Ants not eating any food PLEASE HELP

Questions from those who are just starting or considering getting into the ant keeping hobby. If you’re intimidated or confused by the in-depth posts of the other sections of this forum, feel free to post here, and we'll start from square one!

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Bugann14
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2022 11:22 am
Location: Florida

Ants not eating any food PLEASE HELP

Post: # 96761Post Bugann14
Tue Sep 27, 2022 5:33 am

I have a Carpenter ant colony (specifically Camponotus floridanus) and I have had them for about three years now. I used to feed them thawed crickets (since I don’t think they’d be able to take down a live one) and they ate those for a while until, well, they stopped. I also gave them honey in their outworld, and they seemed to really like that too, and then of course, one day they stopped eating that and whenever I offered it to them they just put sand over it. The colony is pretty small, probably only 50 workers when it used to be over 100. I have tried everything! Feeder roaches (dead of course) crushed super worms, crushed meal worms, cooked shrimp, cooked chicken, steak, jam, and some fruit. They would take one sniff at it and just leave it in their outworld and they wouldn’t touch it. This is a problem I have been having for well over a year now and I have no idea what to do! I also live in south Florida where the winters rarely get below 40 degrees, so it’s not like they hibernate, and this is an all-year round issue too.

SolenopsisKeeper
Posts: 2402
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:41 am
Location: United States, Florida

Re: Ants not eating any food PLEASE HELP

Post: # 96769Post SolenopsisKeeper
Tue Sep 27, 2022 11:18 am

Bugann14 wrote:
Tue Sep 27, 2022 5:33 am
I have a Carpenter ant colony (specifically Camponotus floridanus) and I have had them for about three years now. I used to feed them thawed crickets (since I don’t think they’d be able to take down a live one) and they ate those for a while until, well, they stopped. I also gave them honey in their outworld, and they seemed to really like that too, and then of course, one day they stopped eating that and whenever I offered it to them they just put sand over it. The colony is pretty small, probably only 50 workers when it used to be over 100. I have tried everything! Feeder roaches (dead of course) crushed super worms, crushed meal worms, cooked shrimp, cooked chicken, steak, jam, and some fruit. They would take one sniff at it and just leave it in their outworld and they wouldn’t touch it. This is a problem I have been having for well over a year now and I have no idea what to do! I also live in south Florida where the winters rarely get below 40 degrees, so it’s not like they hibernate, and this is an all-year round issue too.
Sure you dont have C. deceipens? How big is the queen? Do they have alates?
When you accidentally reply to yourself…

Bugann14
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2022 11:22 am
Location: Florida

Re: Ants not eating any food PLEASE HELP

Post: # 96826Post Bugann14
Thu Sep 29, 2022 11:09 am

You’re right! That’s weird because the person I got them from said they were C. Floridanus but I guess they aren’t! And no, they don’t have alates, the odd thing is, I don’t think they ever have. So, what does this mean? Do they have a different diet? I just need them to eat and grow larger in size because I have been concerned about it for awhile now.

SolenopsisKeeper
Posts: 2402
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:41 am
Location: United States, Florida

Re: Ants not eating any food PLEASE HELP

Post: # 96864Post SolenopsisKeeper
Sun Oct 02, 2022 9:45 pm

Bugann14 wrote:
Thu Sep 29, 2022 11:09 am
You’re right! That’s weird because the person I got them from said they were C. Floridanus but I guess they aren’t! And no, they don’t have alates, the odd thing is, I don’t think they ever have. So, what does this mean? Do they have a different diet? I just need them to eat and grow larger in size because I have been concerned about it for awhile now.
Crickets would get alates if deceipens, but try heat and a larger living space
When you accidentally reply to yourself…

Bugann14
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2022 11:22 am
Location: Florida

Re: Ants not eating any food PLEASE HELP

Post: # 96972Post Bugann14
Sun Oct 09, 2022 8:04 am

I will definitely try this :) thank you for helping me out!

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