3 replies to this topic

[Reevak]

These are just some general ant questions that I have.

 

1. What is your preferred way to kill insects before feeding them to your ants?

2. Are all fruits and vegetables acceptable to feed your ants?

3. About how long does fluon last before it cannot be used any longer?

4. About how long does a fluon mix (15%-20% fluon, the rest water) last before it cannot be used any longer?

5. What is your single favorite ant colony that you have owned?

6. Is it okay to buy your feeder insects rather than breeding/raising them on your own.

7. How do you give your ants the sugars that they need (honey, sugar water, homemade honeydew, etc.)?

8. How much do you feed a large colony per week?

9. How often do you add water to your sponge/nest to keep your ant colony's living space humid?

10. Do you prefer to make your own or to buy a formicarium/outworld?

 

Any answers to any of my questions are appreciated!

[Nathant2131]

6: That is fine, although breeding them means they are delivered freshly killed and is ideal. No problem on buying them as feeder though.

7. You can make your own automatic feeder for liquid food (http://www.formicult...-liquid-feeder/) and place it in the outworld or simply apply your sugar water mix (whether that is honey sugar or whatever) into a test tube, but make sure you always keep plain water at all times. For small colonies, you may simply get a small drop of your sugar substance and place it in the test tube/ out world with a skewer or something like that. Fruit also counts as a sugar source.

8. As much as they can consume. Watch your colony closely and when they are finished eating, take the food away. Roughly apply that much food the next time they seem hungry (cotton-pulling, ants in outworld) It really depends on your colony. That is where YOU must find that out. every genus and species, sometimes even colony, have roughly the same diets (with the exception of fungus growers and a few others I can't think of right now) but may consume more or less of their protein or sugar. For example, Lasius ants love sugar and may eat more sugar than other ants. This should not noticeably change the way you feed them, however.

10. Right now, I prefer buying from TarHeelAnts because I am just learning about how to make formicariums and outworlds. Once I get good at that, I will use homemade ant habitats. This is just my personal preference.

Edited by Nathant2131, December 31 2016 - 6:34 AM.

[Serafine]

1. What is your preferred way to kill insects before feeding them to your ants?
- Currently I boil them and freeze them, in the future I will only freeze them so the protein stays more accessible to the older ants.

2. Are all fruits and vegetables acceptable to feed your ants?
- That depends entirely on the species and the colony personality. I will try nuts and some fruits and either they gonna like it or not.

3. About how long does fluon last before it cannot be used any longer?
- That depends mostly on the air humidity. The more humid the setup is the quicker it will degrade. My setup is rather dry (arid land Camponotus) so I expect it to hold some months.

4. About how long does a fluon mix (15%-20% fluon, the rest water) last before it cannot be used any longer?
- My Fluon hasn't arrived yet.

5. What is your single favorite ant colony that you have owned?
- I only own one colony.

6. Is it okay to buy your feeder insects rather than breeding/raising them on your own.
- Why shouldn't it be? Of course you can make them more nutritious if you raise them on your own but not everyone can afford a cricket farm and a mealworm farm to supply the ants. Also most ants also take other protein sources like cooked meat, egg yolk, nuts, etc. and aren't entirely dependent on insects.

7. How do you give your ants the sugars that they need (honey, sugar water, homemade honeydew, etc.)?
- Currently honey and sometimes sugar water and marple syrup, simply placed as small drops.

8. How much do you feed a large colony per week?
- That also depends a lot on the species. Some ants (like fire ants) are voracious eaters while others don't eat so much.
My colony isn't very large yet but they have stored a lot of food (mostly fruit flies) at the dry cotton end of their tube.

9. How often do you add water to your sponge/nest to keep your ant colony's living space humid?
- My colony is in a test tube so far but the common rate seems to be about twice a week.

10. Do you prefer to make your own or to buy a formicarium/outworld?
- Partially. I bought the formicaria and two foraging boxes but intend to add my own foraging boxes as well (probably even with plants and aphids at some point).

Edited by Serafine, December 31 2016 - 9:22 AM.

[dspdrew]

1. What is your preferred way to kill insects before feeding them to your ants?

     I just smash their heads. I usually don't even need to kill them though, because when you buy crickets from the pet store, most of them are dead in a couple days anyway.

 

2. Are all fruits and vegetables acceptable to feed your ants?

     I don't know of any that aren't.

 

3. About how long does fluon last before it cannot be used any longer?

     It all depends how you store it and handle it.

 

4. About how long does a fluon mix (15%-20% fluon, the rest water) last before it cannot be used any longer?

     Longer than pure Fluon.

 

5. What is your single favorite ant colony that you have owned?

     Myrmecocystus mexicanus

 

6. Is it okay to buy your feeder insects rather than breeding/raising them on your own.

     Sure. Why wouldn't it be?

 

7. How do you give your ants the sugars that they need (honey, sugar water, homemade honeydew, etc.)?

     In a liquid feeder

 

8. How much do you feed a large colony per week?

     However much they want

 

9. How often do you add water to your sponge/nest to keep your ant colony's living space humid?

     My formicariums don't have sponges, they have tanks.

 

10. Do you prefer to make your own or to buy a formicarium/outworld?

     Make my own