I recently was made aware of some work that was done years ago by the USDA that detailed a dry diet for grasshoppers. Grasshoppers don't drink water. They get what little H2O they need from the greens they eat. The green food is also a hurdle in the large scale production of grasshoppers. The feeding aspect is time-consuming and can also be a large expense. I have been contemplating dry feeding options lately in the Thoptera grasshopper facility. If the greens (we feed mostly free, organic lettuce and some wheatgrass) could be supplemented or substituted with a dry feed source, it would make a huge difference in the operation and ultimately profitability.
Below is a photo of some trial work that is ongoing with feeding our grasshoppers a supplement of pelletized forages. The feed is moistened with water at feeding.
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