The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Jadeninja9 wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 03, 2017 1:42 pm

What about mealworms and crickets? You could freeze then cut them up into tiny pieces.

I could, but I have no way of providing myself with them... maybe buying already dead mealworms could work, but I don't think I will be able to buy

Ok what if you got a black light bug zapper and got the dead bugs and fed them to your ant colonies

Jadeninja9 wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 04, 2017 7:51 pm

Ok what if you got a black light bug zapper and got the dead bugs and fed them to your ant colonies

Yeah I also thought of killing bugs to feed them, but then I thought they could have certain diseases or pesticides my ants could get and die, but I will try it

Ok

Try boiled egg yolk and cooked chicken.
Also frozen spiders work well. And no, most of them do NOT have mites and if they do a few days in the freezer is usually enough to kill them. Yes, mites can survive extremely low temperatures but only if the transition is slow - just like Camponotus herculeanus can survive -30°C yet they will die at -5°C if you throw them in the freezer on a hot summer day.
Pesticides could be an issue but only if they are heavily used in your area.
You could also ask a friendly bee keeper if he's giving you the pupae/larvae when he cuts his bee brood (they gonna throw them away anyway), these are superb ant food.

Serafine wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 05, 2017 2:14 am

Try boiled egg yolk and cooked chicken.
Also frozen spiders work well. And no, most of them do NOT have mites and if they do a few days in the freezer is usually enough to kill them. Yes, mites can survive extremely low temperatures but only if the transition is slow - just like Camponotus herculeanus can survive -30°C yet they will die at -5°C if you throw them in the freezer on a hot summer day.
Pesticides could be an issue but only if they are heavily used in your area.
You could also ask a friendly bee keeper if he's giving you the pupae/larvae when he cuts his bee brood (they gonna throw them away anyway), these are superb ant food.

Thanks. I can try the egg yolk and the chicken. I havent seen many spiders around so I will have to look for them. Pesticides haven't been used for a very long time like a year or two. I am the only one that is into insect keeping so I have no friends or known people that raise bees.

Yestordsd287 wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 05, 2017 8:29 am

Serafine wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 05, 2017 2:14 am

Try boiled egg yolk and cooked chicken.
Also frozen spiders work well. And no, most of them do NOT have mites and if they do a few days in the freezer is usually enough to kill them. Yes, mites can survive extremely low temperatures but only if the transition is slow - just like Camponotus herculeanus can survive -30°C yet they will die at -5°C if you throw them in the freezer on a hot summer day.
Pesticides could be an issue but only if they are heavily used in your area.
You could also ask a friendly bee keeper if he's giving you the pupae/larvae when he cuts his bee brood (they gonna throw them away anyway), these are superb ant food.

Thanks. I can try the egg yolk and the chicken. I havent seen many spiders around so I will have to look for them. Pesticides haven't been used for a very long time like a year or two. I am the only one that is into insect keeping so I have no friends or known people that raise bees.

How big should the spiders be? And can I use spiders with skinny legs that don't look very big?

This may be off topic but does anyone know how to post anything because I only know how to reply to other posts. I also keep getting private messages but don't know how to reply to them.
let me know how I can do this.

This may be off topic but does anyone know how to post anything because I only know how to reply to other posts. I also keep getting private messages but don't know how to reply to them.
let me know how I can do this.

Serafine wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 05, 2017 2:14 am

How big should the spiders be? And can I use spiders with skinny legs that don't look very big?

This is anecdotal because I'm still new at this. I live near a lake and we have midge flies everywhere. Every time I open my front door, the ones hanging out on it try and get in so I've been feeding them to my ants. They pick off the legs, wings and antennae and drag just the body back. I'd imagine Opiliones (small body, long leg bugs that look like spiders such as "daddy long-legs" and "harvestmen") would be fine but i don't think there would be much to eat. I could be wrong though. Maybe because their legs are slightly thicker than that of a flies, they could be packed with tons of food for the ants (much like how we do everything in our power to suck out every bit of meat from a grab or lobster leg)