The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

I want to start keeping ants but I have a problem with feeding them. I realize that ants need a source of sugar (fruit) and protein (bugs). I will have trouble with the protein part,
though. My mom won't have me keeping gross insects to feed to my ants unless it's absolutely necessary, so I was wondering if there is any sort of "ant food" I could feed to the ants as a protein alternative. I also saw Mikey's video on the crazy things ants do for sugar, and saw him feed a chocolate bar to his fire ant colony, I was wondering if it would be suitable for a beginner colony

FlameofOsiris wrote:I want to start keeping ants but I have a problem with feeding them. I realize that ants need a source of sugar (fruit) and protein (bugs). I will have trouble with the protein part,
though. My mom won't have me keeping gross insects to feed to my ants unless it's absolutely necessary, so I was wondering if there is any sort of "ant food" I could feed to the ants as a protein alternative. I also saw Mikey's video on the crazy things ants do for sugar, and saw him feed a chocolate bar to his fire ant colony, I was wondering if it would be suitable for a beginner colony

This isn't main food, but a *****: https://tarheelants.com/products/the-complete-ant-juice-ant-food-*****.

Alright, wet dog and cat food.
Also, my mom woudn't care about having to buy superworms once in a while, those are less gross and ones she could live with if one or two get out.

I think most ants won't say no to cooked meat either (especially species like Tetramorium or some Lasius that are used to scavenge the waysides for human food leftovers).
I wonder if ants would eat (half)cooked eggs/egg yolk...

Mine eat or use to eat omelette or scrambled eggs them they had enough for a while.lol

This is also an option for you. I've taken the suggestion to use cat food chicken rather than food grade chicken due to reduced sodium. This is really only meant to be a temporary substitute so I don't really know what the long term ramifications of using it constantly would be. I use this when I am going to be put of town and need someone to feed my colony and don't trust them to prep a cricket. I've found idiot proofing it for them works best.

http://www.formiculture.com/topic/964-chromerusts-ant-food-recipe-and-ant-feeding-video/

You could just buy one of those fishing nets, go outside and run true some grass.
Then u can just catch what you need, and you don't have to keep them inside.

Just be careful with mites and stuff!

Feeding off wild insects is ill-advised in areas where pesticide usage is common.

What I did was I bought a container of live crickets (They are more nutritious than super worms) And then I froze them in doubled up zip loc baggies to kill them. When my colony needs one, I pop one out, break it into three pieces and stick it in their outworld.