Live food - Desert locusts vers. Sizes

Desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) are notorious - as the originators of locust plagues, these horrors are legendary. They are found in Northwest Africa, but enjoy great popularity in terraristics as high-quality and valuable live food insects for all hunting reptiles of various sizes.

The desert locust is a species-appropriate live food for reptiles and stimulates the natural prey drive of the animals. Desert locusts can be effectively bred commercially and are known to be productive live food animals. These grasshoppers are also reasonably easy to breed in the hobby.

For breeding the desert locust, you ideally use a well ventilated terrarium that is as high as possible. Make sure that the tank is easy to clean, grasshoppers make a mess. The best solution for hygienic grasshopper breeding is to breed the animals in different terrariums and clean the unused jars thoroughly each time. The terrarium for breeding desert locusts should measure at least 40 x 40 x 60 cm. The ideal temperature during the day is 30-35 °C, at night you can let it drop to room temperature. Every 2-3 days moisten the substrate in the terrarium with water.

The terrarium for breeding grasshoppers should be lined with pieces of cardboard, egg cartons or toilet rolls and equipped with branches for climbing. Attention - desert locusts gnaw on cables, so electrical devices are placed exclusively outside the terrarium. A small container in which the female grasshoppers can lay their eggs should also be placed in the terrarium - a small bowl filled with a slightly moist mixture of soil, peat and sand sterilized in the oven is ideal.

Desert locusts like to eat cereal sprouts, grass, dandelions, lettuce, carrots, cat grass, vegetable scraps and the like. To prevent cannibalism, feed your grasshoppers some additional dog food.

Start the breeding with 10-20 subadult grasshoppers, which you put into your breeding container. The first young will hatch about 2 weeks after the eggs are laid. Put the container with the eggs into a new breeding container. Eggs and hatchlings need the same temperature and humidity as the adult desert locusts. After hatching, locusts go through a total of 5 molts, for which they need 3-5 weeks. After the last molt, the adult molt, it takes about a week for the desert locusts to mate and start a new cycle.

In our shop you can buy desert locusts in 4 different stages.

Small desert loc usts are about 5 days old and have shed their skin once. The 3 to 5 mm small desert locusts are a great live food for small reptiles and juveniles of larger reptiles. The small desert locusts trigger the hunting instinct of terrarium inhabitants with their slow hopping. The high protein content of desert locusts is ideal for rearing young reptiles.

Medium desert locusts are 11 to 12 days old and have already molted a total of three times. The 1.8 to 2.5 cm medium desert locusts are already a bit more robust and keep better. You can buy this size well in stock.

Subadult desert loc usts are about 17 days old, about 3 to 4.5 cm in size and are about to have their last molt. At this stage, they do not yet have wings and have less bulky jumping legs, which is conducive to eatability. A single desert locust at this stage will consume approximately 2 g of green food and 1 g of dry food per day. The subadult desert locust is an optimal feeder for reptiles in terms of protein content and fat content. The shelf life of the subadult desert locust is also very good.

Large desert locusts are with 4.5 to 7 cm among the largest feeding insects in terraristics. They are fully grown and now have wings. The adult desert locusts are 22 to 27 days old and keep very well. At about 30 days of age, the desert locust reaches sexual maturity and begins to mate. The very large females begin laying eggs after about 3 more days.

Desert locusts are quite nutritious and have a good nutritional composition. Their nutritional values on average are:

• Crude protein: approx. 23%
• Crude fat: approx. 4%
• Crude ash: approx. 1%
• Others: approx. 1%

Suitable for: Reptiles such as bearded dragons, water dragons, chameleons, leopard geckos and other terrarium animals, also for large lizards, rodents and monkeys.

Content / Size:
Small - 15 pieces
Small - 100 pieces
Medium - 13 pieces
Medium - 100 pieces
Subadult - 10 pieces
Subadult - 50 pieces
Subadult - 100 pieces
Large - 9 pieces
Large - 50 pieces
Large - 100 pieces