12 replies to this topic

[mete]

Apart from pesticides that raw plant foods might have, is there anything or a list of things that are dangerous or fatal to ants which they would eat (not avoid, they would not sense the danger) ? Like certain spices, or something used in food preparation for human consumption (natural or additives/Exxx things etc.)

[IdioticMouse26]

Some honey might contain pesticides. Because bees forage from flowers that has pesticides and make honey out of them. 

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Fruit is a big one.

[ANTdrew]

Ants are incredibly tough survivors. They dominate all terrestrial habitats for a reason. Other than pesticides, there is nothing else I would worry about.

[rptraut]

Hello mete;

There are some foods that aren’t harmful to eat, but in large enough amounts can still pose a threat to ants. I’ve had ants drown in water, sugar/water, and although I’ve never fed it, I can see my small ants getting stuck in honey and dying.

I’ve often wondered about feeding cured ham to ants because of the salt content. I don’t feed it for that reason. I understand that ants, like most creatures, require some salt but I think mine get some from the other meat products I feed, many of which come from my dinner plate and are seasoned to my taste with salt. Does anyone have experience feeding cured ham and have you had any problems at all with salt?
RPT

Edited by rptraut, September 5 2024 - 4:03 PM.

[rptraut]

Hello Everyone;

 

I added this question as an edit to the above post, I'm reposting it to hopefully get some responses and learn from others' experiences.   

 

I’ve often wondered about feeding cured ham to ants because of the salt content. I don’t feed it for that reason. I understand that ants, like most creatures, require some salt but I think mine get some from the other meat products I feed, many of which come from my dinner plate and are seasoned to my taste with salt. Does anyone have experience feeding cured ham and have you had any problems at all with salt?

RPT

[Ernteameise]

Hello Everyone;

 

I added this question as an edit to the above post, I'm reposting it to hopefully get some responses and learn from others' experiences.   

 

I’ve often wondered about feeding cured ham to ants because of the salt content. I don’t feed it for that reason. I understand that ants, like most creatures, require some salt but I think mine get some from the other meat products I feed, many of which come from my dinner plate and are seasoned to my taste with salt. Does anyone have experience feeding cured ham and have you had any problems at all with salt?

RPT

I have been feeding it on occasion as a treat. Maybe once in 8-9 weeks? Not very often.

My ants love it, but like you said, the salt content is a concern.

However, I always provide plenty of water, so if the ants become thirsty, then they can drink.

So far, I have not observed any ill effects, there were no die-offs or any other issues which I saw.

Of course I cannot judge if the ants got a mild belly ache from it.

[mete]

Ants are incredibly tough survivors. They dominate all terrestrial habitats for a reason. Other than pesticides, there is nothing else I would worry about.

 

Good point. I think this means (apart from pesticide use) most if not all of the natural food in normal quantities should be OK, or they would avoid it anyway.

 

 

Hello Everyone;

 

I added this question as an edit to the above post, I'm reposting it to hopefully get some responses and learn from others' experiences.   

 

I’ve often wondered about feeding cured ham to ants because of the salt content. I don’t feed it for that reason. I understand that ants, like most creatures, require some salt but I think mine get some from the other meat products I feed, many of which come from my dinner plate and are seasoned to my taste with salt. Does anyone have experience feeding cured ham and have you had any problems at all with salt?

RPT

I have been feeding it on occasion as a treat. Maybe once in 8-9 weeks? Not very often.

My ants love it, but like you said, the salt content is a concern.

However, I always provide plenty of water, so if the ants become thirsty, then they can drink.

So far, I have not observed any ill effects, there were no die-offs or any other issues which I saw.

Of course I cannot judge if the ants got a mild belly ache from it.

 

 

Good example. To elaborate the second part of my question, about the foods prepared for human consumption, some points I can think of:

 

- none or only some ingredients in a prepared food might be organic/bio in nature. not sure if this means it can contain minute levels of pesticides, and if it does, if it is a large enough quantity to cause a problem for the ants.

- it may contain some minerals/spices or in large quantities, like the extra salt in cured ham.

- it may contain artificial additives, Exx type of stuff.

[AntsGodzilla]

Apart from pesticides that raw plant foods might have, is there anything or a list of things that are dangerous or fatal to ants which they would eat (not avoid, they would not sense the danger) ? Like certain spices, or something used in food preparation for human consumption (natural or additives/Exxx things etc.)

watch out for sodium, and things that easily ferment, and too much grease on meat

[Ernteameise]

 

Ants are incredibly tough survivors. They dominate all terrestrial habitats for a reason. Other than pesticides, there is nothing else I would worry about.

 

Good point. I think this means (apart from pesticide use) most if not all of the natural food in normal quantities should be OK, or they would avoid it anyway.

 

 

Hello Everyone;

 

I added this question as an edit to the above post, I'm reposting it to hopefully get some responses and learn from others' experiences.   

 

I’ve often wondered about feeding cured ham to ants because of the salt content. I don’t feed it for that reason. I understand that ants, like most creatures, require some salt but I think mine get some from the other meat products I feed, many of which come from my dinner plate and are seasoned to my taste with salt. Does anyone have experience feeding cured ham and have you had any problems at all with salt?

RPT

I have been feeding it on occasion as a treat. Maybe once in 8-9 weeks? Not very often.

My ants love it, but like you said, the salt content is a concern.

However, I always provide plenty of water, so if the ants become thirsty, then they can drink.

So far, I have not observed any ill effects, there were no die-offs or any other issues which I saw.

Of course I cannot judge if the ants got a mild belly ache from it.

 

 

Good example. To elaborate the second part of my question, about the foods prepared for human consumption, some points I can think of:

 

- none or only some ingredients in a prepared food might be organic/bio in nature. not sure if this means it can contain minute levels of pesticides, and if it does, if it is a large enough quantity to cause a problem for the ants.

- it may contain some minerals/spices or in large quantities, like the extra salt in cured ham.

- it may contain artificial additives, Exx type of stuff.

 

I think another problem might be antibiotics.

In commercial agriculture, antibiotics are a stable in many animal feeds.

This has 2 reasons:

1. Commercial industrial animal production is not natural and due to stress and overcrowding, there is hardly any immune system left, so the animals will become sick. Best to feed antibiotics to cancel that out!

2. Antibiotics work directly on the gut (mostly by destroying the natural microbiome of good bacteria) and since no good vital bacteria have to be fed (they have all been killed) this energy can go to the animal to fatten it up faster

There have been studies in humans, for example, that treatment with antibiotics and the following destruction of the natural microbiome can lead to dysbiosis, changed metabolism and obesity.

 

What does this have to do with ants?

 

If you buy NON-ORGANIC meat, fish or eggs to feed to your ants, there will be antibiotics in there.

In studies with ants, it has been found that if you mix antibiotics in ant food, that the vital endosymbiotic bacteria in the ant gut will be killed. This can, in the worst case, make the ants starve in front of the filled food dishes. Reason, they need the endosymbiotic bacteria to digest food. You might have seen on this forum that some people here feed uric acid and bird poop to ants (Camponotus). This works, because the endosymbiotic bacteria in the Camponotus gut can synthesize amino acids from of uric acid.

 

Long story short: if you feed things like cured ham as a treat to your ants, just make sure it is organic.

[OhNoNotAgain]

JFYI in all the posts about "my ants died after I gave them ____" ... it's usually been honey or apple. I suspect pesticides and would never give any part of an apple with peel still on unless I grew it myself. As for honey, it's often laundered and comes from shady overseas suppliers ... and even if local you have no idea where the bees got stuff from.

[jabasson]

If you removed the peel of the apple would you always be safe? Also curious if anyone has had ants die from pesticides in hummingbird nectar.

[rptraut]

Hello Everyone;

I keep honeybees and I belong to a “Bee Club”. Last meeting we discussed how to protect hives from higher than normal overwinter death losses. The causes haven’t been an easy thing to determine, but pesticides in the honey have been implicated. I was told by one older member that I should extract all the honey from each hive and then feed sugar syrup to the hives for winter, guaranteed no pesticide exposure.

If beekeepers are dubious about the safety of honey for their bees, ant keepers would be wise to be similarly cautious about feeding honey to their ants.
RPT