my luck with what i have set up and see how it goes, its interesting to see that everyone has a different way of doing it so most caresheets or write ups seem to be just the general guidelines. Anyway thanks everyone for you ideas :thup: