Grasshopper identification/breeding

[Katie]

In the field I frequent I happened to catch what I assume to be a male/female grasshopper pair. They are both around 1 1/2 to 2 inches long; their wings are black and green:

and

Anything care-specific I should be doing? What do they lay their eggs in? It would be nice if I could breed these... they're huge!

 

[Samzo]

Whoah...thats more of a locust lol UK grassies are tiny

 

[PseudoDave]

Ours look like fleas compared to that... Sorry i'm not sure on an exact species, but nice catch

 

[Katie]

I took a better photo:

For now I'll just set them up with dirt, grass, and maybe some greens, and see what happens.

 

[worldofmantis]

I have them outside umm I think they lay thier eggs in the ground not sure though if not the ground most likley dirt

 

[Ian]

wow katie, thats beautiful. The grasshoppers we get here are about the size of medium crickets, teeny things. I belive they are Chorthippus brunneus or a smiliar species.

Cheers,

Ian

 

[Rick]

Both of those are female. Post a good pic of each ones abdomen so I can tell for sure. Yeah Samzo we have some large grasshoppers in the US. You should see the bird grasshoppers we have around here. They are quite a bit bigger.

 

[Katie]

Aw, what a shame. That's either very good news or disappointing news. They both flew up from the same spot, so I assumed they were a pair. Oh well. If they don't lay eggs in the next month, Merry Mantis will have herself a nice big meal. I wish we had some of those "bird grasshoppers" around here, although if they're more difficult to catch than these, I'd be out of luck. :lol:

 

[Rick]

Still both look female. But would need to see the tip of the abdomen better to be sure. I am 99% sure they are both female now though. The bird grasshoppers here are almost imposible to catch. I catch some other large ones here every week to feed mantids. Never had any luck trying to keep them though.

 

[worldofmantis]

hey rick are you sexing them by the segments on their abdomen?

if so then how many do males have?

 

[Rick]

You sex them by looking at the end of the abdomen. Females are pointed like in the pics. When I get back home I will find a pair and take a pic so you can compare.