4 replies to this topic

[Ant monkey]

So i am in the pet store to by some mealworms for my small colony of Camponoyus chromaiodes, when I saw that a company named "Flukers" sells "canned" insects: mealworms,grasshoppers or crickets.

 So many people have said that I should feed the ants a variety of protein sources, but my colony is small (11 workers) and although i can keep mealworms in fridge, buying a bag of live crickets seems like it would be a waste.

Has anyone used canned bugs? 

 Also, I started reading the ingredient lists on fish and terrapin foods and there are somewith high protein counts along with other things. Some were small pellets of ground shrimp and such.

 on the surface it looks like these would be good protein sources but i guess my real question is what ingredients should i AVOID in these products?

  

P.S. one fish food was a "gel" pack made with agar. I think this would be ideal (?)

[EstuaryAnts]

Its usually a hit or miss for most of my colonies but I would think that killing a live insect would be better as it replicates what a colony would find in the wild.

[Works4TheGood]

I agree with EstuaryAnts. It never ceases to amaze me which foods ants will accept and which foods ants will turn up their noses at when it comes to unconventional foods. I found a bunch of dead ants in the coffee creamer at our cabin this past weekend, and didn't know that some ants go after dry products like that. On the other hand, I've seen ants refuse moistened dry dog, cat, and fish food.

You buy mealworms from a local pet store? I bought 50 mealworms almost a year ago and made a simple farm. Now I have thousands of worms and lots of sizes to choose from. I've been cutting up the pupae with a scissors to control population and the ants go bonkers over it. I'd recommend doing the same, but starting with a larger number of worms.

I'd recommend reading Crystals' sticky post about preferred ant foods by species if you're just looking for ideas. But really, a mealworm farm kicks rear, and it's simple and cheap ... Just YouTube it.

I'm sorry that I can't answer your question more directly.

[Batspiderfish]

I'd be curious to see what preservative method is used that keeps these insects from going bad.

[Works4TheGood]

I'd be curious to see what preservative method is used that keeps these insects from going bad.

 

I'm guessing that it's just canned; no preservatives, but I could be wrong.