keeping locusts.

[lizzleberry]

My chameleon has recently decided not to eat crickets but to eat locusts. i've never had much difficulty keeping crickets as they survive long enough in tubs of about 10 with a milk carton lid of bug gel and bug grub. i tried this with locusts but things got mouldy quickly and they died pretty much instantly.
I have set up what i think might be a suitable place to keep them;
I put pascals old 38 gallon flexarium together, next to his 65 gallon flex so they share heat and Uvb, the locusts flexarium has a few fake vines and plants in it. at the bottom i have a small tub of bug gel and a bigger tub with bug grub and bran mixed together. i will also get a tub and fill that with dandelion leaves and carrots.
I would like to be able to breed them but so far have not found anywhere with specific instructions - a website said get a tub of "silver sand" and the guys at the shop said something about tubes :s
any help would be great, thanks

 

[AngieL]

Hi there!

I had the same problem as you when we first got Teal', she wouldn't eat crickets at all though! All she would eat for a while were locusts but we slowly managed to fit crickets into a rotation with two or three other feeders.

She still goes opff things every now and then but usually always eats the locusts still.

i found this Locust care sheet and although it's about keeping locusts as pets, I think it would help you with the general upkeep

 

[blackened]

It would indeed be nice to breed them since they're so darned expensive!

I haven't tried to do this, but have found these sources whilst looking:

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/feeder/62128-how-breed-locusts.html
http://www.reptileexpert.org/breeding-locusts/

Hope this helps.