Reptile & Amphibian Forums

On a recent trip to London, I decided to check out a British pet store. I was suprised to see the huge selection of inverts that they had available for herp food sources. They had boxes of grasshoppers in much the same way that we buy crickets in bulk. The clerk told me that he thought the grasshoppers were harvested in Turkey. Has anyone heard of a grasshopper source in the US? My ornates love hoppers, and I love to watch them pounce on them. It's just kind of humiliating for a grown man to chase grasshoppers around a field with a pink butterfly net .

While this might be symantics... they are selling Locusts.

That should explain why you don't see them in the states although I really don't see the difference between selling them and any other invertabrate.

btw, the last part of your comment... It's no different than another collecting weeds from the front lawn and kicking the Dandelion seeds around as he's picking the leaves... It's gotta look odd to normal people.

>>On a recent trip to London, I decided to check out a British pet store. I was suprised to see the huge selection of inverts that they had available for herp food sources. They had boxes of grasshoppers in much the same way that we buy crickets in bulk. The clerk told me that he thought the grasshoppers were harvested in Turkey. Has anyone heard of a grasshopper source in the US? My ornates love hoppers, and I love to watch them pounce on them. It's just kind of humiliating for a grown man to chase grasshoppers around a field with a pink butterfly net .
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Yeah, they had them labelled as locusts. I just thought I'd hang with the 'street' term, as per my topic lingo. So, you can't find them? I can only find them listed under Carolina Biological Supply in pickled form.

Locusts are grasshoppers but not all grasshoppers are locusts. If you saw them pickled you know those suckers are huge. I don't think it would be out of line to say they get well over 6 inches long. As a group they eat alot of vegitation. I don't think the agricultural community would be too thrilled about the breeding of big, crunchy locusts for the pet trade...

They also have what they call Black Crickets in the UK which are about twice the size of the Black crickets you have her in the NE US. You can't import those either.

Oh... one other thing they got over there is man eating crickets... I sh... kid you not. They are about half the size of the standard crickets here and they tear into flesh... personal experience. The damn things do hurt. (only kidding about the 'man eating' (whoops) 'Person eating' part but they do have a mean bite)

I believe it is the department of agriculture who regulates the bugs in general.

>>Yeah, they had them labelled as locusts. I just thought I'd hang with the 'street' term, as per my topic lingo. So, you can't find them? I can only find them listed under Carolina Biological Supply in pickled form.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

I wonder of there are plants that they find more delectable than others, that you could plant to attract them. Of course that could also be a really bad idea, if it were to prove a little too successful.
Like the japanese beetle traps that bring more beetles to your yard than you had to begin with.
Maybe you should go with a more macho butterfly net and avoid prancing in public.

>>
>>btw, the last part of your comment... It's no different than another collecting weeds from the front lawn and kicking the Dandelion seeds around as he's picking the leaves... It's gotta look odd to normal people.
>>

LOL I was going to suggest that you buy a different colored net.
I agree it can't be any worse than going outside & watering the dandelions on purpose & kicking the seeds around so they'll spread & grow... or harvesting the plantain leaves so that I can grind them up in the food processor to make home made turtle food.

I've been catching things like grasshoppers and anything else that looks food-worthy in a big white fish net for years. Enough years that I don't feel weird doing it. Now I've lived in this neighborhood long enough that the neighbors probably chalk it up to that crazy lady doing something weird again & I think they just ignore me now LOL!!
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PHRatz

>>While this might be symantics... they are selling Locusts.
>>
>>That should explain why you don't see them in the states although I really don't see the difference between selling them and any other invertabrate.
>>

Locusts and grasshoppers are the same thing. It's their behavior changes that dictate when to call them one name over the other. There was an interesting discussion I found over on the insect-side of this website:

forums.insecthobbyist.com/view.php?id=15943,15962
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DP

I don't know if this helps you or not, but you can buy the "Can 'O" grasshoppers here. If your turtle will let you wiggle the food & convince it that it's a live bug, these may be a good substitute...
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