Glass climbers??? Really??

[Richard Shah]

Hey guys and girls,

I just bought locusts and put them into the glass tank the crickets were kept in.

Firstly they jump like MAD!! Hell I'm scared about them being bigger!

Secondly, 20 seconds within them being put into the glass there all climbing for the top!! What?? I didn't know they were glass climbers!! I don't know how secure that lid is, so I'm now thinking of putting tape around the inside of the glass, but I was thinking from the top?

Does that work and can they climb on the extremely smooth surface on tape?

Sorry if these seem mad but my mum will go nuts if they escape!!

Thank you,

Rich.

[Matthew Baines]

Firstly they jump like MAD!

Pull the jumping legs off, it wont harm them but will stop them jumping as much!

Sorry if these seem mad but my mum will go nuts if they escape!!

If they do just keep checking any green plants you have cos they may well be eating them, We get adult locusts and they can fly too!

[Andrew Ferguson]

I was just thinking of posting a similar thread. Great minds must think alike hey Richard!!??

I bought some yellow locusts and all they did was climb the tank and hang upside down on the mesh I have fitted to the tank.
Also, they can have voracious appetite. I went to check on mine and a few have their heads missing and there was a large one sat munching on another's torso. And there are a lot less than when I bought them. Two escaped and my smithi hasn't eaten any
So don't ever keep one in a tank with a freshly moulted tarantula or one that it could possibly overpower.

[Richard Shah]

Pull the jumping legs off, it wont harm them but will stop them jumping as much!


If they do just keep checking any green plants you have cos they may well be eating them, We get adult locusts and they can fly too!

Nah I can't that, that's like clipping a bird's wings or having our limbs amputated.

My mum will kill me if they do eat her plants cuz she specifically said not to buy them for that reason.
About flying, I once asked someone on this forum if they can but he said he's never seen one fly in all his year, but they just flap their wings feroicously when the tank is disturbed.

Have you seen them fly?? I can't keep them if they do! I won't risk it!

Thanks Matthew,

Rich.

I was just thinking of posting a similar thread. Great minds must think alike hey Richard!!??

I bought some yellow locusts and all they did was climb the tank and hang upside down on the mesh I have fitted to the tank.
Also, they can have voracious appetite. I went to check on mine and a few have their heads missing and there was a large one sat munching on another's torso. And there are a lot less than when I bought them. Two escaped and my smithi hasn't eaten any
So don't ever keep one in a tank with a freshly moulted tarantula or one that it could possibly overpower.

Lol yep.

Climb the tank and hang upside down... exactly, and cuz of the tape I covered the holes with some I had to yank off for their sake.

Seriously?? I thought that only really happens with crickets! But that's mad!

My Smithi ate it straight away cuz it dropped on him/her, Pyro had to be shown the locust with aid of a paintbrush, but I'm sure he/she'd have noticed it eventually, the Curly hair hasn't seemed totry and attack it and the red rump, well last time I checked the locust was climbing up the class; well away from the T..

Nope certainly wouldn't. I dunno why people say locusts are better (they look nice though!) but certainly I'm sticking to crickets after these all die.

[Lisa Baines]

hehehe. for a bit of a giggle i grab the adult winged locusts by the back legs and wave them up and down... they flap their wings like mad and i chase the kids around the front room.
(must point out kids aren't scared of them its just really good fun lmao!)

Anyhow... have seen them fly on plenty of occasions. When you try and carefully get one out of the box and another legs it out in a bid for freedom. They only get a couple of meters max. they dont fly often enough to get the wings toned up to fly further! But a frisky flighty one will have you running around the room like a dimented chicken for a while! Especially when they go behind the back of the vivs... grrr!

As for pulling the back legs off, I personally think it is an ABSOLUTE MUST when you are feeding them to T's. Locusts have lots of extremely sharp spines on their back legs and will flick them in the direction of the attacker. These spines can easily dig in and scratch human skin, drawing a little blood, so the delicate abdomen of a tarantula would easily be torn. So forget being mushy and ohh i couldn't harm the lovely little locust! with respect to your T get rid of the legs.

Besides they can cut of any circulation to the leg so they dont bleed to death, rather like spiders can. It is a defence mechanism they have in the wild if a predator catches them by the leg they just drop it off. So you're not actually causing them any discomfort. So stop being such a softie hehehe!

[Peter Lacey]

I only purchase locusts occassionally. They're more expensive than crickets, you get fewer of them, they eat and eat and eat, plus they don't seem to last too long. I give them to the big Ts, L. klugi, but the Pokies and Avics are better suited coz they're arboreal.
Don't be afraid to catch any with your hands, crickets included, but I often use a clear plastic bag to capture them and then you can grasp them to shove them in the enclosure.
Have you tried feeding your Ts morio worms or meal worms, these work out very economic and are great for large slings and juvs. They'll last for ages if you provide them food - porridge, carrots, lettuce, dead insects, not found anything they won't eat tbh. You get a few metamorphosise into larvae and then beetles (which last for ever) so even in the substrate they don't tend to cause probs. Feasibly I guess they might attack a moulting T but I haven't lost a T to one yet, more than I can say for those damned crickets!

[Peter Lacey]

... Locusts have lots of extremely sharp spines on their back legs and will flick them in the direction of the attacker. These spines can easily dig in and scratch human skin, drawing a little blood, so the delicate abdomen of a tarantula would easily be torn.

never really thought of that, however within the arboreal enclosures they're never around for long.

[Richard Shah]

hehehe. for a bit of a giggle i grab the adult winged locusts by the back legs and wave them up and down... they flap their wings like mad and i chase the kids around the front room.
(must point out kids aren't scared of them its just really good fun lmao!)

Anyhow... have seen them fly on plenty of occasions. When you try and carefully get one out of the box and another legs it out in a bid for freedom. They only get a couple of meters max. they dont fly often enough to get the wings toned up to fly further! But a frisky flighty one will have you running around the room like a dimented chicken for a while! Especially when they go behind the back of the vivs... grrr!

As for pulling the back legs off, I personally think it is an ABSOLUTE MUST when you are feeding them to T's. Locusts have lots of extremely sharp spines on their back legs and will flick them in the direction of the attacker. These spines can easily dig in and scratch human skin, drawing a little blood, so the delicate abdomen of a tarantula would easily be torn. So forget being mushy and ohh i couldn't harm the lovely little locust! with respect to your T get rid of the legs.

Besides they can cut of any circulation to the leg so they dont bleed to death, rather like spiders can. It is a defence mechanism they have in the wild if a predator catches them by the leg they just drop it off. So you're not actually causing them any discomfort. So stop being such a softie hehehe!

Nah I doubt they'll try and escape so long as I've pushed all the ones that were on the side and the top to the bottom, then I have enough time to get a few... they are so calm when you handle them though.
Jesus.. but why did that other guy say (in something like 13 or 5 years or something) of him keeping them, he'd never seen a single one fly??

Look I think you may have a point about the spines so I may take the legs off but ONLY if I think the t. won't go for it immediately and only right before giving it to the tarantula; I really appreciate you notifying me of that though.
I think it'd be cruel to do it immediately and to me it ain't being soft cuz you are causing the Locust stress and you wouldn't do that to your t., despite the fact that their lives aren't more important than one another's (though they are the predator); I'd also be pretty p*s*ed off if some dominating species pulled my limbs off to feed to their pet because apparently I can punch and kick.

Anyway, thanks Lisa, I do appreciate what you said and I'll take it into consideration, but I just don't agree wit some of it.

I only purchase locusts occassionally. They're more expensive than crickets, you get fewer of them, they eat and eat and eat, plus they don't seem to last too long. I give them to the big Ts, L. klugi, but the Pokies and Avics are better suited coz they're arboreal.
Don't be afraid to catch any with your hands, crickets included, but I often use a clear plastic bag to capture them and then you can grasp them to shove them in the enclosure.
Have you tried feeding your Ts morio worms or meal worms, these work out very economic and are great for large slings and juvs. They'll last for ages if you provide them food - porridge, carrots, lettuce, dead insects, not found anything they won't eat tbh. You get a few metamorphosise into larvae and then beetles (which last for ever) so even in the substrate they don't tend to cause probs. Feasibly I guess they might attack a moulting T but I haven't lost a T to one yet, more than I can say for those damned crickets!

There may be fewer, but the price is still the same. I spend three pound per box of whatever I want, but to take away the same day of the purchase they only have crickets. They were low on Wednesday and only had largish black Crickets so I decided to order Locusts.
£3 is fairly expensive though; before it was £2.75 and everything in that shop had always been overpriced so I assumed even that was expensive.

Oh nah catching them with the hand is simple; nah I have no problems there.

I may try them but when I have the time and the extra money! They sound great though!

Thanks Peter.

[Peter Lacey]

FYI The reason live foods have gone up in price is because 1 of the main suppliers of 4 or 5 companies had a melt down and lost their stock. Apparently the remaining companies are struggling to reach demand and I guess thats where we get wacked.

[Richard Shah]

FYI The reason live foods have gone up in price is because 1 of the main suppliers of 4 or 5 companies had a melt down and lost their stock. Apparently the remaining companies are struggling to reach demand and I guess thats where we get wacked.

Oh okay. £3 is just more than my lunch money for a day so I just get food from home for a day like once a month so it's okay for me.