Affordable Protein

[harvesterant]

Okay, thank you, so you prefer to keep live insects. That is an interesting idea too. I will consider super worms as an option as well.

[Hunter36o]

Yeah, like I said with superworms in particular it's very cheap because you really only feed them fruits and oat meal. Just give them a decent bit of space and any time you spot pupae take them out and just leave them in a pill box or something similar until they become completely black beetles.

I have read online that if you keep the beetles and worms together the beetles will eat the worms but I am not sure if this is true because I change their fruits ever 2nd day and always make sure there is plenty of oat meal and their numbers just keep going up. For me the best perks are they do not smell bad at all in my opinion, are very very easy to keep and the beetles are completely harmless oh and last thing to note. Get new worms every 2-4 years depending on the colony size just to keep the genes healthy.

Oh do you have any fish? Like bigish ones? The ants will eat blood worms as a treat every now and then. Well mine do cos I have them handy because of my Axolotl. Too cute not to have one of those but as I said earlier Lasius Niger do not seem to be picky so experiment a little mine like green grapes too, not the red ones tho. Only food so far mine have refused completely.

[harvesterant]

Thank you for replying. Mealworms are a good idea too then.

[Snorri]

Hi, does anyone gut load the mealworms? If you do, what with?

[Hunter36o]

Hi, does anyone gut load the mealworms? If you do, what with?

Yes, I personally always make sure there is fresh fruit, potato peels and oat meal. I mean always. This also reduces the risk of them eating each other from starving.
When I really want to gut load them tho I crush up high vitamin and protein dog foods into a pile in the enclosure a day before I feed my ants. The pile is always almost gone the next morning.

[Antfan]

Dubia roaches are also a good source of protein, they are also: easy to keep, cheap, one of the most nutrious feeder insect out there I think, cool to watch, big, easy to breed. However they can scare/disgust people since they are cockroaches, but if you wish to keep them you should feed them: Oranges, Apples, Carrots, Jelly pots.

[WillWithAnts]

But I started years ago with a tub of worms from the pet store, some oats, a few empty peanut butter jars, and an old pair of pantyhose.

Are the lids and pantyhose for water?