CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How to raise grasshoppers at home?

Grasshopper family breeding:

1. Site selection

It is best to choose a place with good ventilation and plenty of sunlight.

2. Eliminate natural enemies

Before building a nest, you should first use methods such as capturing, trapping, and scalding to eliminate all ants, mole crickets, etc. on the ground. Because the above animals are the natural enemies of locusts and can prey on locusts and destroy locust eggs, these animals must not be allowed to exist in the shed.

3. Ground

The ground of the nest should be 10-15 cm higher than the surrounding ground to facilitate drainage in the rainy season. Sandy loam is the best soil, which is not easy to clump and is convenient for laying eggs and collecting eggs. The soil should not be too soft, as locusts have high requirements for laying eggs.

4. Density

The area of ​​the shed depends on the number of locusts. Generally, 600-800 adult locusts can be raised per square meter.

5. Build a nest

According to your own conditions, you can use sticks and bamboo strips to build a shed support. Then, according to the size of the shed, use gauze to make a shed cover like a mosquito net, hang it on the shed, bury the bottom edge in the ground, leave a door, and press a zipper on the door. This is to prevent locusts from escaping and to facilitate feeding and management in the shed. The height of the shed can be 1.5-2 meters. In order to keep warm or prevent rain, you can cover the outside of the shed with plastic cloth. When the temperature is high and the locusts are large (more than three years old), they are not afraid of rain, so you don't need to cover them with plastic cloth. If you use natural conditions to breed migratory locusts, the construction of the shed must be completed before the end of April.

6. There should be corn and other taller plants in the shed for isolation.

1. Habits of grasshoppers:

Herbivorous. They like to eat thick leaves, such as sweet potatoes, water spinach, cabbage, etc.

Every summer and autumn is the breeding season. After mating, the female locust inserts the ovipositor into the soil 10 cm deep and lays about 50 eggs. When laying eggs, the female will secrete a white substance to form a cylindrical plug, and then lay the eggs.

Developmental period 2 The development process of locusts is relatively complicated (as shown in the figure). Its life begins with fertilized eggs. The larvae that have just hatched from the eggs have no wings and can jump, which is called "jumping nymphs". The morphology and living habits of jumping nymphs are similar to those of adults, but the body is smaller and the reproductive organs are not mature. Insects in this form are also called "nymphs". Nymphs gradually grow up, and when they are restricted by the exoskeleton and cannot grow any longer, they shed their original exoskeleton, which is called molting. Nymphs molt five times in their lifetime. From egg hatching to the first molting, it is the first instar, and each subsequent molting increases the instar by one. After the third instar, the wing buds are obvious. After the fifth instar, it becomes an adult that can fly. It can be seen that the individual development process of locusts goes through three stages: egg, nymph, and adult. Such a developmental process is called incomplete metamorphosis. The entire individual development history of insects from fertilized eggs to adults and the ability to produce offspring is called a generation. In some areas of China, locusts can produce two generations of summer locusts and autumn locusts in one year, so there are two eras. At around 24°C, the eggs of locusts can hatch in about 21 days. The hatched nymphs crawl out of the soil. At this time, their appearance is very similar to that of adults, but they have no wings and their body color is lighter. In the first one or two instars, the larvae look more like adults, but their heads and bodies are out of proportion. In the third instar, wing buds grow, which are very obvious in the fourth instar. In the fifth instar, the nymphs are already mature and will crawl onto plants after feeding for a few days, with their bodies hanging down. After waiting for a period of time, the adults will emerge.

2. Locust breeding

1. Development, hatching and management of locust eggs

The starting temperature range for the development of migratory locusts is 20-42 degrees, the suitable temperature for development is 25-40 degrees, and the optimum temperature is 28-35 degrees. Under the condition of relative humidity of 85%-92% or soil moisture content of 15-18%, the suitable temperature for development is 25-32 degrees, and the natural temperature in northern my country reaches in early May. After purchasing eggs, just put the eggs in the soil and wait for them to hatch naturally. After 10-15 days of incubation, all locust nymphs will hatch. Locust nymphs have a small food intake and are weak, so they should be protected from rain.

The most important thing when raising grasshoppers at home is to ensure an environment suitable for grasshopper growth, no natural enemies, and appropriate breeding density.

The breeding area must be well ventilated and have sufficient light. Before breeding, it must be ensured that there are no natural enemies of grasshoppers, such as ants and mole crickets, which will prey on locusts and destroy locust eggs, causing the grasshoppers to be unable to grow normally.

Choose sandy loam that is not easy to clump and has a relatively hard soil to build a ground nest. The nest should not be too close to the ground, generally maintain a distance of 15 cm to ensure egg laying and egg retrieval.

The breeding density is generally 600-800 adults per square meter, and it should not be too much.

Market prospects of artificial grasshopper breeding

Artificial breeding of grasshoppers requires little investment, has a broad market, is not labor-intensive, can be bred by men, women, young and old, and has a short cycle. It only takes 2,000 yuan to build a 15-square-meter net shed and introduce new species, and can raise 10,000 to 20,000 grasshoppers. Grasshoppers like to live in groups, and a high density is fine. Their main food is monocotyledonous weeds. It would be better if some corn or wheat seedlings could be planted. If conditions permit, special forage grass can also be planted, such as Mexican corn grass (5 to 6 crops can be harvested a year).

Grasshoppers are only fed with some ingredients, such as bran and sorghum, during the pregnancy period. Grasshoppers are very popular, both fresh and frozen. They are purchased by restaurants in general cities, especially in some areas of Shandong, where a seafood market needs dozens of tons a year, such as Qingzhou and Binzhou. In Wudi and other places, Japanese and Australian merchants set up points to purchase them all year round.

In addition to breeding and hatching, grasshopper eggs can also be sold directly as food or canned. In addition to supplying the domestic market, they are also exported to Japan, Australia and Southeast Asian countries. The annual demand is over 1,000 tons, while the total amount of grasshoppers purchased domestically is only a few dozen tons, which is far from meeting market demand. Therefore, raising grasshoppers is a good entrepreneurial project for farmers and laid-off workers.

1. Incubation Management

The most important thing in grasshopper hatching management is temperature control. First, we need to gently place the newly purchased grasshopper eggs into the breeding shed, then choose a place with the most sunlight to level the soil, and then sprinkle the grasshopper eggs evenly on it, cover it with fine soil, and control the temperature in the shed to around 25 to 30 degrees. At the same time, fluorescent lamps are needed for lighting, because at least twelve hours of light must be guaranteed every day. Generally, hatching will be successful in about ten to fifteen days.

2. Larvae Management

The newly hatched larvae are very fragile and small. We can place some fresh corn, wheat and tender leaves in the shed until they shed their skin for the first time. After about a week, the grasshoppers will slowly shed their skins. At this time, they are still not big. It takes at least three sheds to be considered a formal molt. At this time, we must ensure that there is sufficient food in the shed. One point that needs special attention in larval management is that you must not move them when they are molting, otherwise the mortality rate is extremely high.

3. Feed Management

The cost of breeding grasshoppers is very low. For them, all green plants can be food, so their daily feed is tender grass and tender vegetable leaves, which can basically maintain their normal growth. But if you want the grasshoppers to grow faster and fatter, you can add some corn kernels, wheat, sorghum, millet, wheat straw powder and other more nutritious foods.

4. Adult Management

It usually takes only one month for grasshoppers to transform from larvae to adults, so during this period we only need to pay attention to the temperature, moisture and feed in the breeding farm. The most important thing for adults is to mate and lay eggs, which is best done when the grasshoppers are about 15 days old. In addition, the food intake should be controlled during the egg-laying period, so that the egg-laying rate will be increased.

Grasshopper family breeding

1. Site selection

It is best to choose a place with good ventilation and plenty of sunlight.

2. Eliminate natural enemies

Before building a nest, you should first use methods such as capturing, trapping, and scalding to eliminate all ants, mole crickets, etc. on the ground. Because the above animals are the natural enemies of locusts and can prey on locusts and destroy locust eggs, these animals must not be allowed to exist in the shed.

3. Ground

The ground of the nest should be 10-15 cm higher than the surrounding ground to facilitate drainage in the rainy season. Sandy loam is the best soil, which is not easy to clump and is convenient for laying eggs and collecting eggs. The soil should not be too soft, as locusts have high requirements for laying eggs.

4. Density

The area of ​​the shed depends on the number of locusts. Generally, 600-800 adult locusts can be raised per square meter.

5. Build a nest

According to your own conditions, you can use sticks and bamboo strips to build a shed support. Then, according to the size of the shed, use gauze to make a shed cover like a mosquito net, hang it on the shed, bury the bottom edge in the ground, leave a door, and press a zipper on the door. This is to prevent locusts from escaping and to facilitate feeding and management in the shed. The height of the shed can be 1.5-2 meters. In order to keep warm or prevent rain, you can cover the outside of the shed with plastic cloth. When the temperature is high and the locusts are large (more than three years old), they are not afraid of rain, so you don't need to cover them with plastic cloth. If you use natural conditions to breed migratory locusts, the construction of the shed must be completed before the end of April.

6. There should be corn and other taller plants in the shed for isolation.

Locust breeding

Development, hatching and management of locust eggs

The starting temperature range for the development of migratory locusts is 20-42 degrees, the suitable temperature for development is 25-40 degrees, and the optimum temperature is 28-35 degrees. Under the condition of relative humidity of 85%-92% or soil moisture content of 15-18%, the suitable temperature for development is 25-32 degrees, and the natural temperature in northern my country reaches in early May. After purchasing eggs, just put the eggs in the soil and wait for them to hatch naturally. After 10-15 days of incubation, all locust nymphs will hatch. Locust nymphs have a small food intake and are weak, so they should be protected from rain.