10 replies to this topic

[gs5248]

My tetramorium colonies favorite food are earwigs, they went crazy over those things. However, now that winter has come, I found it harder to find earwigs. Does anyone have any idea on how to find them?

[ponerinecat]

It's actually easier to find earwigs in the winter for me. They'll huddle up in groups, and in California winter is the breeding season. Look under rocks, manmade debris, and bark.

[gs5248]

It's actually easier to find earwigs in the winter for me. They'll huddle up in groups, and in California winter is the breeding season. Look under rocks, manmade debris, and bark.

Hmmm, interesting. I have never seen that behavior before, although I don't really know anything about earwigs anyways

[Devi]

Ooh, earwigs!  I've never thought of these as a food source.  I will most certainly try this for my tetramorium once they come out of hibernation!

[UtahAnts]

I find that they enter a diapause state, making them slow and unresponsive. Curiously, I find large amounts of them in tunnels of tetramorium, as the ants vacate them for deeper parts of the nest. If you have any decaying matter, have a garden, or have landscaping fabric that you can pull up easily, I would recommend those places. My ants never went crazy for them, but good to know yours do.

[Spazmops]

I find them under rocks quite often. Like AntsUtah said, landscaping fabric is also a good place to find them.

[gs5248]

Ooh, earwigs!  I've never thought of these as a food source.  I will most certainly try this for my tetramorium once they come out of hibernation!

When I first started ant-keeping and did not have a feeder insect colony, earwigs were the only insects I could find, and my ants seemed to like them.

[ANTdrew]

All my ants go nuts for earwigs. I find an almost infinite supply of them in my yard in early spring. I can’t give you much tips for finding them in midwinter, though.

[KitsAntVa]

Try under rocks in rich soiled places, I find them in my yard a lot in mulch under rocks, they usually huddle a lot even in summer like that so I can’t imagine what winter would be like, as well as them not running once you pick up the rock. 

[gs5248]

Yeah, I tried everything you guys said, no luck. I guess there is a possibility that the argentine ants in my yard have hunted them all down. They definitely could have. They wiped out an entire monomorium minimum colony in my backyard. It's a shame really. You don't see many native ants in my part of Sacremento.

[MysticNanitic]

In our raised planting beds, earwigs wreak havoc on our radish and spinach. They feed at night, and if I water in the evening I find them all over the leaves after dark. I pluck them off and pop them in the freezer, I still have a lot from summertime, like little swanson ant dinners.