10 replies to this topic

[Vendayn]

Well, I'll start with one that I know nearly every southern California ant likes. Okay, dunno about "every"...but...almost every one I tried.

 

Lets skip suggestions of honey and sugar and insects. They are rather automatically included. Every single ant obviously likes those. The point of this is for lesser known foods that every ant likes. And food that is hopefully cheap and easy to find (either in a store or online) that you'd think would be more widely used.

 

Quinoa (get a huge thing of it on Amazon for cheap)

 

Cheap and easy to get (better to buy on Amazon or if you have an asian food market near you that might work just as good), and you can even grow it really easily and its a beautiful wheat-plant. Buy a bunch, crush some up and feed to your ants and then plant some and get more. Mine grew to 5 feet tall before the stupid idiotic gardeners (yay for having to live in apartments run by robots) cut it down and then I moved.

 

In any case, Quinoa looks like a weed when it first grows so you aren't actually supposed to pick any plant until it grows bigger (otherwise a lot of people pull out the actual Quinoa). It grows REALLY quick and grows REALLY tall (I think up to 12 feet from what I recall). But the plant itself is very beautiful and produces a lot of seeds. Typically grows in higher altitudes, but I had no issue AT all growing it in an irrigated apartment (well, except for gardeners). It was really healthy and after only 1 or 2 months, was getting flower buds on it.

I plan to grow some again, plant some seeds tomorrow. I'll be planting them by a river where it doesn't look like any gardeners go. Gardeners here don't tend to hack away and dig up plants I plant though, I have a bunch in front of my place and they are always left alone.

 

 

 

Anyway, list of ant species that like it after its crushed

 

I'll list the obvious

 

Any Pheidole, any Pogonomyrmex, any Messor and any other seed eating species. So, automatically all harvesters. Quinoa is a seed so no point in listing ants that eat seeds for primary food source.

 

Now the actual list (all tested on wild colonies and watched them come out to get it):
Argentine ants love it, Forelius (pruinosus/mccooki) love it, Dorymyrmex (bicolor and insanus) love it, Brachymyrmex love it, Formica (two different species tested on) love it, Camponotus (tested on Camponotus hyatti) love it, Solenopsis (tested on S. aurea, S. xyloni, S. invicta) love it. For a even better test, I tried it on...the species name I can never remember, but it looks like an alien ant that nests in acasia trees (the red bushes in arid-land California) and they loved it. I tried it on Camponotus modoc up in northern California a few years back and they love it.

 

Only ant that ignored it was...was Hypoponera I think? Very small ant. I think that is the one. That one only eats centipedes. I however DID see one worker gather a piece, but it was mostly ignored...seeing one worker gather it I should have done more tests. But, I ran out of time as I moved. They didn't show nearly as much interest as the other ants in any case.

 

As a further test, I tried it with Subterranean termites and...they actually gathered it up and ate it too. I did it on I think arid-land Subterranean termites (or might have been Desert subterranean termites. I also tried it on Formosan subterranean termites). Both species really liked it, which I thought was strange as they only eat wood. Could need further tests, as it might depend how much wood is in an area and how hungry they are (or were in this case).

 

[drtrmiller]

I've got some quinoa pasta. I bought it when I was on a health food kick, once.

 

That stuff is disgusting.

[dean_k]

Anyone tried blood? Like pig blood found in Chinese markets.

[kellakk]

I plan to grow some again, plant some seeds tomorrow. I'll be planting them by a river where it doesn't look like any gardeners go. Gardeners here don't tend to hack away and dig up plants I plant though, I have a bunch in front of my place and they are always left alone.

 

Please don't introduce a plant in an area that it's not native to. If you do grow it, grow it in pots and collect all the seeds if possible so that people don't have to deal with a new invasive plant growing in your area.

[Vendayn]

I'm pretty sure farms introduce plants all the time. And, anyone growing anything in the yard is introducing plants. Since they can easily spread. Take my Jade plant...it spreads really easily even if it is just in a pot. Pieces break off all the time. Or backyard plants. The seeds spread. Just saying. My uncle (a police officer, so guess he can get away with things anyway) grew a passion vine in his yard and it spread all over. No one makes a big deal about that. All his neighbors loved him, cause the fruit was great. Plus, Quinoa can't grow in pots...its too big and the root system is huge. From what I read, it is impossible to grow in pots. So, people just grow them in their yards in California and other places (like I said, usually higher altitudes). Birds love the stuff and it attracts TONS of bees, butterflies and all kinds of things supposedly. Also, if I DID grow Quinoa in plants, it would still spread by wind and grow anyway.

 

And final argument: Every urban environment in california is NOT native. California (Southern) is a DESERT (though it changes to a rainforest sometimes over a period of many years). Yet everywhere I go I see no desert unless I get out of the city. So, it doesn't really matter in the end. All the plants in my apartment complex definitely aren't native to California. Or most other urban housing/apartment areas...almost no one has any native plants. If they did, I'd be really happy...less Argentine ants.

 

In any case...Quinoa seeds actually taste really good with spinach and lettuce. I never tried paste though, so no idea about that. Then again, it is an unique flavor so not everyone might like it...or paste might be disgusting. Its mostly good with salads and stuff.

 

(edit: Actually, I remember reading quinoa paste actually tasted really gross to most people. More of an unique flavor I guess. The seeds themselves taste good to me though.)

Edited by Vendayn, January 25 2015 - 11:02 PM.

[Vendayn]

I plan to grow lettuce and stuff too. But, I have a feeling I'll be feeding the animals and insects more than me.

[kellakk]

I'm pretty sure farms introduce plants all the time. And, anyone growing anything in the yard is introducing plants. Since they can easily spread. Take my Jade plant...it spreads really easily even if it is just in a pot. Pieces break off all the time. Or backyard plants. The seeds spread. Just saying. My uncle (a police officer, so guess he can get away with things anyway) grew a passion vine in his yard and it spread all over. No one makes a big deal about that. All his neighbors loved him, cause the fruit was great. Plus, Quinoa can't grow in pots...its too big and the root system is huge. From what I read, it is impossible to grow in plants. So, people just grow them in their yards in California and other places (like I said, usually higher altitudes). Birds love the stuff and it attracts TONS of bees, butterflies and all kinds of things supposedly. Also, if I DID grow Quinoa in plants, it would still spread by wind and grow anyway.

 

And final argument: Every urban environment in california is NOT native. California (Southern) is a DESERT (though it changes to a rainforest sometimes over a period of many years). Yet everywhere I go I see no desert unless I get out of the city. So, it doesn't really matter in the end. All the plants in my apartment complex definitely aren't native to California. Or most other urban housing/apartment areas...almost no one has any native plants. If they did, I'd be really happy...less Argentine ants.

 

First of all, California is NOT all desert, but quite varied in the habitats that it contains.  Much of the urbanized areas were once either sage scrub, oak woodland, or chaparral. Second, the problem lies in the requirements for growth of what you're planting.  If you planted quinoa in your yard away from a naturally occurring stream or creek, there's no problem.  Most ornamental/crop plants need a lot more water than naturally falls here. But if you plant something that easily spreads in a naturally riparian habitat, you'e just looking for problems.  We already have enough invasive plants here in CA to deal with.

[Vendayn]

Heh, well in any case. Nothing in this apartment complex is native. Even the river, all the plants that the apartments planted...ended up taking over the river anyway. And not that many houses keep native plants. There are some who keep a native california habitat, but most houses here keep exotic plants. And I doubt a native habitat consists of huge businesses, irrigation everywhere and non-native plants all over the place.

 

The others who grow it in california find it attracts lots of birds and insects (even bats) to it   Plus I guess ants like it a lot.

 

In any case...quinoa does taste gross to a lot of people. So, guess it depends person to person. I find TONS of ants LOVE it though.

[kellakk]

I've eaten quinoa, it isn't anything special but isn't exactly gross.  But if the ants love it, they can have it.

[Foogoo]

Quinoa salad that's seasoned right isn't bad. Never thought of trying it with ants though! They didn't seem to touch the wildflower mix, nyjer seeds or poppy seeds, but have dragged the Kentucky Bluegrass off.

[Vendayn]

Yeah. quinoa salad is good...but, the flavor (at least to me) is best when its mixed with spinach (at least cold) and ranch mixed together. Not so much anything else. I almost never have any ants refuse the stuff. I think only ones that did so far, have actually surprisingly been my old Pheidole megacephala colony which only ate insects and honey (nothing else). So, guess not ALL Pheidole, or was just this particular colony. They were surprisingly picky from what I read of them.