8 replies to this topic

[pkinatx]

I have had a Camponotus queen in a test tube set up for about 9 months.  She has hatch her first batch of 5 workers and has some larva at the moment as well.  Is now the time to feed them a cricket or something else, or should I wait longer?  I have given the ants a bit of honey a few times in the past but never any protein.  How long does it take for a queen's reserve protein in her wings to run out typically?

 

Bonus: what is the best way to give protein to a queen in a test tube set up, as to avoid future mold?  

 

Thanks guys!  

[ANTdrew]

Feed them protein and sugars asap.

[pkinatx]

Ok will do.  Sugars are pretty easy as I just add some honey to the end of a cotton ball, but what about proteins?  I'm hesitant to put a cricket part in the tube because of mold.  Is this not an issue?  

[ANTdrew]

Remove it when they finish. Starvation is worse than mold.

[antsriondel]

yeah definitely

[pkinatx]

Ok buying meal worms today for sure, thank you!  As a rule of thumb, when do you start feeding your colony protein and not relying on the queen's reserves?  Right after her first workers arive?

[Kaelwizard]

Yes, the reserves are meant to get her through founding.

[ANTdrew]

I feed sugar and protein as soon as the first workers arrive.

[gs5248]

I would feed them some sugar first and then give them a few fruit flies or maybe a cricket leg or mealworm segment.