4 replies to this topic

[OhNoNotAgain]

Does anyone outright provide ways for harvester ants (e.g. Pogonomyrmex, Veromessor) to germinate larger seeds? (I mean aside from putting them in dirt.)

Sufficiently damp cotton in a test tube would seem important (could explain why my second group of Veros are always pulling cotton - their cotton's surface tends to dry out), but what about in mini-hearths and the like? Or do people bother? I just skimmed through this research on Pogonomyrmex badius. Food purists have long argued that germinating seeds is important and it sounds like P. badius at least agrees.

 

 

The Florida Harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex badius, Relies on Germination to Consume Large Seeds

 

https://journals.plo...al.pone.0166907

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, February 6 2020 - 11:02 PM.

[Barristan]

Maybe not the answer you expected but I just squeeze larger seeds so it is easier to digest for my Messor sp. ant colonies.

[ANTdrew]

This would probably occur naturally if you had the ants in a natural soil set-up.

[OhNoNotAgain]

Maybe not the answer you expected but I just squeeze larger seeds so it is easier to digest for my Messor sp. ant colonies.

 

Some people also provide shelled nut pieces, right? But germination in itself changes the seed nutritionally from the inside out. 

[OhNoNotAgain]

This would probably occur naturally if you had the ants in a natural soil set-up.

Yeah I figured, but I did add that as an "aside from" thing. (Could explain why some Pogonomyrmex do best in dirt though.)

Maybe some handy containers of damp cotton?