Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[Rickeezee]

Hello

Can anyone tell me please how long a lcoust can live for from hatching to death.

My locusts are the green/yellow/black type, duller colurs when adult. Dont know their scientific name, can anyone tell me?

The locusts seem to be living for ages, I keep them in large tanks, good ventilation, halogen light and heat mats.

They eat better than I do! I feed them organic wheat bran mixed with small ammounts of milk powder. Fresh green veg daily, up to nine varietis. I am amazed at how much they can eat! The adults are forever doing the do also, getting plenty of eggs.

Thanks to anyone who responds.

Rick
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www.rickslivefood.co.uk

[Scott W]

Hi Rick,

life span on locust is more a case of 'life cycle' rather than a time.

I can get egg to adult in 4-5 weeks, then the adults breed after about 10 days, have a few weeks of great egg production then slowly die off, not sure exactly how long they will stay alive as adults, maybe 6 - 8 weeks.

You can slow down the cycle by keeping them cooler, I would try hot days and NO heat at night rather than a constant low temp. Locust can pretty much freeze (I have found mine outside on my compost heap frosted over, only to be jumping around by mid day when the sun hits them.
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[Rickeezee]

The cycle described pretty much reflects my locusts cycle. I just found the cycle of adulthood to last longer than I expected, 8/10 weeks sounds right going by how long mine are living for.

So if I put a timer on my heat mats, as opposed to having them on constant (I dont use a mat stat for the locusts). So that the timer turns of at night say heat 12 hours, off 12 hours. Am I right in thinking this would slow down the cycle? The lights are all on a timmer. Either way it would save a few pennies. Would this slow down their cycle?

Pardon my ignorance what are the advantages of slowing down the cycle, to regulate egg laying to reflect feeding needs of reps etc?

Thanks
Rick
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[Scott W]

the only advantage to slowly down the cycle is if you need to hold them at a ceratin size for feeding to your reptiles, if you are rearing for breeding then I would guess you want the cycle as quick as poss.

Turning the heat off for 12 hours will certainly slow them down.
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[Rickeezee]

I will leave the heat on then. Am rearing for breeding as I have quite a few amphibians, newts etc plus 3 yemens. Plus some other bits n pieces I am collecting tomorrow.

At the early stages at the moment of breeding crix / locusts. To establish a never ending stock of different sizes.

cheers Rick
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