COPIED FROM POST THAT FIT HERE:
So, I thought i'd give an update on my previous post, located here: http://www.formicult...l-eat-is-honey/ GOOD NEWS! Well, with the new ant habitat (yes formicarium but habitat is so much easier to type!) I custom built as a prototype due to white mold taking over the AntsCanada Large Tower I had notes on that in this post: http://www.formicult...eeping-journal/ I found a cricket and decided to try that, meal worms didn't work, nothing seemed to work as you can see from my previous posts. I did get SOME PROTEIN in my ants by mixing raw egg and honey, they did enjoy that but spoiling egg is an issue as I use a heat lamp. Anyway, here's the good news, I broke a cricket in half (felt bad about that by the way, seriously) and my ants are GOING NUTS! They love it! THANK GOD! PROTEIN MY ANTS WILL EAT! So, Crickets are the thing. This was a grill grasshopper (green) not some store bought one, one they'll actually run into in the forest I live in. Now I did take SOME satisfaction in the fact that in my new "natural" habitat I did see a young worm of some type get picked up by one of my ants, so just the fact there are live things in the soil I knew they at least got SOME protein. But the colony IS GROWING, slowly but surely, lots of new smaller workers popping out. Obviously younger. But I am THRILLED to see them going nuts over this new found grasshopper I gave them. Side note: The grasshopper survived (head section) for 5-10 minutes and it was really difficult on my end watching it suffer. Suggestions on making this process easier are accepted. But, Crematogoster Cerasi LOVE GREEN GRASSHOPPERS! At least mine do. They don't seem to follow the same care sheet as the one that's posted, that's another interesting note, some species (I imagine greographic area would play a role) prefer other foods based on geographic location. So HURRAY! PROTEIN! WE DID IT!
(My new camera IS ORDERED arrives Monday or Tuesday).
SIDE NOTE: I believe the preferred temperatures for this species are not correct via the Crematogaster Cerasi care sheet listed here: http://www.formicult...ogaster-cerasi/. My ants love 95 degrees and the more humidity the better. With this temp and using a heat lamp, they throw little parties as close to the heat as possible. It's interesting to watch, this species just loves heat. Makes sense too, where I found them was inside the hood of a 99 dodge durango on the property. Hot summer day, they were all thrilled to be there. It had to have been 110+ under that hood. No question about it.
