8 replies to this topic

[Koafid]

Title, found some in bin, colony is small, something between 20-30 ants, can I put 1 living/dead larva in their formicarium?

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

you would need to biol them if found outside.

[Koafid]

would they eat boild, dead, larvae? and in that case I could store them in freezer and use them for more weeks, no?

and if I would left some meat rot in some container, and get the larvae that way, could I use them, as a "homebred" larvae?

you would need to biol them if found outside.

[ANTdrew]

There are a lot less revolting ways to raise feeder insects!

[Stubyvast]

Okay so I actually saw a fly larva being eaten by tetramorium immigrans in the wild. The larvae seemed to be able to release some sort of toxin at the mouth, leaving the ant crawling around and stumbling, eventually leaving the larva alone. However, once killed, they LOVED it. So yes, I think you can feed it so long as you kill it (crush the head, my suggestion, then freeze/boil) and your ants should devour it like they would a particularly tasty mealworm. And yes, you could probably store them in the freezer. Or...(gasp)...you could breed them! They eat compost, after all.

Edited by Stubyvast, June 20 2024 - 4:13 PM.

[NotAxo]

Well, technically, you could, and I tried last week. Its really hard to contain them and they are absolutely stupid, they ate the cotton instead of food. I got them actually from eggs which some stressed female laid when she got trapped on our glue trap. Its not as revolting as you think they are, if you raise them right. Pulling them out from the trash is straight up revolting though

[OhNoNotAgain]

I have gotten plenty of fly larvae from BigFatPhids - the adult flies are good as food for ants as well as for large jumping spiders. They are supposed to be "blue bottle flies" but they are BIG really dark flies, no blue nor bottle sheen to them, so I don't know what they are, other than usually pretty good from BigFatPhids.

 

The LARVAE are huge, fat, and have a tough skin. Most of my ants had great difficulty with them. The things wander around like sand worms from Dune and seem unstoppable.

I've tried the PUPAE. They are like rice-sized containers of liquid protein. Some ants don't like them at all.

It's really best with the adult flies. I kill them and feed them in pieces.

[mbullock42086]

I have gotten plenty of fly larvae from BigFatPhids - the adult flies are good as food for ants as well as for large jumping spiders. They are supposed to be "blue bottle flies" but they are BIG really dark flies, no blue nor bottle sheen to them, so I don't know what they are, other than usually pretty good from BigFatPhids.

 

The LARVAE are huge, fat, and have a tough skin. Most of my ants had great difficulty with them. The things wander around like sand worms from Dune and seem unstoppable.

I've tried the PUPAE. They are like rice-sized containers of liquid protein. Some ants don't like them at all.

It's really best with the adult flies. I kill them and feed them in pieces.

The true Blue blow fly is Calliphora vomitosa which is larger than the green blow flies, and isn't as shiny.  the one you want is Calliphora vicina, which is the lesser blue blow fly, closer to the greens in size. 

[The_Gaming-gate]

They need more than a single larva, but yes, they can.