Keeping Locusts alive

[DanPhillips]

Hiya,
Ok so I've got some nice jumpy food for my 3T's, question is what conditions do they need to be kept in so they live as long as possible.

I've tried keeping them in the tubs they come in they last 1 or 2 weeks.
I've made up a nice cage with lots of ventilation a very shallow source of water available.
I've tried giving them grass, general garden greenery and best Sainsburys salad

The hatchlings seem to be the hardest to keep going, medium to small last a tad longer and if they get to be big they can last 4 weeks or so.

Any tips ? how hard is it to get them into a cycle where I wouldn't have to buy anymore ?


Thanks for your time and help

Cheers

Dan

[Howard Farley (Huk7)]

Hi Dan,

A few years ago, I knew of a place that had a large and very successful colony of Locusts breeding regularly, basically the setup was as follows:

A tall glass fronted metal cage (although could be wooden) approx 18"x18"x24" (rough guess), a normal light bulb in the top for heating, chicken wire folded lengthways 3 or 4 times then bent in half to create a boomerang shape for them to climb on, they were fed well washed spring greens.

Approximately a third of the bottom of the cage had holes cut into the false floor, where pots were inserted (similar to film canisters) that were filled with damp sand, this was where the females laid their eggs. After a week or so these were replaced with new pots containing fresh sand, the original pots were then put into a cage exactly as above but with no Locusts in it, the babies would then hatch and live their lives in this cage then go onto breed etc. So a cycle was setup.

You would have to do some more research regarding optimum temperature etc but hopefully this helps a bit.

Howard

[DanPhillips]

Hi Dan,

A few years ago, I knew of a place that had a large and very successful colony of Locusts breeding regularly, basically the setup was as follows:

A tall glass fronted metal cage (although could be wooden) approx 18"x18"x24" (rough guess), a normal light bulb in the top for heating, chicken wire folded lengthways 3 or 4 times then bent in half to create a boomerang shape for them to climb on, they were fed well washed spring greens.

Approximately a third of the bottom of the cage had holes cut into the false floor, where pots were inserted (similar to film canisters) that were filled with damp sand, this was where the females laid their eggs. After a week or so these were replaced with new pots containing fresh sand, the original pots were then put into a cage exactly as above but with no Locusts in it, the babies would then hatch and live their lives in this cage then go onto breed etc. So a cycle was setup.

You would have to do some more research regarding optimum temperature etc but hopefully this helps a bit.

Howard

Thanks Howard,

I'll give that a go

Cheers

Dan

[rgfx]

Don't feed 'em purple sprouting broccolli.
dunno why, but it wiped out half my locusts overnite, and yes it had been rinsed.

how big do locusts have to be to start breeding?