Ants are no longer eating.

Questions from those who are just starting or considering getting into the ant keeping hobby. If you’re intimidated or confused by the in-depth posts of the other sections of this forum, feel free to post here, and we'll start from square one!

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Synedge

Ants are no longer eating.

Post: # 16623Post Synedge
Wed Feb 01, 2017 10:36 pm

My solenopsis geminata colony had about 75 - 150 workers. They won't eat anything now and are starting to die out real quick. Seen about 40 of them dead already.

What could be the problem?

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shaky33
Posts: 161
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2016 4:19 am
Location: Melbourne Victoria
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Re: Ants are no longer eating.

Post: # 16624Post shaky33
Wed Feb 01, 2017 11:20 pm

Synedge wrote:My solenopsis geminata colony had about 75 - 150 workers. They won't eat anything now and are starting to die out real quick. Seen about 40 of them dead already.

What could be the problem?
Could it be some sort of mites.
- Rhytidoponera metallica
- Camponotus consobrinus x2
- **** sp.
- Nylanderia sp.
- Melaphorus sp.
- Camponotus cairns
- Crematogaster sp.
- Colobopsis sp.
- Myrmecia nigrocinta
- Iridomyrmex purpureus
- Camponotus eastwoodi

Martialis
Posts: 1576
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2016 5:30 pm
Location: Indiana

Re: Ants are no longer eating.

Post: # 16630Post Martialis
Thu Feb 02, 2017 6:14 am

Are you providing protein and sugar?
Keeper of

Selliing:

Synedge

Re: Ants are no longer eating.

Post: # 16637Post Synedge
Thu Feb 02, 2017 10:53 am

No sign of any mites.

Yes. Tried giving mealworms, crickets, leftover chicken, smeared honey on foil, drop of honey, honey water and sugar water in a test tube. Nothing is working.

KingKyle26

Re: Ants are no longer eating.

Post: # 16641Post KingKyle26
Thu Feb 02, 2017 12:35 pm

If they're not eating maybe they just aren't hungry. Give them constant access to food so they they can eat when they want

Serafine

Re: Ants are no longer eating.

Post: # 16643Post Serafine
Thu Feb 02, 2017 4:30 pm

Do they have enough moisture and is the temperature high enough? They're tropical ants that don't do well if its too cold.

Synedge

Re: Ants are no longer eating.

Post: # 16644Post Synedge
Thu Feb 02, 2017 4:40 pm

That might be the issue. Its been really cold here the past weeks days.

Any idea what i should do?

Serafine

Re: Ants are no longer eating.

Post: # 16652Post Serafine
Thu Feb 02, 2017 7:28 pm

Heat them.
Doesn't really matter if it's a heating cable, a heat mat or a heat lamp.
For the time being you can place their setup close to a heater, just be careful they don't get too warm.

AxeSantero

Re: Ants are no longer eating.

Post: # 16653Post AxeSantero
Thu Feb 02, 2017 8:52 pm

Get a thermometer and keep the nest between 80 - 82 degrees (F). Even a meat thermometer will do. Anything below that will slow their growth. Mid 70s to high 60s is WAY too cold for them (although perfect for us).

Synedge

Re: Ants are no longer eating.

Post: # 16654Post Synedge
Thu Feb 02, 2017 9:34 pm

Alrighty, going to head to walmart and get a heating pad. Check back with you guys and see how it goes.

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