4 replies to this topic

[VonHeer]

So this is my first serious ant queen. I found her in early June inside of a flower pot I was planting. She had already lain some eggs and I was able to find all of them. All of those eggs are now pupae except for three which have hatched into adults. Today I attempted to attach an outworld that I made from of a Laffy Taffy bin to the test tube. Unfortunatly the test tube shattered at one end while I was trying to connect it to a vinyl tube. Whoops. All was not lost, however. I realised I was giving them an outworld way too early. So inside the shattered test tube I feed them a forzen Japanese bettle, a mini marshmellow, and a pencil lead container filled with water and the remaining sugar from a honey roasted peanut can (see). She took to all of these with gusto.

The pencil lead container seems like the perfect way to give sugar water to a colony still in the test tube. Look for it in the test tube.

I will be using extra virgin olive oil as a barrier for the outworld. I heard this works for Camponotus pennsylvanicus.

I actually do have another queen with larva. I'll go get it identified soon. It's a small species.

http://imgur.com/a/CZApO

[VonHeer]

So I am now up to six workers with more shortly on the way. They devored the mini marshmellow within about two days. They've been picking at the beetle but it might be best to find something sofer for them to fullfil their protein requirements.

[William. T]

Japanese beetles are not food fit for a queen. Feed them something else, like grass hoppers or crickets.They are in season. Best yet, get them termites.

[Lamarr]

Any more new workers? I never thought about feeding ants the marshmallows. You might have to crush or cut part of beetle to get ants interested in beetles as they are generally hard for the ants to get to the juicy meat.

[William. T]

Any more new workers? I never thought about feeding ants the marshmallows. You might have to crush or cut part of beetle to get ants interested in beetles as they are generally hard for the ants to get to the juicy meat.

I think one of the reasons japanese beetles are so successful outside of their native range is because no one eats them. So why would ants eat they? They are too hard bdied, contain no flesh. Crickets and grasshoppers, especially the legs, contain a lot more protein. Best yet, feed them termites.