The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

My Pheidole colony didn't seem to be eating.
Every once in a while I would see a single ant checking out some food but that would be rare and I removed two ants who somehow drowned in the moist cotton ball in the test tube water source. and once a drowned ant in honey!!!

They are supposed to be Grainivorious and Insectivorious.
A page on Formicarium on preferred diets lists mostly protein as preferred. always one sweet thing , the rest of the sweets were often in the dislike list.

Here's what they didn't seem to touch (maybe they did but I never saw more than one ant checking it out. They are still a small colony so It is possible, plus I know the majors are used as storage like Honeypot ants.)
Wheat grain, frozen corn, cooked rice, bread, french fry, chicken, Katydid, Earwig, Other ant specie workers, Gator, pork, honey. about half of these the Brachymyrmex seem to like.

Here is what they finally excepted. there is always six ants cutting up, a gecko tail.
Also they 'seem' to have eaten Brachymyrmex alates, and hydrated dal. ( I forget the english name for this legume)
I am not certain on any of this, so I will continue to try them out on these and other foods. I have more gecko in the freezer, a cicada, and I will get a tub of super worms tomorrow.

Any of y'all keeping Pheidole have other dietary success/ fail information?

It is really frustrating, It seems if the Brachymyrmex like it, the Pheidole won't touch it.
I laid out Cicada, Gecko, Cricket, and mealworm the last two days.

The only thing I have seen them eat of the three, is gecko.
I cannot provide them with gecko indefinitely.

I may be overfeeding which is why they aren't biteing.
How long can I go without having protein in the tank without being cruel or endangering their health?
Once I do that, I can come back with the offerings again as a better tell of what they desire.

Bierschneeman wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 28, 2018 5:15 pm

It is really frustrating, It seems if the Brachymyrmex like it, the Pheidole won't touch it.
I laid out Cicada, Gecko, Cricket, and mealworm the last two days.

The only thing I have seen them eat of the three, is gecko.
I cannot provide them with gecko indefinitely.

I may be overfeeding which is why they aren't biteing.
How long can I go without having protein in the tank without being cruel or endangering their health?
Once I do that, I can come back with the offerings again as a better tell of what they desire.

How did you even get gecko? also im sorry but somehow what you just said is really funny.

antnest8 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 29, 2018 5:20 pm

Bierschneeman wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 28, 2018 5:15 pm

It is really frustrating, It seems if the Brachymyrmex like it, the Pheidole won't touch it.
I laid out Cicada, Gecko, Cricket, and mealworm the last two days.

The only thing I have seen them eat of the three, is gecko.
I cannot provide them with gecko indefinitely.

I may be overfeeding which is why they aren't biteing.
How long can I go without having protein in the tank without being cruel or endangering their health?
Once I do that, I can come back with the offerings again as a better tell of what they desire.

How did you even get gecko? also im sorry but somehow what you just said is really funny.

I live in Louisiana, Geckos.... are everywhere. Open your door when its dark, TRY not to get one crawl in your house. The locals consider Geckos a nuisance animal. geckos are invasive species that are forcing local lizards out. Where it used to be you saw local anoles and skinks everywhere now its gecko gecko gecko.

Today I caught a local by accident (green Anole) and I let him go. I REFUSE, to keep, remove, or exterminate, local species.

The Majority of lizards I encounter are invasive, so it makes catching for ant food good.
INVASIVE:
Brown Anole, Mediterranean gecko, Sri Lankan House Gecko, all VERY VERY ABUNDANT. 95% of the herps I find (4% is just Alligators)



becoming less abundant as decades move on, 6 skink species, Green Anole, two glass Lizards, one prarie lizard.

Bierschneeman wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 29, 2018 7:10 pm

antnest8 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 29, 2018 5:20 pm

Bierschneeman wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 28, 2018 5:15 pm

It is really frustrating, It seems if the Brachymyrmex like it, the Pheidole won't touch it.
I laid out Cicada, Gecko, Cricket, and mealworm the last two days.

The only thing I have seen them eat of the three, is gecko.
I cannot provide them with gecko indefinitely.

I may be overfeeding which is why they aren't biteing.
How long can I go without having protein in the tank without being cruel or endangering their health?
Once I do that, I can come back with the offerings again as a better tell of what they desire.

How did you even get gecko? also im sorry but somehow what you just said is really funny.

I live in Louisiana, Geckos.... are everywhere. Open your door when its dark, TRY not to get one crawl in your house. The locals consider Geckos a nuisance animal. geckos are invasive species that are forcing local lizards out. Where it used to be you saw local anoles and skinks everywhere now its gecko gecko gecko.

Today I caught a local by accident (green Anole) and I let him go. I REFUSE, to keep, remove, or exterminate, local species.

The Majority of lizards I encounter are invasive, so it makes catching for ant food good.
INVASIVE:
Brown Anole, Mediterranean gecko, Sri Lankan House Gecko, all VERY VERY ABUNDANT. 95% of the herps I find (4% is just Alligators)



becoming less abundant as decades move on, 6 skink species, Green Anole, two glass Lizards, one prarie lizard.

if the geckos are everywhere why don't you just continue catching them.

antnest8 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 30, 2018 4:28 pm

Bierschneeman wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 29, 2018 7:10 pm

antnest8 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 29, 2018 5:20 pm

How did you even get gecko? also im sorry but somehow what you just said is really funny.

I live in Louisiana, Geckos.... are everywhere. Open your door when its dark, TRY not to get one crawl in your house. The locals consider Geckos a nuisance animal. geckos are invasive species that are forcing local lizards out. Where it used to be you saw local anoles and skinks everywhere now its gecko gecko gecko.

Today I caught a local by accident (green Anole) and I let him go. I REFUSE, to keep, remove, or exterminate, local species.

The Majority of lizards I encounter are invasive, so it makes catching for ant food good.
INVASIVE:
Brown Anole, Mediterranean gecko, Sri Lankan House Gecko, all VERY VERY ABUNDANT. 95% of the herps I find (4% is just Alligators)



becoming less abundant as decades move on, 6 skink species, Green Anole, two glass Lizards, one prarie lizard.

if the geckos are everywhere why don't you just continue catching them.

...
I...


...umm...

winter?
...
I don't think I have paid attention to if we still get them in our fake winters here.
Besides that, I would much rather get a regular staple food supply, rather than one that requires me running around.
They do go absolute bananas for gecko though.

You have given me more to think about than I thought.

i would agree with you that you it would be nice to have a more reliable food source re-hydrated freeze dried insects maybe?

anyway i can see you hate invasive species so maybe your colony eating gecko will help.

They give Solenopsis queens similar attention, save they add one major to cut the exoskeleton.
they seem to hate cricket. I will see a single worker eating....sometimes....very rarely. I always end up throwing it away.

BUT THEY took 2 hours to destroy a wasp I gave them.
They covered it in workers and it had 5 majors on the job. WOW
found their new favorite food.
nothing left but wings and a tiny bit of exoskeleton.

I wonder why they hate so many different insects?

My Pheidole was just starting, so I had about 10 workers, they would accept small dead spiders and I would throw in some springtails and they would actually hunt them. Recently they haven't been accepting anything else. They would sometimes take crushed bits of peanuts and drink honey. Now their numbers have been dwindling. They went from 7 queens to two and 15 workers to 2 workers. Not sure what to feed them now.

KdenKden wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 08, 2018 7:48 pm

My Pheidole was just starting, so I had about 10 workers, they would accept small dead spiders and I would throw in some springtails and they would actually hunt them. Recently they haven't been accepting anything else. They would sometimes take crushed bits of peanuts and drink honey. Now their numbers have been dwindling. They went from 7 queens to two and 15 workers to 2 workers. Not sure what to feed them now.

sorry, to hear that, but glad I am not the only one. not quite Schadenfreude, more kind of a sombre glad, like meeting someone with a similar issue.

keep trying. I seem to have found something they like finally.

try some of the successes ive had, try things I haven't, just don't give up.
They are supposed to be mainly insectivorious, and a little grainivorious.

I am going to strip a bunch of grass of their seeds tomorrow and try that out, maybe you should too. (also try catching or buying a good insect.)