49 replies to this topic

[Thatfa666ene]

I bought this founding colony from THA on October 23rd, 2018. Started with around 20-30 workers and the queen. 

[Rstheant]

Nice. Are you feeding them raw honey? Try feeding them like fruit flies. They go crazy for them!

[Thatfa666ene]

Nice. Are you feeding them raw honey? Try feeding them like fruit flies. They go crazy for them!

No sugar at all. They love fruit flies and mealworms. 

[Rstheant]

You should supply your ants with water, protein and sugar. They die if they are deficient of any thing listed before. Sure, they can survive for a small time, but definitely supply them with something. Like hummingbird nectar or honey, or my mixture, 1 tsp. nectar, 1 tsp. water, 1 tsp. raw, strained honey, and a pinch of idolized sea salt ( you can double these if you want more quantity).They won’t take to it immediately, but they will drink it eventually.

Some species, mostly harvester ants and Pogonomyrmex don’t need sugar, but seeds and protein instead.

Also, experiment! Find out what your ants prefer! Good luck and keep us posted!

Edited by Rstheant, March 2 2019 - 4:13 PM.

[YsTheAnt]

Ants that don't have a social stomach prefer fruits rather than liquid sugar. I hear granulated sugar works well for these.

Also, certain species do not need ANY sugar. Pogonomyrmex for example do much better in my experience without sugary substances, and with carbohydrates in the form of seeds.

Aphaenogaster tend to enjoy fruit, protein, seeds, and more.

[Mettcollsuss]

In my experience, Aphaenogaster don't really like liquidy sweets such as honey, but they do like brown sugar. Although, they can still get along fine with little to no sweets. Aphaenogaster are largely carnivorous, with even the workers eating insects. In the wild, Aphaenohaster often collects certain seeds, but for some reason won't accept them in captivity.

This is just from my experience with A. rudis, I'm not sure how different A. fulva is.

[Rstheant]

Again, you should experiment! Find what your ants like. Most aphaenogaster LOVE dubia roaches.

[Rstheant]

You may not see them drinking nectar, but they do! Also, they love dubia roaches.

[Thatfa666ene]

You should supply your ants with water, protein and sugar. They die if they are deficient of any thing listed before. Sure, they can survive for a small time, but definitely supply them with something. Like hummingbird nectar or honey, or my mixture, 1 tsp. nectar, 1 tsp. water, 1 tsp. raw, strained honey, and a pinch of idolized sea salt ( you can double these if you want more quantity).They won’t take to it immediately, but they will drink it eventually. Also, experiment! Find out what your ants prefer! Good luck and keep us posted!

I don't know if it's because you said something or something in the air, but I finally got them to take some sugar. 

 

Let me run down the list of sugars I've tried feeding them. Honey, chocolate, caramel, pressed fruit, fresh fruit, maple syrup, graham crackers, cake, cookies, peanut butter, jelly, sweet potatoes, with marshmallows. I guess I never thought about just plain sugar. Seems to have worked tho. 

[Thatfa666ene]

Update. 

Got these shots as I was preparing them to move the nest to a clean formicarium. This queen has been working. I've got some good video footage I'll figure out how to upload later. 

Recently just had some of my first worker deaths. I'm sure they were just old based off how small they were. However this colony is becoming voracious lately. I can feed them a medium-small bug every other day and they still seem like they could eat more. 

[Rstheant]

Feed them more!! And also alter the meals every couple time. The ants get tired of the same stuff.

[Thatfa666ene]

Horrible update. Last night I fed my ants a roach I killed in my apartment. They ate it like nothing was wrong. I woke up this morning to most of my colony dead or dying.

https://flic.kr/p/2dw84od

https://flic.kr/p/2deoMdZ

 

Some of the workers still have their wit about them, whereas some are exhibiting very concerning behaviour.

 

Queen is obviously stressed. Can't tell for sure if this colony can recover from this. 

[Canadian anter]

Oh god. This is similar to what happened to one of my colonies ate food contaminated with pesticides. They probably came from the roach. Hopefully your colony recovers.

[Thatfa666ene]

Oh god. This is similar to what happened to one of my colonies ate food contaminated with pesticides. They probably came from the roach. Hopefully your colony recovers.

I nearly fainted. My poor babies. Needless to say I won't feed my ants bugs from around the house.

[Rstheant]

You still can. Just boil or freeze them to kill the bacteria.

[Rstheant]

I’ll admit it is scary when you see dead ants in the outworld. I’m guessing your first thought was what the heck?? You can’t die on me like this!!

[YsTheAnt]

Boiling or freezing does not rid insects of pesticides. Do not feed your ants any household insects unless you are absolutely certain that they do not have any pesticides on them.

[TennesseeAnts]

Pesticides are fairly bulletproof....

[Thatfa666ene]

I feel so helpless. And I just started this journal. 

[ANTdrew]

I'm really sorry for this setback. I feed my ants insects and spiders I catch in my home only because I know nothing is sprayed. The problem with an apartment is that there's no telling what the management or other tenants are spraying. Roaches are the primary target as well, so if anything has been exposed to pesticides, it's likely to be them first. I would not recommend feeding anything caught in an apartment, really.