ANTSTORE World of Ants

[KiamCameron]

I am going to attempt to breed locusts I have lots of them to feed my ants And im also selling some if anyone is interested I sell for around £4.00 and around £2.00 P&P For small locusts there is appromatitely 30 locusts in there and medium ones there are around 20 in there I have no big locusts for sale.

But anyways I read on the internet it is quite easy to breed locusts So I want to a big supply for my ants:D

[KiamCameron]

Has anyone tried or had success breeding locusts and can share some information so it will be easier

[Phasmid]

If you cannot be bothered or simply can't read this , there is plenty of sites that have good giudes.
But heres how I did it.

I keep locusts to feed to my animals and sometimes I try to breed them.
I have only once successfuly acheived this though.
The locust live in a large plastic storage box with each end having a plastic mesh as, like most insects, they like good ventilation.
Above the box there is a day-light bulb giving off loads of heat and also it is next to a radiator for even more heat (locust love loads of heat). this keeps them happy and they grow realy fast. When adult I put a pot of dampish sand into the box but it took me a while to realise that they don't seem to want to breed under 30C. Eventualy when they have got realy hot you should see some maiting. Then, hopefully, afew hours later (or next day) you will see large holes in the sand where they have laid the egg sacks. You should put the pot in a seperate incubator (small tank, heat mat) and keep them at about 30C. They should hach after about a week and a bit. 7mm long and bright green so you will lose them if you put them with the adults. you should give them another box with a bit less ventiation so they can grow big enough to be put with the adults.

The first time I forgot to take the pot out of the adults cage to when the babies hached they didn't last long.

[KiamCameron]

Thanks Phasmid

I just looked at my locusts and one of them had a red dot or something at the end of its tail is that eggs or what is it ?

[Phasmid]

This is def not an egg, locust have sort of spongy egg sacks and the eggs with in are tubular and white. Are your locusts all adult? Does this red spot appear to covering the tip of the abdomem and is it sticky?

[KiamCameron]

I dont know if its sticky but it is covering the tip more or less and there small locusts when i bought them but they look big now lol or were anyways..

[Phasmid]

Adults have large wings that go past the tip of the abdomem and can fly very well. This red spot is a fluid from is abdomem and shows that something is seriously wrong with its digestion, I find this happents to locust feeing on grass or do not have enough heat . Locusts need to be kept very warm for digestion to work properly (25C+). I'm sorry to say that every locust that has had this red stuff appear has died In my experiance .

[KiamCameron]

wait you said they come out like 7mm ? I wanted the pin head crickets to feed to a praying mantis...

[Phasmid]

Well, about 5mm when they first hach, but is soon 7mm once its had a bite to eat. If your after something realy small then you will need to breed crickets. They seriously are the size of a pin head when they have just hached.

[Ant mad]

may sound stuiped by what sand did you use when breeding them because i have been using silver sand (size=0-1mm) but still nothing has happened lots of maiting though?

[Phasmid]

I used silver sand aswell but I'm not sure it matters what medium you are using. Are you keepng the enclosure warm? Locust like lots of heat and the sand needs to ba a little damp.

[Ant mad]

yes i am, i am using a 60w Ceramic heat lamp, only in the day mind you.

[Phasmid]

What is the temperature in the enclosure, it needs to be a close to 30C as possible and i'm not sure 60w will be enough. It may be that they don't have enough protien to make eggs, my locust ate loads of peanuts (birdfeed) and if I didn't give them some sort of seed or nuts they tended to completely scoff any locusts attemting to moult in minutes.

[Ant mad]

well the temperature in the enclosure is approx 35-37C but all i have been giving them is lettuce so i will try some nut soon to see if that works.
Thanks

[Phasmid]

They do also need a mixture of food plants so try get leaves from the garden or where ever to give to them.