Raw honey, bad for ants?

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

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CampoKing
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2018 1:20 pm
Location: Colorado

Re: Raw honey, bad for ants?

Post: # 46115Post CampoKing
Mon Jul 30, 2018 10:53 am

Yeah I'm referring to the real stuff, the kind of maple syrup you get from Canada or Vermont. Most cheaper stuff is just a lot of corn syrup mixed in. Might be more pricey, but ants will take a long while to go through that, so it works out.
Keeper of Camponotus:
C. pennsylvanicus, C. subbarbatus, C. nearcticus

MorbidBugg
Posts: 284
Joined: Wed Jul 04, 2018 10:11 pm
Location: Orangeville

Re: Raw honey, bad for ants?

Post: # 46953Post MorbidBugg
Wed Aug 08, 2018 3:05 pm

PwnerPie wrote:
Mon Jul 30, 2018 10:41 am
CampoKing wrote:
Sat Jul 28, 2018 1:38 pm
Ok I'm definitely hopping on this topic because I just did massive research into the safety of honey for ants.

My conclusion: Don't use honey. Use maple syrup.

Here's why. Honey has more stuff in it than just sugar. It also has very low water content, so it will dehydrate ants when fed directly. The honey can and probably will have dormant bacteria or other pathogens in it, and that's one reason why there's a warning label on most honey to not feed it to kids under a certain age. Since bees and ants are both insects, it's likely that any pathogens carried by bees (and getting in their honey) will affect ants negatively, including killing them. There are documented cases of some ant species being carriers of chronic bee paralysis virus. It's not impossible that bees are also carriers of things dangerous to ants. Honey is so dry because nothing can grow in it, allowing it to keep fresh basically forever. But when you add water, it can quickly spoil because of the things waiting in it for the right growing conditions.

I recommend maple syrup for one very simple reason: it's basically tree sap. What do ants do in the wild all day when crawling up trees? Collecting tree sap (or closely related aphid honeydew). It makes much more sense to use syrup instead of honey, since syrup is pretty much what ants naturally eat anyway.

Hope that helps everyone.
Quick question. By "maple syrup" i assume you are referring to the really expensive stuff or the regular $2 giant bottle of it?
As a former compound mixer for a large unnamed corporation, allow me. the two dollar bottle is full of essentially heavily processed chemicals that are measured and remixed and poured into the bottle. While there is quality control it is given a leway amount as to what's passable. This may be insignificant to us humans who by and large require lots of chemicals to affect us however ants would be different. I'd honestly check the ingredients if it lists a chemical you're unsure about search online for the sds and find out what it is. Maple syrup (which is expensive unless you love somewhere you can make you're own or a group) is tree sap and is essentially processed plant sugars and as long as the trees have never been sprayed with ant toxins (most places that do maple syrup making in the spring are usually set up in animal sanctuary/ conservation zones so are generally protected from that stuff) is the best option in theory next to tending aphids or growing a maple tree and doing it yourself the plus side rhe expensive bottle if used ONLY for your ants should last almost until the Next year's harvest.
Ants are life's most successful invaders. Understand and respect that power.

Darwinism
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:07 am
Location: Saintpete fl usa

Re: Raw honey, bad for ants?

Post: # 53426Post Darwinism
Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:16 am

Honey is a natural antibiotic and therefore cant carry dieses and actually helps keep your colony healthy. And also most maple syrup isnt actually made from tree sap and has a ***** load of chemicals. Ant keepers all over the world have been feeding their ants honey for decades and ants have been raiding hives in the wild for lord knows how long. But at last thats just my two cents on the topic

PAants
Posts: 34
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:46 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Re: Raw honey, bad for ants?

Post: # 53434Post PAants
Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:50 pm

Doesn't Mikey recommend raw honey in one of his videos, because the ants are less likely to drown?

PwnerPie
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Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2018 5:59 pm
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Raw honey, bad for ants?

Post: # 53522Post PwnerPie
Fri Nov 09, 2018 3:03 pm

PAants wrote:
Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:50 pm
Doesn't Mikey recommend raw honey in one of his videos, because the ants are less likely to drown?
He does, thats why i used it. But i will never touch the stuff again for my ants. Caused death in multiple colonies, and it was organic.
Keeper of:
1x Formica Pacifica
2x Camponotus Modoc
1x Tetramorium Immigrans
2x Lasius Sp

Founding:
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PAants
Posts: 34
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:46 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Re: Raw honey, bad for ants?

Post: # 53550Post PAants
Sun Nov 11, 2018 4:36 pm

PwnerPie wrote:
Fri Nov 09, 2018 3:03 pm
PAants wrote:
Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:50 pm
Doesn't Mikey recommend raw honey in one of his videos, because the ants are less likely to drown?
He does, thats why i used it. But i will never touch the stuff again for my ants. Caused death in multiple colonies, and it was organic.
I suppose it could vary quite a bit depending on the source of the honey.

Hunter36o
Posts: 376
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 9:57 am
Location: Dublin, Ireland

Re: Raw honey, bad for ants?

Post: # 54739Post Hunter36o
Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:38 am

Considering honey is the go too. I would stop blaming the honey as a whole and question the product you used in the first place. Could have been a bad batch, it could have been compromised during transport. As mentioned my many about. Ant do eat honey on a regular basis and there are times of vids of ants raiding and taking over bee hives. They like honey.

I would bet that the honey you gave your ants was just in a bad way. I would advise using a different brand and a smaller drop.

Do not forget. You took your ants out of the wild when it was just a queen. Your colony is cleaner than wild ants and are not exposed to much other then their nest and what you provide. This means their immune systems do not match the ones of wild ants who, since day one have been fighting off god knows what which build the colony's over all immunity.
Research is important before during and even after you have established a colony. There is always time to learn and to listen to others experiences. Live by this and your ants will thrive. Fail to do so and your experience may be brief.

PwnerPie
Posts: 105
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2018 5:59 pm
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Raw honey, bad for ants?

Post: # 55785Post PwnerPie
Fri Feb 08, 2019 1:54 pm

Hunter36o wrote:
Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:38 am
Considering honey is the go too. I would stop blaming the honey as a whole and question the product you used in the first place. Could have been a bad batch, it could have been compromised during transport. As mentioned my many about. Ant do eat honey on a regular basis and there are times of vids of ants raiding and taking over bee hives. They like honey.

I would bet that the honey you gave your ants was just in a bad way. I would advise using a different brand and a smaller drop.

Do not forget. You took your ants out of the wild when it was just a queen. Your colony is cleaner than wild ants and are not exposed to much other then their nest and what you provide. This means their immune systems do not match the ones of wild ants who, since day one have been fighting off god knows what which build the colony's over all immunity.
Solid point. I dont know if I could ever bring myself to feed it to them again. My ants do so well with regular honey, the raw stuff scares me now. =(
Keeper of:
1x Formica Pacifica
2x Camponotus Modoc
1x Tetramorium Immigrans
2x Lasius Sp

Founding:
3x Lasius Sp
2x Formica Argentea
2x Myrmica Rubra

GAN Farmer: 4 Colonies sold
Goal: Supply school science classes with colonies for learning.

Attatexana
Posts: 56
Joined: Thu May 30, 2019 6:55 pm
Location: Houston, Texas

Re: Raw honey, bad for ants?

Post: # 59308Post Attatexana
Sun Jun 09, 2019 5:16 pm

If I made a food mixture with some raw honey in it will it kill my ants.

Attatexana
Posts: 56
Joined: Thu May 30, 2019 6:55 pm
Location: Houston, Texas

Re: Raw honey, bad for ants?

Post: # 59377Post Attatexana
Tue Jun 11, 2019 3:10 pm

I think it was organic which means pesticides free right?

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