CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How to breed locusts?

Locusts are a common pest that is particularly harmful to crops. However, locusts are also valuable insects. They not only have nutritional value, but also have therapeutic effects. Let's learn about locust breeding techniques.

1. Site selection: Choose a sunny, well-drained, secluded place with an east-west orientation and a shed. The width of the shed is 3 to 5 meters, and the length depends on the number of locusts raised. The site should be slightly higher than the surrounding ground. It should also be away from cotton fields, orchards and other places where pesticides are often sprayed to prevent locusts from poisoning and death.

2. Hatching of eggs: Locust eggs are very small and have thin shells. They should be handled with care during the hatching process. Once they are broken, the hatching rate will be affected. The newly introduced eggs should be hatched in time. The specific method is to first find a place with the most sunshine in the greenhouse where locusts are raised, rake the soil finely, then evenly spread the eggs on it, and then cover it with fine soil for 1 cm. At this time, the soil moisture content should be maintained between 20% and 30%. If the temperature in the greenhouse is between 28℃ and 33℃, the eggs can be hatched in 10 to 15 days. If the temperature of soil and manure fermentation is used to hatch the eggs, the effect will be better.

3. Larvae management: newly hatched locusts are white, and turn dark brown after one day. They eat very little, and only eat some tender corn, sorghum, wheat, millet seedlings and some monocotyledonous tender grass. Therefore, before the locusts hatch, crops such as corn, wheat, and millet should be planted in the shed as the locusts' first food, which can reduce the mortality rate of young locusts and accelerate their growth.

4. Adult management: As long as the temperature is suitable and the feed is sufficient, locusts will shed their skin every 5 to 6 days, each molting time is about 20 minutes, and a total of 5 molts, so it only takes about 30 days for locusts to grow from hatching to adulthood. The key management during this period is: each molt of locusts is one age. Locusts before the third age do not eat much and have poor survival ability, so they should be carefully managed. In case of heavy rain, the greenhouse should be covered with plastic cloth in time. After the third age, they are not afraid of rain. After the third age, the locusts eat a lot more, and sufficient fresh grass should be provided every day to let them eat enough and grow faster. After about 30 days, the locusts shed their skin for the last time, grew long wings, entered adulthood, and began to mate and lay eggs one after another.

5. Adult egg laying: After about 10 days of growth and development, the winged locusts mostly begin to mate and lay eggs. Female locusts lay eggs 2 to 3 cm deep in the soil. Each locust lays 60 to 80 eggs each time, and up to 100 eggs. If the temperature is suitable, the eggs can hatch in about 15 days. Most female locusts die after laying eggs. Under natural temperature, locusts have two generations each year. The first generation is called summer locusts, which lay eggs in late June and early July, and the second generation is autumn locusts, which lay eggs in late August and early September. If plastic sheets are used for insulation in early spring and late autumn, three batches can be easily raised annually, and the economic benefits are one-third higher than those of breeding at natural temperature.

Grasshopper Breeding Tips

Grasshopper breeding base-Wansheng Frozen Factory compiled and published for you.

1: How to divide the shed when the locusts are very small?

Answer: When locusts are small, you cannot catch them with your hands, as you will be hurt if you catch them. If you want to distribute them to other sheds, you can only spread a plastic sheet in the shed. In this way, when they are most active in the hot noon, drive the small locusts onto the plastic sheet, pick them up and pour them into a small bucket. If they are close, quickly and gently pour them into another shed. If they are too far away, you must prepare a gauze cage in advance, pour them into the cage, and then transport them to another shed to let them slowly crawl out.

2: How to transport the breeding insects?

A: It is best to order cages in advance for the transport of worms and place the worms in the cages so that they will not be squeezed or hurt by each other.

3: When is the best time to buy locust eggs?

Answer: It is best to buy locust eggs in March and April. If you want to raise three or more batches, you can start buying them in March. After you get home, cover them with plastic cloth and start hatching. If you only plan to raise two batches a year, you can start buying them in April. You can also buy them at other times, but the hotter the summer is, the easier it is for the little locusts to hatch during transportation. So it is recommended that friends who are just starting to raise locusts try to start buying them in March and April.

4: Are locust eggs easy to transport?

A: You can rest assured if you buy locust eggs before May Day. We have professional packaging and transportation, and can ship them to all parts of the country and abroad. They can also be shipped after May Day, but the temperature is too high, and it is difficult to avoid that a small number of locusts will hatch during the journey.

5: When raising locusts, is it better to buy locust eggs or locusts themselves?

A: Locust eggs are easy to transport and can be easily shipped to all parts of the country. The transport of locusts is more difficult and requires special vehicles with cages to allow the locusts to be ventilated and not squeezed during transportation. However, it is not realistic to transport locusts over thousands of miles. So if it is too far, you can only buy locust eggs.

6: What temperature is suitable for hatching locust eggs?

A: The temperature of locust eggs needs to reach 25 degrees and the ground temperature needs to reach above 20 degrees to hatch. If you want the locust eggs to hatch earlier, you need to cover them with plastic sheets in advance to heat them up.

7: What kind of grass is best for little locusts to eat after they come out?

Answer: It is best for newly born locusts to eat relatively green wheat seedlings or tender grass. Locusts that are well fed when they are young will be strong and have strong resistance when they grow up.

8: Are there any requirements for the grass that adults eat?

Answer: Adult insects have no requirements for grass.

, as long as it is green grass or weeds. As long as I can eat enough.

9: Can I grow grass if there are eggs in the shed?

A: Before putting seeds in the shed, that is, when there are no eggs, you can plant some wheat seedlings. If there are insects laying eggs, it is not suitable to plant wheat seedlings. If wheat is planted on the eggs, it will affect the hatching of insect eggs, resulting in late and uneven hatching.

10: Where do locusts usually lay their eggs?

A: Locusts usually lay eggs around the shed, more on both sides and less in the middle, so if you really need to plant some wheat, you can plant some in the middle. If there are some eggs in the middle, you can dig them out and put them around. As long as the eggs are not dry, they will come out naturally when the weather is hot.

11: When is the best time to buy locust eggs?

Answer: March to April is the best time to buy insect eggs because the weather is warm everywhere and the eggs hatch faster.

12: What is the most suitable temperature for hatching insect eggs?

Answer: The ground temperature needs to reach above 20 degrees to hatch the eggs. When the locusts really start to appear, the ground temperature can reach more than 30 degrees, and the locusts will hatch faster.

1. Selection and identification of locust breeding sources

Methods for identifying locust species include:

Grasshopper (20 photos)

(1) Consult locust taxonomy experts.

(2) Consult a locust key table or atlas.

(3) Consult experienced locust farmers.

(4) Send locust species to customers for identification and review.

Common types of farmed locusts include: East Asian migratory locust, cotton locust, Chinese rice locust, Chinese grasshopper, etc. These varieties have their own advantages and disadvantages. It is necessary to comprehensively consider factors such as their growth cycle, generation, taste, food, size, and the variety required by the customer, and select the breeding variety in combination with the local climate, food source, etc.

2. Construction of locust breeding shed and preparation of shed land

Before building the shed, first eliminate all ants and mole crickets on the ground. You can use methods such as capture, trapping, and scalding. The above insects are natural enemies of locusts and can prey on locusts and destroy locust eggs, so these animals must not be allowed to exist in the shed. In order to facilitate drainage in the rainy season, the floor of the shed should be 10-15 cm above the ground. The soil should preferably be sandy loam, which is not easy to clump and is convenient for laying eggs. In mid-April, you can plant crops such as wheat on the ground where the shed is built to prepare for the young locusts to eat.

The construction area of ​​the shed is determined by the number of locusts to be raised. If you want to raise 10,000 locusts, 15 square meters is enough. You can use the free space inside and outside the yard to build a shed frame with wire, sticks, bamboo strips, etc. according to your own conditions. Then, according to the size of the shed, use ribbed cloth (gauze cloth) 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 install a zipper on the door. This device is to prevent the locusts from running out and facilitate feeding and management. (It can also be built into an arched shed)

The height of the shed can be 1.5-2 meters. In order to keep warm and prevent rain, plastic sheets can be covered outside the shed. When the temperature is high and the locusts are large (older) and not afraid of rain, plastic sheets can be omitted. If locusts are raised under natural conditions, the construction of the shed must be completed before the end of April, and a sunny place is preferred.

3. Nymph stage management

⑴ Locust nymphs eat very little and prefer to feed on fresh and tender plants. At this stage, locusts are very fragile, so you should pay attention to rain protection to prevent them from drowning.

⑵The temperature should be controlled at 25-30℃, the light should be more than 12 hours, and the humidity should be maintained at around 15%. Under these conditions, locusts are most active, like to eat, and are conducive to growth.

⑶ The food intake of locust larvae above the third instar gradually increases. At this time, it is necessary to ensure that there is sufficient food in the shed, otherwise it will affect their normal growth and may even cause cannibalism.

⑷ Keep the shed clean and clean it once every 1-2 days to prevent the occurrence of diseases.

Four,

Locusts are destructive insects

It is different from other special breeding industries. On the one hand, breeding it can turn harm into treasure and increase farmers' income, but on the other hand, it increases the number of locusts, forming a potential hazard. Necessary safety management measures must be taken for its breeding to achieve twice the result with half the effort. For large-scale breeding, based on 1 mu of breeding, a half-meter wide plant contamination isolation zone should be built around the breeding site, and the surrounding area should be fenced with wire mesh and equipped with pesticide sprayers. There are many kinds of pesticides to kill locusts. You can use 75% malathion emulsifiable concentrate or 2.5% diazinon and other pyrethroid insecticides to kill them.

If farmers do not want to breed locusts anymore, they must take the final extermination measures. If farmers do not want to breed locusts anymore, they should make preparations in advance. They cannot remove the breeding shed before May 20th of each spring. After all the locusts emerge from the ground and before they become adults, they should be killed with pesticides. This way, there will be no harm. If farmers decide not to breed locusts before the end of autumn, they must sell all the locusts before September 10th, that is, before they mate, or kill them with pesticides. They must not be allowed to lay eggs in the breeding shed. Such measures can ensure the eradication of potential harm in the future and benefit the healthy development of the locust breeding industry.

Free range. The most natural, casual and simple way. It is also the best for locusts and for you.