Grasshopper breeding

Rst_Cham

Rst_Cham

Chameleon Enthusiast
My hoppers have been busy mating, here's a pic of female laying her egg case. I believe these are red legged, and that they require diapause. I haven't been able to find any info really online so I think I will just have to experiment unless anyone here has any advice?
 

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She just finished and used her ovipositor to kind of fill in the hole a bit/bury the eggs. Fascinating, wish I could have gotten video of that!
 
Very cool. I have been too concerned about introducing parasites to harvest wild hoppers and try this myself. I hope it works well for you!
 
AGO said:
Hey I can’t find grasshoppers in nyc. May I buy from you?
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Unfortunately grasshoppers are considered a pest and are illegal to ship across state lines. I'm not sure I'll be successful breeding anyhow, I can't find info on how to hatch the eggs. Sorry!
 
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Redman said:
Very cool. I have been too concerned about introducing parasites to harvest wild hoppers and try this myself. I hope it works well for you!
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So they are wild caught, I'll be removing the eggs and trying to hatch in a separate enclosure away from adults after diapause period.
 
I can see where diapause would make sense as the hopprrs and katydids usually emerge in May and hit maturity by late summer. I know @jamest0o0 is researching another species, he may have some info
 
Rst_Cham said:
So they are wild caught, I'll be removing the eggs and trying to hatch in a separate enclosure away from adults after diapause period.
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Yeah, I thought about doing the same. But then there is the wife factor of "No, you do NOT need more bugs in this house!" that keeps me from it as well. LOL
 
Redman said:
Yeah, I thought about doing the same. But then there is the wife factor of "No, you do NOT need more bugs in this house!" that keeps me from it as well. LOL
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Yeah, I get it. My husband and I have an understanding; he pretends not to notice how many bugs I'm bringing into the house, and I pretend not to notice how many unnecessary tools he's bringing into the garage.
 
snitz427 said:
Wow lucky! I have some hoppers that Im hoping mate... are you using vermiculite?
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I'm actually using damp play sand. I tried dirt which they ignored. They seem to like to dig perfectly little holes that hold shape. Once I put in the damp sand container (5" deep) they started laying eggs right away. From what I've read, you let them develop a bit, and then out them into fridge for diapause. For how long in not sure, I'm going to play around with it. Then you pull them out of fridge, warm them up, and they finish developing, then hatch. We'll see.
 
Rst_Cham said:
I'm actually using damp play sand. I tried dirt which they ignored. They seem to like to dig perfectly little holes that hold shape. Once I put in the damp sand container (5" deep) they started laying eggs right away. From what I've read, you let them develop a bit, and then out them into fridge for diapause. For how long in not sure, I'm going to play around with it. Then you pull them out of fridge, warm them up, and they finish developing, then hatch. We'll see.
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Interesting, I'll have to try sand. They're ignoring the soil but its also hard to keep that moist without taking it out to mist it daily.

That's exactly what we do with silkworm eggs... they need to over winter. So a few days after they are laid, I put them in the fridge for 2-3 months. Once removed the silkworms hatch in a week or so. Winter temps in MD lasts for 3-4 months, so I think 3 months in the fridge should be enough time. If times and lighting replicates summer, supposedly, you can skip diapause, but why risk it?
 
snitz427 said:
Interesting, I'll have to try sand. They're ignoring the soil but its also hard to keep that moist without taking it out to mist it daily.

That's exactly what we do with silkworm eggs... they need to over winter. So a few days after they are laid, I put them in the fridge for 2-3 months. Once removed the silkworms hatch in a week or so. Winter temps in MD lasts for 3-4 months, so I think 3 months in the fridge should be enough time. If times and lighting replicates summer, supposedly, you can skip diapause, but why risk it?
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I dug them up and have about 25 egg cases. I divided them out between 8 little containers, recovered them with damp sand, and will try different diapause times for each container to see if I can find a successful amount for diapause. I read diaupause can be shortened so the shortest time I'll be trying is 3 weeks.
 
I'm a little late here, but don't forget to incubate them before putting them in the fridge so that they can develop to the diapause stage first. Or, you can just break the diapause by dunking the eggs in mineral oil lol. Also, Melanoplus femurrubrum are perfectly legal to ship, just FYI. Good luck!

Edit: I'm pretty sure the shortening of the diapause experiment was done over many generations, so 3 weeks is way too short in my opinion, but let me know how it goes if you decide to follow through with it. I've only been breeding non-diapausing species for the past few years, so I'm definitely interested in your results. I only recently picked up 3 new species of large diapausing grasshoppers to work with.
 
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SauceGandhi said:
I'm a little late here, but don't forget to incubate them before putting them in the fridge so that they can develop to the diapause stage first. Or, you can just break the diapause by dunking the eggs in mineral oil lol. Also, Melanoplus femurrubrum are perfectly legal to ship, just FYI. Good luck!

Edit: I'm pretty sure the shortening of the diapause experiment was done over many generations, so 3 weeks is way too short in my opinion, but let me know how it goes if you decide to follow through with it. I've only been breeding non-diapausing species for the past few years, so I'm definitely interested in your results. I only recently picked up 3 new species of large diapausing grasshoppers to work with.
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Do you mind sharing some info about your setup? What temps do you keep them at?
 
SauceGandhi said:
I'm a little late here, but don't forget to incubate them before putting them in the fridge so that they can develop to the diapause stage first. Or, you can just break the diapause by dunking the eggs in mineral oil lol. Also, Melanoplus femurrubrum are perfectly legal to ship, just FYI. Good luck!

Edit: I'm pretty sure the shortening of the diapause experiment was done over many generations, so 3 weeks is way too short in my opinion, but let me know how it goes if you decide to follow through with it. I've only been breeding non-diapausing species for the past few years, so I'm definitely interested in your results. I only recently picked up 3 new species of large diapausing grasshoppers to work with.
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thanks for the info. What species are non-diapausing? What temp do you incubate at? How long do you think I'd need to incubate before starting diapause? Thanks so much!
 
SauceGandhi said:
No problem. :)

Schistocerca nitens, Schistocerca americana, Schistocerca damnifica, Trimerotropis pallidipennis, Chortophaga viridifasciata are the only ones in North America, as far as I know.

~85F

21 days minimum
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Thank you so much! Very helpful
 
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