Need help with hoppers

[MissSkittles]

My grasshoppers arrived yesterday - yay?! I have them in an old med ReptiBreeze in the garage where it’s warm. I managed to put them in the enclosure when they arrived and gave them food. But earlier today I thought my girl beardie could use a treat and as soon as I opened the door, a hopper hopped and is now lost somewhere. Tonight when I went to give them fresh food, I tried the small service door thinking less space to hop past me. Nope. One came shooting past as soon as the door opened. I managed to find it and return it. Tried the main door but draped over the top with fabric and another shot by that I had to catch and return. Ummm…didn’t someone tell me that they are pretty calm. No, they are not. Some are hopping around like popcorn. So, my grasshopper keeping chamily, I need your best ideas on how to prevent these little beasties from escaping every time I need to open their door.

 

[yungzerk]

My grasshoppers arrived yesterday - yay?! I have them in an old med ReptiBreeze in the garage where it’s warm. I managed to put them in the enclosure when they arrived and gave them food. But earlier today I thought my girl beardie could use a treat and as soon as I opened the door, a hopper hopped and is now lost somewhere. Tonight when I went to give them fresh food, I tried the small service door thinking less space to hop past me. Nope. One came shooting past as soon as the door opened. I managed to find it and return it. Tried the main door but draped over the top with fabric and another shot by that I had to catch and return. Ummm…didn’t someone tell me that they are pretty calm. No, they are not. Some are hopping around like popcorn. So, my grasshopper keeping chamily, I need your best ideas on how to prevent these little beasties from escaping every time I need to open their door.

The only thing I was thinking would be accessing it from the top but seeing as you have a reptibreeze I’m lost here but best of luck to you! I never tried to breed mine so I just kept them in a container bin with branches and I rarely had escapees since i was reaching from the top

 

[Sonny13]

Hahaha, a well known problem with those jumping brats. You could hang a textile sheet inside the cage in front of the door, that prevent them from jumping out, but you can still access the them.

 

[Sonny13]

Sorry for laughing

 

[Tkrd69]

I was thinking something similar @Sonny13 , using a plastic sheet like a piece of shower curtain that hangs done inside the door so you can see the hoppers and just reach around it.

 

[MissSkittles]

I put a piece of landscape fabric over the door and had much better results. A couple escaped, but they hopped onto me and I just put them in the feeder cup. I guess I’ll eventually have to start breeding these hopping monsters. With the exception of beardie Spike who’s brumating, all of my scaled ones seemed to enjoy them. Even the two leopard geckos who are always hesitant to eat their first bug wasted no time.

 

[jannb]

When we used to raise them, Mike cut one of his pants legs off from an old pair of pants from about below the knee down and made a thing to reach in there through the pants leg and get them where they couldn’t hop out. He cleaned the cage that way, too. I’ll see if I can find a picture for you. He made a hole in the screen, somehow hooked it up to the hole and when he wasn’t using it, he just kind of ball it up and stick it in the hole. It worked great!

 

[Chino82]

My grasshoppers arrived yesterday - yay?! I have them in an old med ReptiBreeze in the garage where it’s warm. I managed to put them in the enclosure when they arrived and gave them food. But earlier today I thought my girl beardie could use a treat and as soon as I opened the door, a hopper hopped and is now lost somewhere. Tonight when I went to give them fresh food, I tried the small service door thinking less space to hop past me. Nope. One came shooting past as soon as the door opened. I managed to find it and return it. Tried the main door but draped over the top with fabric and another shot by that I had to catch and return. Ummm…didn’t someone tell me that they are pretty calm. No, they are not. Some are hopping around like popcorn. So, my grasshopper keeping chamily, I need your best ideas on how to prevent these little beasties from escaping every time I need to open their door.

I open from the bottom. I have a grasshopper colony right now and I know what you’re saying, so I feed from opening the bottom hatch. Also, where did you order your grasshoppers from? I ordered some from eBay, but I’m pretty sure they’re wild caught so I’m using them as breeders to see if I could get my own growing here on the East Coast.

 

[MissSkittles]

I open from the bottom. I have a grasshopper colony right now and I know what you’re saying, so I feed from opening the bottom hatch. Also, where did you order your grasshoppers from? I ordered some from eBay, but I’m pretty sure they’re wild caught so I’m using them as breeders to see if I could get my own growing here on the East Coast.

I ordered from Kai Phan. He’s on Facebook and you have to private message him about buying his hoppers. He also sells colony starters.