58 replies to this topic

[CasiahJade]

They aren't eating.  Yesterday I offered them their third cricket, and like the one before they didn't pull it down into their nest.  Maybe they're still fine from the first one.  I'm just concerned for my girls.

[MinigunL5]

They aren't eating.  Yesterday I offered them their third cricket, and like the one before they didn't pull it down into their nest.  Maybe they're still fine from the first one.  I'm just concerned for my girls.

When was the last feeding? Also, how many larvae do they have?

[CasiahJade]

On the 11th, I gave them one, which they ate.  On the 13th, they left the cricket alone, so I removed it on the 14th.  Gave them a new one last night.

 

 

As for larvae, there's maybe three in the later stages and up to seven in the earlier?

[ANTdrew]

Ants won’t always drag insects down into the nest, and it’s actually preferable if they don’t. One or two foragers may have quickly filled up on juices and brought them down when you weren’t observing. A tiny colony like yours may not need much protein. Another factor to consider is how warm they are. Some ants will show very little interest in protein even at what we’d consider warm temps like 70deg.

[Ants_Dakota]

if the ants don't want it, they don't need it. always remember that ants are really smart. if they are not eating, they don't need the food.

[CasiahJade]

I picked up a second mini-hearth during the holiday special with THA and put a tube to connect them.  The new one, bifurcated, is now on the heating pad with the old one further away.  I want to get the colony moved over so I can clean their original home.  They have this terrible habit of dragging crickets down.  I figure I can rotate them between these two periodically to keep their area clean.  There's about seven workers now.  When I get home from work, I'll be able to see how the move went.  They were moving brood this morning.

[ANTdrew]

All healthy colonies drag food into their nest. Don’t lose sleep over it. As their numbers grow, they will pull trash out.

[Kaelwizard]

Do Novomessor have social stomachs? If they don’t that is why they drag food down.

[Boog]

I generally would eyeball the mass of brood in the nest and give the same amount of feeder mass to the colony for each feeding time. I found this gives an idea of the volume of food they can intake so more brood means more food to feed gradually.

[CasiahJade]

I couldn't really see how much brood they had due to substrate getting stuck on the glass of the initial Mini-hearth.

 

My understanding, @Kaelwizard, is that they have small social stomachs, but I really don't know much about them yet.  I'll look into seeing if there's any scientific papers on them...

[KitsAntVa]

They have social stomachs but very small ones which is why they drag it into the nest.

[MinigunL5]

They have social stomachs but very small ones which is why they drag it into the nest.

Even ants with normal social stomachs will drag food back into the nest. Many of my ants have done it.

[CasiahJade]

Since they moved into the bifurcated mini-hearth, I have actually lost the ability to get an accurate count of how many are there are.  I only see one or two in the "outworld" at a time.  I've been giving them killed superworms to eat, and they have two small water stations, one with sugar water.  I tried corn sugar and water, which they seemed to enjoy.  Its a bit finer than the beet and cane sugar so it mixes well.

 

Last night, I gave them a little bit of fried chicken, the meat not the breading, which they seemed to enjoy.  Or, at least, they were ripping  it apart and bringing small little chunks down into the nest in preference over the superworm.

[CasiahJade]

I had to remove my first dead ant this morning.

[Kaelwizard]

I had to remove my first dead ant this morning.

That can be pretty disheartening. 

[CasiahJade]

 

I had to remove my first dead ant this morning.

That can be pretty disheartening. 

 

Well, it was clearly one of the older workers.  I look at it like my bees, the death count this week alone would be terrifying.  (First freeze, bye Drones!) so I'm not devastated.  Truthfully, its a milestone, and the number of workers now has doubled since my first post.  In a few months, I will need a larger formicarium for them.

[CasiahJade]

https://www.instagra...d=1fwjotipjls85

 

I'm still in my quest to find the best food for my girls, I've given them mixed birdseed for plant protein, crickets, super worms, hard boiled egg, honey, peanut butter, and now I've tried Spray Millet.  This was the first offering that garnered this kind of reaction.

 

I know that they've been eating, the colony is growing steadily, but since the first cricket got dragged down into their nest I haven't been able to tell how much they ate when I changed the food out.

 

If this works for them, I can give them a good supply in the outworld of a second mini-hearth as a silo.  No water in the tower to reduce the risks of mildew.

 

I'm encouraged, hopefully they are liking the seed.

[antsandmore]

 

 

crickeys are best feeder food, as well as fruit flys.

I wouldn't say crickets are the best feeder, but definitely a good one. Fruit flies are the best though.

 

>:C crickeys are best feder!

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOO termites are!!!!!

[CasiahJade]

NOOOOOOOOOOOO termites are!!!!!

 

 

 

I don't have a source for those, and I don't trust myself to keep a colony without destroying my house.

[CasiahJade]

Power is back, and the ants seem to be doing fine.  I decided to try something and I gave them a dead goldfish as I haven't been able to get fruitflies or crickets due to the cold.

Edited by CasiahJade, February 22 2021 - 5:43 PM.