9 replies to this topic

[Saltynuts]

Have a few solenapsis invicta small colonies. Tons of these ant hills in the wild walking distance from my house. Easy enough to take a few workers out of these from time to time, probably eggs to. Figured I could grab a few, throw them in the refrigerator a bit to they will slow down and not put up a fight, then drop them in my existing colonies for food. As a bonus the colonies might take the eggs and add them to their brood for faster growth?

But do ants have the protein other and can use? I think it's the hemolymph the ants really need to eat - do ants themselves have this?

Thanks!

[Runner12]

I wouldn't feed any hymenopterans, that is ants, bees, or wasps, to them. I have wiped out a colony before by doing this and accidentally introducing disease

[VoidElecent]

I wouldn't recommend it for several reasons, mostly because I love ants and I would hate to see them suffer. If you wish to feed wild ants to your colonies, I would make sure the ants are invasive so you're not impacting the local environment too much, and sanitize them throughly (boil, freeze) to get rid of any unwanted diseases or parasites. Even then, such a large percentage of an ant is exoskeleton (chiton, I believe), it may not even be a worthwhile protein source; I'd recommend going with something more juicer.

[ctantkeeper]

If you attempt to do so, I would recommend using larvae and pupae as long as you check them for mites / other exoparasites and make sure that they don't belong to the same genus as the ants you are feeding them to. also make sure to only collect from reliable, pesticide-free locations and to leave structures such as rocks and logs as you originally found them after collecting in an effort to not kill the colonies that you had collected brood from (also make sure not to collect too much brood from any particular colony). Practicing safe collection habits will ensure that you will be able to return to the same spot multiple times in search of brood.

[Saltynuts]

Thanks guys!  Ctantkeeper, why do you recommend making sure they are not from the same genus as the ants I am feeding them to?  All I ever see around here are the ants i have - solenopsis invicta.  And why only larvae and pupae - is that because they are the ones that are jucier?  

 

Thanks!

[Batspiderfish]

I would say that the most sensible thing to do would be to freeze Solenopsis invicta brood, since there will never be any negative ecological impact for wrecking those colonies.

[Loops117]

Thanks guys!  Ctantkeeper, why do you recommend making sure they are not from the same genus as the ants I am feeding them to?  All I ever see around here are the ants i have - solenopsis invicta.  And why only larvae and pupae - is that because they are the ones that are jucier?  

 

Thanks!

 

Brood usually has more stored up protein than that of an adult ant. They also pose less threat to your captive colony as they have absolutely zero defenses, not to mention you can collect 200 pieces of brood much easier and fast then 20 workers.

Also, you have to invoke your ants into attacking an outsider which isn't always easy. I'm not sure if you've tried this yet, but some species won't fight and would rather run, regardless if they're surrounded by their sisters. I commonly find ants trying to break into my captive colonies through a lid or water port. I capture them and put them in the outworld they're trying oh so hard to break in to. (sometimes to my other predatory bugs). 

Rarely will my ants engage with the outside ants unless they make their way into the nest, which usually ends in death only. This always results in more issues as the wild species is in a frantic run trying to escape the box they've entered that WREAKS like the enemy. Now you have your captive colony in a frenzy trying to figure out what's happening, and possibly triggering more panic within the nest. You can freeze the ants, but now you're only doing it to feed ants to ants. There's more risk than benefits to feeding ants to ants rather than to feed a crickets to ants.You run risk of crossing some outside disease to your captive raised colony. You run the risk of causing your ants to gas themselves. You run the risk of losing workers. And to top it off, they'll prolly kill the ants and leave without consuming any part of it's body.

[Saltynuts]

Thanks Loops117!  You mention being able to capture 200 pieces of brood much easier than 20 workers.  How do you collect the brood so easy?  Whenever I kick into a solenapsis invicta any nest deep enough where I can see brood, there are tons of worker ants everywhere, and they instantly start moving the brood underground.  I could scoop up some brood pretty easy, but with each scoop I'll get tons of worker ants with it (which workers will do their darndest to attack me haha).  And within less than a minute most of the brood will be moved underground again, so I have to repeat the process (not a problem from my perspective).  If you know of a better method to get the brood that would be amazing.  Thanks!

[Loops117]

Your best bet would be to use an aspirator, and get crafty. Considering you're collecting RIFA brood, you're going to want to do it as quick as possible, and as least invasive as possible. You're also going to want to be able to come back to the colony and collect more, correct? Best bet would be to place some large paver bricks or stones around a nest. You can dig a small hole about half the height of the small boulder or large rock. Pour about a half liter-2 liters of water in the holes depending on size and place the object over the hole. Come back on a sunny day and lift your paver or rock. The brood will be neatly layered directly under the rocks to absorb heat. This is ideal as they're you'll have an easier chance at scooping mostly brood. You also could get lucky and find the queen under their as well.

[Saltynuts]

Wow, thanks so much Loops!  So to be clear, I pour a good bunch of water into a hole I make in the very top of the nest.  Place a brick into that hole, pressing a down a good bit so it is a good bit embedded.  Come back, let's say the next morning, late morning, when the air and thus the brick has heated up a bit after the colder night.  There should be brood under there to scoop up.  Does that sound about right?  Definitely going to try this.  Thanks!