Food?

[LearningAntz]

Would ants be able to live on just vegetables? Or would they need meat as well? Also, do you absolutely HAVE to feed insects such as crickets and cockroaches to ants? Or can you just feed them cooked chicken? Because that I have no problem with.. I’ve just been a bit icky around cockroaches...

[idahoantgirl]

Would ants be able to live on just vegetables? Or would they need meat as well? Also, do you absolutely HAVE to feed insects such as crickets and cockroaches to ants? Or can you just feed them cooked chicken? Because that I have no problem with.. I’ve just been a bit icky around cockroaches...

Ok, so ants don't eat vegetables. ( I mean I guess they might accept it, but its not what they need to live on.) Ants need two food things to survive: Sugar, and protein. Sugar is needed to keep the workers alive, and protein is needed to keep the brood alive and grow the colony. you cant have just sugar and no protein, and you also cant have protein and no sugar. Sugar is easy. Honey water/ sugar water/ maple syrup/corn syrup/ fruit slices all work well. It should be in liquid form as workers do not have the chewing parts to break down granulated sugar. For protein, yes, it is highly recommended that your ant's main source of protein be insects. You can ***** with cooked meats, but their main source should be insects. I find that the least gross way to give them insects is to buy a thing of mealworms, freeze them to kill them, store them in the freezer, and then when your ants need food, take some tweezers, pull one out, take some scissors (its wise to have some scissors used only for ant keeping handy.) and cut it up into a couple pieces to make it easier for the ants to access the goodies.I then drop the pieces of mealworms into a bottle cap. they make great food dishes.
Hope I helped!

[LearningAntz]

Would ants be able to live on just vegetables? Or would they need meat as well? Also, do you absolutely HAVE to feed insects such as crickets and cockroaches to ants? Or can you just feed them cooked chicken? Because that I have no problem with.. I’ve just been a bit icky around cockroaches...

Ok, so ants don't eat vegetables. ( I mean I guess they might accept it, but its not what they need to live on.) Ants need two food things to survive: Sugar, and protein. Sugar is needed to keep the workers alive, and protein is needed to keep the brood alive and grow the colony. you cant have just sugar and no protein, and you also cant have protein and no sugar. Sugar is easy. Honey water/ sugar water/ maple syrup/corn syrup/ fruit slices all work well. It should be in liquid form as workers do not have the chewing parts to break down granulated sugar. For protein, yes, it is highly recommended that your ant's main source of protein be insects. You can ***** with cooked meats, but their main source should be insects. I find that the least gross way to give them insects is to buy a thing of mealworms, freeze them to kill them, store them in the freezer, and then when your ants need food, take some tweezers, pull one out, take some scissors (its wise to have some scissors used only for ant keeping handy.) and cut it up into a couple pieces to make it easier for the ants to access the goodies.I then drop the pieces of mealworms into a bottle cap. they make great food dishes.
Hope I helped!

Thanks so much! You really helped. )

[LearningAntz]

Just one more question, sorry. If chicken has about the same amount of protein as mealworms? Why is it better to feed mealworms? (Sorry I may be annoying..)