19 replies to this topic

[Rstheant]

I got a colony from nurbs with 20+ workers and a queen. I gave them mealworm segment and bloodworm soup, but the rejected both! I gave them nectar, with they accepted. I would love to hear what you guys would say. I heat them with a heating cable, and the brood looks good.

Thanks!

[KBant]

My colony is probably the biggest I’ve seen of a novomessor cockerelli colony.

They will eat crickets- when a younger colony, cut up so they can carry inside to their brood. Crickets are also ok to freeze. Now I’ll just place a couple frozen crickets inside their nest. It thaws very quickly.
Crushed sunflower seeds- also popular. They don’t like many other seeds it seems.
Baked white chicken meat also is popular.

I would highly suggest getting a Tar Heel ants fortress nest. They really like that nest. I currently have them in two fortress nests connected by a vinyl tube. I am waiting on my nucleus III and I will move them into that nest after.

[anttics]

It all depends on the amount of larva. The more larva the more food they will accept. Workers sometimes eat their fill of proteins and won't carry it back. Unless tons of larva are present

[Rstheant]

@ KB, they are in a hearth, and they accepted bloodworm soup, but only in VERY small quantities. I put a micro liquid feeder in there too. Is a micro feeder too small?
*Sorry a fortress

[KBant]

No for a small colony don’t worry. You should also have the nestmate water tube as well so don’t worry too much. Make sure to keep them dark and warm with a heating cable.

[nurbs]

N. cockerelli love love love bloodworm soup. Don't overfeed, once a week with 20+ workers in a bottle sized cap is enough. Make sure you are using the Hikari brand and to moisten it but don't turn it into mud.

 

That colony you have - I've been feeding them mostly bloodworm soup, diluted hummingbird nectar, and wingless fruit flies. Once in awhile I'll throw in a cricket or a frozen spider. 

 

 

I got a colony from nurbs with 20+ workers and a queen. I gave them mealworm segment and bloodworm soup, but the rejected both! I gave them nectar, with they accepted. I would love to hear what you guys would say. I heat them with a heating cable, and the brood looks good.

Thanks!

[nurbs]

Also this. Very important to keep drinking water available to this species. They dessicate easily.

 

No for a small colony don’t worry. You should also have the nestmate water tube as well so don’t worry too much. Make sure to keep them dark and warm with a heating cable.

[Rstheant]

I put a full nest mate full of fresh, bottled water. You just gave them hummingbird nectar with water, nothing else?

[Rstheant]

I had a spare nestmate whoch I filled with nectar and I saw some workers drink from it!
*which*

[nurbs]

For sugars, yes. Just that.

 

For proteins, bloodworm soup, fruit flies, etc. You got the care sheet I sent right?

 

I put a full nest mate full of fresh, bottled water. You just gave them hummingbird nectar with water, nothing else?

[Rstheant]

Yeah, I got the sheet. Yay! They started to etc crickets and bloodworms soup, and got about 15 more eggs!

[anttics]

Since we are talking about novo diet. Is there a relation in worker size. if the colony only drinks nectar, compared to a colony that eats only seeds. I might be wrong, but I was getting large workers like this one.

https://i.imgur.com/oLU0DEe.gifv

There is one with a winder head. I could not find. Once i introduced nectar into their diet. The colony started to breed nanitics. Since this species is not polymorphic. They are at least a head shorter than this worker. Some are even smaller. Has any one notice this. I have taken away their nectar diet. And I'm see a bit larger pupa. Still not giants like the gal in the video


The lighter worker are the new generation after taking the nectar. Do you see all the semi dark ones. That are tiny. Those are the nectar generation

Edited by anttics, December 8 2018 - 9:40 AM.

[Rstheant]

They finally started to eat and drink! They dragged in cricket pieces inside the nest for the larvae. Is this normal
?

[anttics]

They finally started to eat and drink! They dragged in cricket pieces inside the nest for the larvae. Is this normal
?

Yes they lack a social stomachs. They must carry all food to the larva. When no larva is present or they are full. They will eat for them selfs, but leave the carcass outside. Until larva ask for more. Read my comment from before. Try to feed them sun flower seeds.

[Rstheant]

Okay, this is turning into a mini journal. I put sunflower seeds and fresh crickets. They seem to like the Vita-Bug ones, so I dropped in 2 and of course, put bloodworm soup. One thing I notice. The ants plié it on one side of the foraging container, spread out. Are the building a ‘escape ladder’?

[YsTheAnt]

Probably not, they like to make garbage piles as far away from their nest, and sometimes up is furthest .

[Rstheant]

I got some Dubia roaches and dropped in some. The can’t seem to bring the roach pieces to the larvae; may be a problem....
Anyways the liked it and started to eat it.

[anttics]

I got some Dubia roaches and dropped in some. The can’t seem to bring the roach pieces to the larvae; may be a problem....
Anyways the liked it and started to eat it.

Not a good idea. They are a small colony. Once they are big, you can give them dubias. The workers will eat their fill. Lay eggs for the queen, and larva to eat. Nurbs has witness it On his colonies. It is also proven by science.
Also if you could grow a generation. On nectar only diet. And 1 generation on sunflower seed diet only. I'm trying to prove a theory. Seed generation workers should be larger than nectar generation. Thx

[Rstheant]

So just crickets, fruit flies and bloodworm soup?

[BroJack]

We have done very well by keeping hummingbird nectar always available and feeding cut up frozen crickets frequently (depending on the size of the colony- 3 days a week up to every day). We also put Kentucky Blue Grass seed in but we are not sure they are eating it. They do move it around. Our colonies seem very robust with a lot of workers (50+) and huge piles of brood. We use the same method with N. albisetosus