17 replies to this topic

[azzaaazzzz00]

I'm kind of struggling to choose to feed wild insects or store bought ones to my Tetramorium caesptium colony. I've heared that it's not safe to feed wild insects, but I can't really get any store bought ones at the moment. Any suggestions would be great.

[ANTdrew]

You can safely collect wild insects in natural areas where no pesticides are sprayed, for example, a nature park. Look in places that are far from farms or Chemlawn/Truegreen fanatic homeowners. The tidier the lawns are around you, the more chemicals you can be sure are pumped into them.

Edited by ANTdrew, May 2 2021 - 10:51 AM.

[MrPurpleB]

Although wild caught insects aren't the best there are some precautions you can take. I have fed most of my colonies insects from my back and front yard. I freeze the insect and then thaw it to kill any potential diseases. Not sure how much it helps to get rid of chemicals. Boiling is another way to kill the insect.

As Antdrew mentioned it's important to be aware of where you collect the wild insects. I am fortunate to have a fairly large yard, and I know no chemicals are used in there.

Something else I have fed my colonies as a protein source is turkey ham meat, the thin slices of meat that are used for sandwiches. I know some ants are willing to take human food. I would try to grab a couple of workers and test feed them a piece to check if the food is safe.

Good luck with feeding your colonies.

Edited by MrPurpleB, May 2 2021 - 10:45 AM.

[NPLT]

As others mentioned, wild-caught insects should be only collected from pesticide free areas, but also make sure to boil them before giving them to your ants, because otherwise you are risking things like mites, disease, or parasites.

 

 

You can safely collect wild insects in natural areas where no pesticides are sprayed, for example, a nature park. Look in places that are far from farms or Chemlawn/Truegreen fanatic homeowners. The tidier the lawns are around you, the more chemicals you can be sure are pumped into them.

What is it with the obsession some people have with spraying their gardens? The only thing my garden was ever subject to was some moving ( and that also stopped because moss and ivy nearly killed off most of the grass ) and it looks as green and healthy as ever.

Edited by NPLT, May 2 2021 - 11:15 AM.

[azzaaazzzz00]

I've never sprayed my yard with pesticide nor have any of the houses near me. Also, is there a way to feed the wild caught insects without killing them?

[Kaelwizard]

I've never sprayed my yard with pesticide nor have any of the houses near me. Also, is there a way to feed the wild caught insects without killing them?

Well they will die when they get eaten, but you risk ant casualties by doing that. If you put a live cricket in for example, that could easily kill an ant.

[MrPurpleB]

I've never sprayed my yard with pesticide nor have any of the houses near me. Also, is there a way to feed the wild caught insects without killing them?

You could crush the insect's head or body to keep it alive, but easy for ants to kill. Sometimes I freeze my insects for 30s or until they have slowed down in movement, but not frozen to death. Their sluggish movement and reactions might make it easier for the ants to kill before the insect fully wakes up. However, I think the insect tends to wake up fairly quick.

[ANTdrew]

If you are feeding wild insects, it is imperative to pre-boil them to prevent hitchhiking mites. Freezing is another way to humanely kill them, but some mites can withstand freezing temps. Note that freezing, nor boiling will remove pesticides. Feeding live insects is not advisable because it can really stress out your colony if some thrashing creature gets up in their nest for example. It is also inhumane in my opinion.

Edited by ANTdrew, May 3 2021 - 9:57 AM.

[MrPurpleB]

If you are feeding wild insects, it is imperative to pre-boil them to prevent hitchhiking mites. Freezing is another way to humanely kill them, but some mites can withstand freezing temps. Note that freezing, nor boiling will remove pesticides. Feeding live insects is not advisable because it can really stress out your colony if some thrashing creature gets up in their nest for example. It is also inhumane in my opinion.

Oops, I made a mistake. In the question, "is there a way to feed the wild caught insects without killing them?" I didn't see the "wild caught." As Antdrew said, if you are feeding wild insects you need to boil or freeze or risk mites and diseases onto your colonies. You might be able to feed wild stuff and get away with no harm to the colony, but there's always that risk for chemicals and mites if you don't know about the place you caught them.

My previous comment was mostly how to kill live feeder insects not wild, apologies. Wanted to clarify that.

[azzaaazzzz00]

Ok, got it, I'll only feed live wild insects only once in a while, thanks for help.

[ANTdrew]

No, don’t feed live wild insects ever. If you collect from the wild, it is necessary to pre-boil.

[azzaaazzzz00]

Oh ok, Ill feed PRE-BOILED wild insects once in a while then. Also, are worms an exeption?

[Queen]

I use store bought in a pinch otherwise I subscribe from websites that breed feeders and have them shipped to me. I never use wild caught. I also do not boil, freeze, or do any prep. I only prekill larger insects. I don't prekill smaller insects such as fruit flies or red runners.

[Kaelwizard]

Oh ok, Ill feed PRE-BOILED wild insects once in a while then. Also, are worms an exeption?

No. I don't know why they would be.

[Kaelwizard]

I use store bought in a pinch otherwise I subscribe from websites that breed feeders and have them shipped to me. I never use wild caught. I also do not boil, freeze, or do any prep. I only prekill larger insects. I don't prekill smaller insects such as fruit flies or red runners.

Same here, except I don't have small enough prey items to give them live. I buy from Josh's Frogs online, which is local. The feeders from there seem to stay alive for so much longer than the ones I buy at Pet Supplies Plus and seem to be much better quality. Only downside is they can be a lot more expensive.

[Chickalo]

If you are feeding wild insects, it is imperative to pre-boil them to prevent hitchhiking mites. Freezing is another way to humanely kill them, but some mites can withstand freezing temps. Note that freezing, nor boiling will remove pesticides. Feeding live insects is not advisable because it can really stress out your colony if some thrashing creature gets up in their nest for example. It is also inhumane in my opinion.

Agreed about the live insects part.  I know some people enjoy watching and doing this *cough cough, LightsCameraAnts, cough cough*, but it's really dangerous, especially for smaller colonies where there's not a lot of workers to protect the queen from the invader.  Even with larger colonies there's a chance of death to this.  I'd say the only real exception to this is if it still moving after death, since it doesn't pose to much of a threat to larger colonies.  Just stick with your average dead bugs, and like ANTdrew said, if they're from the wild pre-boil them.  If you want EXTRA extra protection freeze them before boiling them.  Just make sure the area your getting them from is pesticide free.

[Lillyrose]

I would like to point out too that a lot of insects can travel good distances .. so even if you don't use sprays that doesn't mean they hasn't been in a place where they have sprayed.

Also, I learned this the other day, sometimes depending where you live certain services might be spraying and you don't realize it.

They were doing work on the gas and electric lines in my yard and I found out they do some beautification .. like painting the box .. and spraying the area where the lines come down with weed killer. So even though I don't use it .. that area is now corrupted.

[NPLT]

I would like to point out too that a lot of insects can travel good distances .. so even if you don't use sprays that doesn't mean they hasn't been in a place where they have sprayed.

Also, I learned this the other day, sometimes depending where you live certain services might be spraying and you don't realize it.

They were doing work on the gas and electric lines in my yard and I found out they do some beautification .. like painting the box .. and spraying the area where the lines come down with weed killer. So even though I don't use it .. that area is now corrupted.

If it's just the weed killer, then I don't think insects should be threatened, unless they used a mixture of herbicide and pesticide.