dry cat food for ant?

Posts and questions relating to ant diet & nutrition. Let us know what you’re feeding your ants.

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raxsoller

dry cat food for ant?

Post: # 2118Post raxsoller
Tue Aug 11, 2015 7:20 pm

Im thinking what protein rich food I can give to my carebara colony. I have pet cats s I have plenty of supply of dry cat food. do you think this will work guys? :?:

jimhatman323

Re: dry cat food for ant?

Post: # 2119Post jimhatman323
Tue Aug 11, 2015 7:30 pm

I don't see why not. We keep our cat in our garage and ants from the yard are constantly in his food bowl. We use the dry food with the "tender centers" and the ants can not leave it alone. Try a little and check it out.

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larynx
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Re: dry cat food for ant?

Post: # 2123Post larynx
Tue Aug 11, 2015 8:02 pm

i cant say for any other sp. but my daughters pogonomyrmex sp. love cat food. i give them a couple of pieces here and there. what looks like they like the most, is when i put a couple of drops of honey/sugar water on the cat food, as it softens it. good luck. :D
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Carl75

Re: dry cat food for ant?

Post: # 2150Post Carl75
Wed Aug 12, 2015 2:04 am

You might need to add water or something to soften the dry cat food.

raxsoller

Re: dry cat food for ant?

Post: # 2152Post raxsoller
Wed Aug 12, 2015 3:09 am

thanks guys I will try it. :D

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Re: dry cat food for ant?

Post: # 2160Post antscanada
Wed Aug 12, 2015 7:27 am

Yes, it should work! Can't wait to see photos of the colony. Hope you can also journal about them because they are a notoriously hard species to keep, even for experienced ant keepers. I have failed twice to even get them to nanitics.
Ant Love Forever.

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ooper01
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Re: dry cat food for ant?

Post: # 2177Post ooper01
Wed Aug 12, 2015 12:21 pm

I have successfully fed my Formica ant colonies wet cat food, but in one nest which was especially humid/moist at the time, the cat food got moldy within a day or so. They just left it there for awhile, then covered it with little wood/bark chips that I had added as a substrate for them. After a few experiences like that, I let the cat food dry out a bit first prior to feeding it to them. This helped a little bit, but occasionally still got moldy. Perhaps I was feeding them too frequently or too much??
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raxsoller

Re: dry cat food for ant?

Post: # 2311Post raxsoller
Fri Aug 14, 2015 5:41 am

I give a piece. and look like they like it. the moment I put the food they pour and get it. but after few hour they leave the cat food. maybe they have enough so they just ignore it in the out world. well the colony is around 50 wokers.

LasiusAnts
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Re: dry cat food for ant?

Post: # 51671Post LasiusAnts
Mon Oct 01, 2018 5:34 am

Sorry for resurrecting a thread from the past.

I fed my ants (lasius niger) a piece of crushed dry cat food last night, and they've carried all the pieces back into their nest and are happily feeding it to the babies.

Has anyone had experience feeding ants cat food long term? I have an unlimited supply of cat food, so if they're happy with it I'm considering using it as a primary protein source and just adding insects when I find them running around the house.

The brand of cat food I'm using is Iams, which is 40% dried chicken/turkey.

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