Plants that grasshoppers avoid for bioactive vivariums?

[Rali123]

I know millipedes tend to avoid pothos (even if they take a few bites here and there), would the same go for grasshoppers? I'm planning on keeping eastern lubbers, their coloration reminds remind me a bit of dart frogs

 

[coolnweird]

In my experience grasshoppers will eat anything and everything, but I'm speaking from experience as a gardener, I've never tried in a bioactive

 

[A cave cricket]

I know millipedes tend to avoid pothos (even if they take a few bites here and there), would the same go for grasshoppers? I'm planning on keeping eastern lubbers, their coloration reminds remind me a bit of dart frogs

Lubbers will eat anything and everything no matter if it can kill them in an instant.

 

[A cave cricket]

Pro tip, if you're planning on having an vivarium don't keep grasshoppers in it especially lubbers, keep katydids they're much more picky.

 

[A cave cricket]

Pterophylla camellifolia

 

[Rali123]

Pterophylla camellifolia

Thank you! Any idea where I can buy these guys in the US?

 

[A cave cricket]

Thank you! Any idea where I can buy these guys in the US?

You can't buy those you have to catch those.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

You can't buy those you have to catch those.

That species can be tough to find since they typically live high in trees and i've never heard of someone captive breeding them, but katydids in the genus Amblycorypha (oblong-winged katydids and relatives) are a little easier to find consistently and pretty easy to keep and breed. Depending on where you live it might be a little late in the year to find them (they live in low vegetation like bushes and weedy fields and adults are active in late summer and fall) but I'm pretty sure I've recently seen a site that sells grasshoppers as feeders that also carries oblong-winged katydids. Can't find it right now though.

The above advice mostly applies to the eastern US, but you should be able to find some kind of interesting katydids wherever you live and they'll in most cases be easier to keep with plants than grasshoppers. Most katydids (at least the "typical" larger ones in the phaneropterine subfamily, others are mainly predatory or seed-eaters) have a diet consisting mainly of leaves, fruit and flower petals but are omnivores and can also eat things like oats, dog food and dead insects. If you give them a steady supply of more palatable/nutritious items like blackberry or other soft leaves, lettuce, oats and dog food they'll probably ignore the pothos leaves and make nice vivarium inhabitants. You could probably plant the vivarium with ferns too since insects rarely eat ferns. Katydids are typically more personable and fun to watch than grasshoppers IMO.