58 replies to this topic

[CasiahJade]

I bought a colony yesterday and they're sitting in a THA mini-hearth  There are five workers and some brood.  Last night, I put a small amount of honey and a dried mealworm in the outworld for them.  The girls went to work burying the honey and half of the mealworm.  I can't tell if they're eating any of the animal protein, I don't want to leave it in the outworld for too long.  It is dried, so mold isn't a huge concern but... since they like burying stuff, I think I'm going to need to add some substrate into the outworld each time I give them food.

 

When I got home today, the queen was standing in the outworld, looking over her territory.  I wasn't expecting to see her up there, but then the entire room was dark so there's no reason for her not to.

 

There also seems to be a far greater amount of material with which they have buried the food stuffs, are they capable of ripping up the formicarium material?

 

I think I'm going to put aquarium sand, in small amounts, in their food dish along with whatever culinary offerings I give them.  When they're ready to move into a larger formicarium and outworld, I kinda want to give them some gold flakes to decorate with.  Some of that desert feel, ya know.

 

One in particular is upset about the fluon barrier I added.  She keeps trying to crawl up to rest upside down on the lid of the outworld.

[Zeiss]

You always want to give them fresh insects as food.  Workers drink from the liquids and it's easier for the ants/larvae to manipulate.  As for them coating the honey, they probably saw it as a threat so they tried to dry it up and stop it whereas the food was probably covered as trash since it was dried out.  I suggest using sugar:water (1:3 ratio) or byFormica Sunburst for their sugar sources.  

[Ants_Dakota]

if you put honey too close to the ants nests, i believe the ants feel that other ants might be able to smell it out and find their nest. that is my theory.

[Kaelwizard]

if you put honey too close to the ants nests, i believe the ants feel that other ants might be able to smell it out and find their nest. that is my theory.

It is a response to a liquid threat.

[CasiahJade]

I typically give my bees a 3:1 sugar to water ratio when its time to feed them, so I'll probably see if the ants take to that in early spring.

 

I'm giving them honey from 2019, so its nice and crystalized, shouldn't be a drowning hazard for them.  Just to be safe, I took out the feeding dish and cleaned it this morning.  (They weren't happy about that) and put a small amount of peanut butter and some crushed walnut (I read that they eat seeds, so I decided to see if they like nuts, and on my way home from the office I'm gonna get some feeder insects.  Because there's so few of them, I'm concerned about giving them fresh insects because I know that it'd likely be too much food for them.

[Ants_Dakota]

I typically give my bees a 3:1 sugar to water ratio when its time to feed them, so I'll probably see if the ants take to that in early spring.

 

I'm giving them honey from 2019, so its nice and crystalized, shouldn't be a drowning hazard for them.  Just to be safe, I took out the feeding dish and cleaned it this morning.  (They weren't happy about that) and put a small amount of peanut butter and some crushed walnut (I read that they eat seeds, so I decided to see if they like nuts, and on my way home from the office I'm gonna get some feeder insects.  Because there's so few of them, I'm concerned about giving them fresh insects because I know that it'd likely be too much food for them.

there is never too much food for ants. that was one of my biggest mistakes as a beginner ant keeper. feed your ants more than they could eat, and remove the rest. i had many a colony die because i fed them too little.

[Devi]

 

I typically give my bees a 3:1 sugar to water ratio when its time to feed them, so I'll probably see if the ants take to that in early spring.

 

I'm giving them honey from 2019, so its nice and crystalized, shouldn't be a drowning hazard for them.  Just to be safe, I took out the feeding dish and cleaned it this morning.  (They weren't happy about that) and put a small amount of peanut butter and some crushed walnut (I read that they eat seeds, so I decided to see if they like nuts, and on my way home from the office I'm gonna get some feeder insects.  Because there's so few of them, I'm concerned about giving them fresh insects because I know that it'd likely be too much food for them.

there is never too much food for ants. that was one of my biggest mistakes as a beginner ant keeper. feed your ants more than they could eat, and remove the rest. i had many a colony die because i fed them too little.

 

Yes.  Ants_Dakota is totally right.  I have had colonies where I ummm... forgot to feed them for a while, and they didn't do very well but then when I fed them a bunch of food, they did much much better and exploded in growth.  I was definitely a beginner then though, and I don't forget to feed my ants anymore.  Lol.  As for the live feeder insects, I would be careful of those.  Yes, this species needs and benefits from live insects, but with a colony that small, even a few deaths from trying to take down the prey could be futile to the colony.  So be careful when you feed them live.  Welcome to Formiculture!  I hope you enjoy your time here. 

[CasiahJade]

 

 

I typically give my bees a 3:1 sugar to water ratio when its time to feed them, so I'll probably see if the ants take to that in early spring.

 

I'm giving them honey from 2019, so its nice and crystalized, shouldn't be a drowning hazard for them.  Just to be safe, I took out the feeding dish and cleaned it this morning.  (They weren't happy about that) and put a small amount of peanut butter and some crushed walnut (I read that they eat seeds, so I decided to see if they like nuts, and on my way home from the office I'm gonna get some feeder insects.  Because there's so few of them, I'm concerned about giving them fresh insects because I know that it'd likely be too much food for them.

there is never too much food for ants. that was one of my biggest mistakes as a beginner ant keeper. feed your ants more than they could eat, and remove the rest. i had many a colony die because i fed them too little.

 

Yes.  Ants_Dakota is totally right.  I have had colonies where I ummm... forgot to feed them for a while, and they didn't do very well but then when I fed them a bunch of food, they did much much better and exploded in growth.  I was definitely a beginner then though, and I don't forget to feed my ants anymore.  Lol.  As for the live feeder insects, I would be careful of those.  Yes, this species needs and benefits from live insects, but with a colony that small, even a few deaths from trying to take down the prey could be futile to the colony.  So be careful when you feed them live.  Welcome to Formiculture!  I hope you enjoy your time here. 

 

 

Well, I'm wanting to keep the colony kinda small for now as I learn what I'm doing.  Not stunting their growth but not encouraging a huge explosion of population.

 

I will not be giving them live insects, rather I'll pre-kill them.  Again, I was wanting to delay buying live feeders, which is why I tried the dried mealworms.  Would rehydrating the dried mealworms work, I wonder...

[Ants_Dakota]

 

 

 

I typically give my bees a 3:1 sugar to water ratio when its time to feed them, so I'll probably see if the ants take to that in early spring.

 

I'm giving them honey from 2019, so its nice and crystalized, shouldn't be a drowning hazard for them.  Just to be safe, I took out the feeding dish and cleaned it this morning.  (They weren't happy about that) and put a small amount of peanut butter and some crushed walnut (I read that they eat seeds, so I decided to see if they like nuts, and on my way home from the office I'm gonna get some feeder insects.  Because there's so few of them, I'm concerned about giving them fresh insects because I know that it'd likely be too much food for them.

there is never too much food for ants. that was one of my biggest mistakes as a beginner ant keeper. feed your ants more than they could eat, and remove the rest. i had many a colony die because i fed them too little.

 

Yes.  Ants_Dakota is totally right.  I have had colonies where I ummm... forgot to feed them for a while, and they didn't do very well but then when I fed them a bunch of food, they did much much better and exploded in growth.  I was definitely a beginner then though, and I don't forget to feed my ants anymore.  Lol.  As for the live feeder insects, I would be careful of those.  Yes, this species needs and benefits from live insects, but with a colony that small, even a few deaths from trying to take down the prey could be futile to the colony.  So be careful when you feed them live.  Welcome to Formiculture!  I hope you enjoy your time here. 

 

 

Well, I'm wanting to keep the colony kinda small for now as I learn what I'm doing.  Not stunting their growth but not encouraging a huge explosion of population.

 

I will not be giving them live insects, rather I'll pre-kill them.  Again, I was wanting to delay buying live feeders, which is why I tried the dried mealworms.  Would rehydrating the dried mealworms work, I wonder...

 

yes live insects are not the bests for a small colony.

[Spazmops]

I found frozen/thawed grasshoppers to be a good food source for my small colonies, along with some honey. I don’t have any Novomessor though, so that might not work as well for you.

[ANTdrew]

Fat ants are happy ants. I wouldn’t advise limiting their feedings until you get a much larger, more stable population. Try offering nectar in a byFormica or THA liquid feeder to see if the ants feel less threatened by it. Crystalized honey is probably too thick and sticky for them.

[Devi]

Fat ants are happy ants. I wouldn’t advise limiting their feedings until you get a much larger, more stable population. Try offering nectar in a byFormica or THA liquid feeder to see if the ants feel less threatened by it. Crystalized honey is probably too thick and sticky for them.

"Fat ants are happy ants."  

 

This had me laughing.  Thanks ANTdrew.

[CasiahJade]

I've given them two freshly killed crickets (small feeder crickets from Petsmart) and they dragged one down out of the outworld, two days later (when I gave them the second) one stood guard over it near the entrance but didn't move it down.  How often should I be putting a cricket in right now?

[MinigunL5]

I've given them two freshly killed crickets (small feeder crickets from Petsmart) and they dragged one down out of the outworld, two days later (when I gave them the second) one stood guard over it near the entrance but didn't move it down.  How often should I be putting a cricket in right now?

Every few days at minimum every other day or even every day if you really want them to grow. Btw, how big is the colony?

[KitsAntVa]

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

[MinigunL5]

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.

[KitsAntVa]

 

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!

[CasiahJade]

 

I've given them two freshly killed crickets (small feeder crickets from Petsmart) and they dragged one down out of the outworld, two days later (when I gave them the second) one stood guard over it near the entrance but didn't move it down.  How often should I be putting a cricket in right now?

Every few days at minimum every other day or even every day if you really want them to grow. Btw, how big is the colony?

 

 5 workers.

[ANTdrew]

One small cricket every other day should be fine for such a small colony. Have seeds available as well for them to choose from and make sure you are cutting the cricket open, so they can access the juices inside.

[CasiahJade]

Thank ya!