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Locust

Most species get along fine, ours were Indian stick insects I believe and they did really well together, just be aware the more you have, the more babies they will produce, that was something I overlooked until we were quite over run!
 
I keep Indian stick insects at the moment, it should be six or thereabouts in a fish tank size cage, but once the nymphs are fully grown into adults, the eggs need putting in the freezer for a day before throwing out or you will get overrun with hundreds. They wouldn't survive the weather here, and would upset the ecosystem if they did survive.
 
Same as with my apple snails and their eggs, thankfully only had 10 babies with my missed bit of a clutch last year but could’ve been hundreds more!

Yeah I’d never dream of putting a salad in my cats food bowl @PigglePuggle! And had a brine shrimp hatchery for a while as food for my fish!
Think if they were bigger and I could see their little faces I’d probably feel very bad! And obviously cat food doesn’t look like the animal they’re eating either!
I’m a soppy wuss! :doh:
 
I love bugs too, and yours are so beautiful.
I've just been raving about my bees in another thread!

Can I ask what you keep them in?
Do they require lots of space?
And what do you feed alongside grass?

Fascinating - I don't think I even met anyone who kept locusts before.
They live in a faunarium that's about 50cm long and 30cm deep (there's 8 in there) - I have dry tortoise terrain as substrate but sand is good too! Any leafy greens are great but I always put bug grub in for them too so they've got that if they want it 😊 oh and bug gel of course (instead of water so they don't drown) They're totally fascinating 😍 They like to perch so there's a half coconut hide and orchid bark and fake plants in there too! They can't have any humidity though so no real plants 😪
 
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I used to work with a scientist lady who had the biggest healthiest locust colony in Europe, she did research into how their brains work so they avoid crashing into each other when they are swarming... she had them watching TV with animations of things rushing towards them and measured their brain waves... they had their own climate controlled rooms and she grew whole greenhouses full of organic grass and carrots to feed them... very cool insects :)
I've had mantis pets and we have a tarantula but then... you guessed it... the crickets and locusts become dinner... sorry! I always treat my livefood insects well though and house them and feed them properly, unfortunately some animals just dont do vegan!
I basically want to be that scientist lady 😂
 
Here are the pics of the two species I have:


Subulina Octona: These only get to a max of 1-2cm in shell length, tiny things!

Image result for subulina octona

Larger ones, Rumina Saharica, these get to around 2-3cm in length and are carnivorous! They will live happily on veg/salad and protein mix but can't be housed with other species of snail.

Image result for Rumina Saharica
 
Here are the pics of the two species I have:


Subulina Octona: These only get to a max of 1-2cm in shell length, tiny things!

Image result for subulina octona

Larger ones, Rumina Saharica, these get to around 2-3cm in length and are carnivorous! They will live happily on veg/salad and protein mix but can't be housed with other species of snail.

Image result for Rumina Saharica
Gorgeous, look like freshwater trumpet snails (with different colours)! Only kept Hendrix the GAL snail out of water, apart from my garden snail pets as a kid! :)
 
Aw I've kept the scarlet and bumblebee millipedes before, I convinced the uni to buy them for me a few years ago when they asked me to run some "exotic animal care" workshops for the animal behaviour students! Then they did a few uni open days and retired to my house, they only lived about a year though, not sure how long they last usually but they had a happy life eating the veg that was a bit too far gone for us and the snails to eat and digging burrows a lot :)
 
Here's Blondie one of my GALs (she's Achatina fulica Rodatzi the rarer recessive double pale colour morph with a blonde shell AND a white foot) given to me as a hatchling 2 years ago by a student. Below are the sleepy feet of 2 of my darker coloured "old crew" who arent necessarily that old but they are the last few survivors from a colony I've had since 2003 when I was a student :)
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He was great, rehomed him so only had him a couple of years but yeah, when he got sliming up my arm he’d be there a good while before I could get him off with that giant foot! :D
My biggest ever GAL was Brian, I found him on campus in the student research project lab when I first started my job almost 6 years ago, he was donating his slime for research into novel antimicrobial substances! I sort of adopted him, his foot was about 30cm long and he weighed about half a kilo! He lived alone so I brought him home for Christmas and married him into my snail herd to Xena and Ripplefoot, he's sadly passed on now but I grew some giant foxgloves on his burial site. I think he's the grandfather of my current dark coloured Achatina fulica fulica friends but with snails being promiscuous and hermaphrodite and storing sperm for months its hard to say for sure :)
 
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