odontomachus diet

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

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Yestordsd287

odontomachus diet

Post: # 20851Post Yestordsd287
Tue May 09, 2017 2:34 pm

hello!
i have an Odontomachus queen and because she is semi-claustral she goes and hunts. ive tryed feeding her honey but she barely eats it. i tryed giving her half a pre-killed super small baby roach, but she scooted away with a lot of fear. i tried a couple of small beetles, same reaction. i was woried because this species eats during the founding stages. she is about 4 days in my test tube. someone help me with how to feed her and what to feed her.
Image

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

Re: odontomachus diet

Post: # 20857Post Martialis
Tue May 09, 2017 3:57 pm

Don't feed her in tube. She needs an outworld and if she's like many other predatory ants, feed her small soft bodied arthropods live.
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Yestordsd287

Re: odontomachus diet

Post: # 20872Post Yestordsd287
Tue May 09, 2017 6:41 pm

Martialis wrote:
Tue May 09, 2017 3:57 pm
Don't feed her in tube. She needs an outworld and if she's like many other predatory ants, feed her small soft bodied arthropods live.
So i put her in the improvised outworld i have and give he anthropods like termite workers or queens? Which are better? Can i get like some examples?

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

Re: odontomachus diet

Post: # 20882Post Martialis
Tue May 09, 2017 7:06 pm

They both should work just fine. Just make sure no soldiers are put in with her. At first, the termite workers should be better.
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Yestordsd287

Re: odontomachus diet

Post: # 20885Post Yestordsd287
Tue May 09, 2017 7:10 pm

Martialis wrote:
Tue May 09, 2017 7:06 pm
They both should work just fine. Just make sure no soldiers are put in with her. At first, the termite workers should be better.
ok can you help me with how to catch out worker termites for the queen, because today i caught a termite queen on my bacony. and just if you know can you give me some tips on how to keep termites to give them to my queen...

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

Re: odontomachus diet

Post: # 20888Post Martialis
Tue May 09, 2017 7:27 pm

To be honest, I've never kept termites. Your best bet would be to put that termite queen with any other termite alate you see running around in some sort of container that has rotting wood in it.(Unlike ants, termites found colonies with both a male and female.) That way, you'd have a "termite farm" to feed to any ants you have. Right now, you can try looking under, around, or inside a rotting log or wooden structure.

Nests can be under these or even in trees, like this one photographed in Mexico. (Photo credits:Wikipedia)
Image

These shelter tubes are another form of nest built by termites.
Image\

The termite worker caste appears like this:
Image

Look out for soldiers (Some of which can spray formic acid!) which look similar but can be distinguished via larger mandibles and/or different coloring on their heads.
Image

Here's a chart, just for good measure.
Image
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Yestordsd287

Re: odontomachus diet

Post: # 20890Post Yestordsd287
Tue May 09, 2017 7:59 pm

Martialis wrote:
Tue May 09, 2017 7:27 pm
To be honest, I've never kept termites. Your best bet would be to put that termite queen with any other termite alate you see running around in some sort of container that has rotting wood in it.(Unlike ants, termites found colonies with both a male and female.) That way, you'd have a "termite farm" to feed to any ants you have. Right now, you can try looking under, around, or inside a rotting log or wooden structure.

Nests can be under these or even in trees, like this one photographed in Mexico. (Photo credits:Wikipedia)
Image

These shelter tubes are another form of nest built by termites.
Image\

The termite worker caste appears like this:
Image

Look out for soldiers (Some of which can spray formic acid!) which look similar but can be distinguished via larger mandibles and/or different coloring on their heads.
Image

Here's a chart, just for good measure.
Image
thank you

FloridAnt
Posts: 83
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:39 pm
Location: Naples FL

Re: odontomachus diet

Post: # 22218Post FloridAnt
Fri Jun 02, 2017 10:31 am

Just like Martialis said put her in a soil setup mines didn't do well in test tube setup either. I've found odontomachus drink honey in large amounts and go long periods without a need for more. Something else I've observed in this species/genus (I'm not good a remembering taxonomy :oops: ) that leave them alone for a while and when you see her looking in the outworld offer her small soft body insects doesn't have to be small as fruit flys or alive(mines has taken roaches and tree crickets 6mm) and honey it's also best to do to do this at night

Yestordsd287

Re: odontomachus diet

Post: # 22219Post Yestordsd287
Fri Jun 02, 2017 10:38 am

FloridAnt wrote:
Fri Jun 02, 2017 10:31 am
Just like Martialis said put her in a soil setup mines didn't do well in test tube setup either. I've found odontomachus drink honey in large amounts and go long periods without a need for more. Something else I've observed in this species/genus (I'm not good a remembering taxonomy :oops: ) that leave them alone for a while and when you see her looking in the outworld offer her small soft body insects doesn't have to be small as fruit flys or alive(mines has taken roaches and tree crickets 6mm) and honey it's also best to do to do this at night
thank you

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

Re: odontomachus diet

Post: # 22254Post Martialis
Fri Jun 02, 2017 9:54 pm

Speaking of which- how's she doing? I find trap jaws pretty interesting.
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