Food suggestions for Tetramorium immigrans

[AntChuck]

Thanks to brood boosting two days ago I now have my first worker (not a nanatic) I believe by this weekend I will have an additional 4 more. Since I have around 30 tetramorium immigrans queen test tube set ups I will be planning to use 15 of the smaller/younger broods to brood boost my strongest colony... given that this will likely put a strain on colony resources in the test tube what are good sources of protein for a young tetramorium colony? Also since I will be liquidating half the queen set ups I have I would like to know a good source of protein for a queen... I will be releasing them back into the wild but would like to provide them with the ability to continue reproducing. I also intend to place them strategically around my back yard created small chambers for them for future use in hopes that some of them manage to survive and grow as a means to capture more queens and brood in the future.

[Whitelotus]

Most protein sources are good. I feed crickets to my colony and they enjoy it. Tetramorium are not to picky with food, but be sure you ensure no food is contaminated. Tetramorium will also prefer pumpkin seeds or walnuts. Tetramorium love seeds in general. One of my first Tetramorium queens went crazy over a little pumpkin seed piece I placed in her tube when she had her first pupae.
Hopefully this helps.

[AntChuck]

Most protein sources are good. I feed crickets to my colony and they enjoy it. Tetramorium are not to picky with food, but be sure you ensure no food is contaminated. Tetramorium will also prefer pumpkin seeds or walnuts. Tetramorium love seeds in general. One of my first Tetramorium queens went crazy over a little pumpkin seed piece I placed in her tube when she had her first pupae.
Hopefully this helps.

I'm going to have to try that today. I know the wild colony outside eats everything. I gave them a peanut and they swarmed it pretty fast. I havent tried to feed the queens but my failed experiment colony I have attempted to feed insects with no luck.

[AntChuck]

Confirmed that tertramorium including queens enjoy peanuts. I crushed them up into smaller crumbles and divided it among half of my test tubes. Going to do th rest tomorrow so I dont disturb them too often.

[AntChuck]

All the test tubes have been given crushed up peanut in their tubes. Suprisingly the majority of the set-ups have actually moved some of the bigger chunks next to their brood. Initially I placed the crumbled peanuts halfway into each chamber... far enough to not get caught in the cotton and not far enough to be close to the broods.

[Whitelotus]

Well that is lovely.

[AntChuck]

Well that is lovely.

It genuinely makes me happy. From what I can see it appears the bulk of the queens are now swollen assuming its the consumption of the peanuts but also hoping it means they are going to produce more eggs. Once my AC Starter kit arrives I will be able to slowly decrease the amount of queens I have and set up new colonies strategically around my yard.