Locust query?

[Mark Harrison]

Does anybody on here know if locusts need to be kept warm before being fed to the tarantula's? I have never heard about this process and wondered if anyone could verify this. Apparently it has something to do with the enzymes in the locusts gut? and can cause the death of spider.

I know that to breed locust on they need to be kept slightly warmer than room temperature with good ventilation, and obviously gut fed greens such as cabbage etc

This issue seem to cause a mixed opinion with some people saying its a load of hogwash and others saying there is a basis of truth..i think i would be speaking for a lot of people when i say, it would be good to get some definitive answers if there are any.

[Craig Mackay]

There's pretty good caresheets for all kinds of live food here:

http://www.livefoods.co.uk/caresheet.php

They do pretty good business so I would tend to trust them
Hope this helps
Craig

[Christian Elowsky]

Does anybody on here know if locusts need to be kept warm before being fed to the tarantula's? I have never heard about this process and wondered if anyone could verify this. Apparently it has something to do with the enzymes in the locusts gut? and can cause the death of spider.

Can you provide a link or source for this?

This issue seem to cause a mixed opinion with some people saying its a load of hogwash and others saying there is a basis of truth..i think i would be speaking for a lot of people when i say, it would be good to get some definitive answers if there are any.

This is a hold over from the reptile hobby, mostly to supply anything of nutritive value in garbage feeder insects. I often feed and water my crickets (in the US we can not use locusts) before using them as food, but I do not stress about it, and don't waste the time with fresh foods (which often cause digestive problems in feeders).

I guess if you had a very large spider which was pre-molt or possibly gearing up a female for breeding you might push the gut load, but every day feeding? Narp.

Christian

[Mark Harrison]

Sorry christian as far as i am aware its all conjecture...as i said the only time you keep locust warm as far as i know is when you are looking to breed them.

[Mrs Linda Street]

As far as I'm aware, locusts carry a lot of bacteria harmful to T's, and need keeping around 80F and gut cleaning for a week or so with fruit etc., before feeding to the T's, but imo they are expensive and poor food value, much better off with Dubia roaches, plus with your own colony you have a regular food supply.

[Christian Elowsky]

Oh, I know locusts (grasshoppers here) carry all kinds of things such as botulism, but does anyone have any evidence that anything they carry might infect a tarantula? 80F isn't enough to kill any bacteria that I know of either.

I'm not trying to start any problems, I'm just looking for the original sources for this "information".

As for the food quality, that depends on what species you're feeding and what part of the life cycle they are in.

The main reason to raise your own is to prevent nematodes, in my opinion. It's also far cheaper.

Christian

[James Box]

personally i use locusts for big t's fairly often, no problems so far. they may not have any more actual meat then a cricket (probably no less then a large cricket either though) but they present a larger target. nutritional value i am told is not that bad.

[chris carter]

I fed my Lasiodora parahybana exclusively on locusts and cockroaches for over 12 years with no ill effects she grew into big girl until old age got her.This therory has been around for years but i have seen no proof of it.

[Christian Elowsky]

I suspected this was the case, but here in the USA we don't have "locusts" or Gryllus crickets, we have the world's nastiest feeder, the domestic Asian house cricket, Acteta domesticus. I thought I'd ask to get to the bottom of it. Many ideas and rumors and fallacies float around the hobby until some says "Where's the proof, evidence, or data?"

[Emily Nicholls]

I kept my locusts in the fridge and all my tarantulas were fine. Although I didn't feed them that many, only used them as my crickets ran out and the shop didn't have any either.

[Mrs Linda Street]

Regarding proof, I think you'll find there are a lot of other keepers had problems with feeding locusts. One of our adult female L. Para's was fed locust a little over a year ago now, since then she has sat in the tank, eaten nothing, and moves around very little, she has now deteriorated to the point where I don't think she will make it to a moult.

This has also happened to a couple of other members that we've spoken to. As regards keeping locusts in the fridge, if they're anything like crickets, I'd guess they would have about a 2 minute life expectancy.

[chris carter]

This is one of those situations where you will find keepers who have had problems with locusts and those who have not. I run a Kent based arachnid club, i rang around 20 of our members this afternoon in an unscientific survey, 12 had no problems feeding locusts to tarantulas, 4 said they had stopped because of health problems with the tarantulas after feeding locusts and 4 had never used Locusts (1 of them because he had heard that locusts were bad for Tarantulas).

we must all do what is best for our Tarantulas and learn from experience, if you have had problems with locusts you are right not to use them, i feed them only to my Large Birdeaters Scorpions and Lizards and have no problems, maybe it is linked to suppliers of locusts i dont know.

Regards chris

[karen Hampton]

There's pretty good caresheets for all kinds of live food here:

http://www.livefoods.co.uk/caresheet.php

They do pretty good business so I would tend to trust them
Hope this helps
Craig

Thanks for the care sheet....is really useful...