Adequate nutrition is the key to the harmony and well-being of an ant colony. The diet of little gourmets in nature is very diverse. Thousands of flowers and plants share seeds, sap and pollen with them. Lots of insects crawl, run and fly around, some of which become a tasty and healthy lunch. The natural habitat is a real supermarket of healthy products.
By exploring the culinary preferences of small wild inhabitants, you can understand what to feed ants at home. Proteins, carbohydrates and microelements are the basis of a balanced diet. Portion size, like with humans, also matters. Also, each species has its own favorite food preferences - traditional national dishes.
How to feed ants at home
In keeping domestic ants, their food is of utmost importance. Let's look at the issue of feeding domestic ants using the example of harvester ants. This is the most popular type of ant for formicariums, ideal for children. Characteristics: reapers are peace-loving, calm, beautiful.
The Latin name Messor Structor translates as “reaper ant.” They got their name from the fact that they collect grains grown by people from the fields. But no one ever called them thieves or pests. Reapers collect only waste - grains that have fallen to the ground from holey spikelets. Under natural conditions, messoras eat the seeds of a wide variety of plants, but prefer grains of wheat, poppy, and sunflower.
The large jaws of threatening-looking soldier ants are actually created by nature to bite through hard grains, and not as a weapon for attack. The mandibles close tightly, which helps transfer grains to the anthill.
First, the grain is chewed by soldier ants. Then the worker ants take over. Pieces of grains are ground into flour. After wetting with saliva, they turn into a pulp, which is fed to the larvae and the queen.
Protein
Many believe that adult individuals do not require protein feed at all, and that protein is needed only for the queen and feeding the brood. You need to understand that in nature there is no such extreme, you need to maintain a balance.
It should be noted that products and feeds containing protein are most often characterized by the presence of a mass of healthy fats, amino acids and microelements in their composition. Even if you do not want to achieve a record in the growth of the formicaria colony, do not reduce the protein intake in the diet.
The best and most understandable source of protein for arthropods is other types of insects. No diet of boiled chicken and dried shrimp can compete with fresh cockroaches or crickets.
Therefore, it is worth thinking about establishing a culture of “forage” insects. This is a troublesome option, but it will allow you to develop the colony faster. Residents of a large city can purchase cockroaches and crickets in almost every pet store.
But even if you have a forage crop, do not focus only on it, since variety is an important point; sometimes you can add chicken, eggs, and gammarus to the diet.
Another way to feed ants well is to get to know the beekeeper; beekeepers have a fairly large amount of waste - drones, etc., and this is packaged in compact honeycombs. You can also harvest drones, crickets, and fruit flies - they can be stored inside the freezer for a long time without losing their positive qualities.
When feeding with protein food, dangers can lurk, since the remnants of such a nutritious diet can instantly become covered with mold and all kinds of parasites, which in most cases causes the death of a young family. Solving such a problem can be difficult, since ants hide food in the bins of the formicarium, and it is not always possible to get it.
The main principle in this case is the dosage of the amount of food; the less individuals receive, the better it will be for them.
One cannot fail to note such a risk factor as the fact that the food insect itself may be infected with some kind of parasite (most often mites). Getting rid of ticks in the future is very difficult, so before giving food insects to goosebumps, carefully inspect them, and if you find even a hint of ticks, throw them away immediately.
If we talk about the most common and healthy food options, then it is better to give arthropods boiled eggs, raw, boiled, dried chicken, lean beef, dried gammarus, shrimp, tuna, crabs, beekeeping waste (for example, cut drones). Some species happily consume different types of nuts (cashews, brazil, walnuts, coconut flakes), as well as cottage cheese, cereals, and seeds.
Taking into account foods that are prohibited for consumption, you need to exclude the consumption of all fatty foods, including fatty meat, sausage, mayonnaise, unknown insects or insects caught at home (for example, a cockroach that had previously eaten poison may not have died, but an arthropod that eats a poisoned cockroach will die immediately). It would be absolutely inhumane to feed ants with the brood of other species. They do not like daphnia, bloodworms, or maggots, and there have been cases of poisoning with them.
What to feed ants in an ant colony?
The “5 Ants” online store supplies formicariums complete with a ready-made set of basic food, which includes different types of grains. It will last for about a year.
What to feed an ant colony? To feed the harvester ants, a teaspoon of the grain mixture is poured into the arena. You don’t need to do anything else: smart ants will deal with every grain themselves. The good ones will be taken to the pantry, some will be eaten right away, and the bad ones will be thrown into a landfill. If there is still a lot of food in the test tube, then there is no need to pour out additional food until the reserves are reduced.
Care
Caring for ants is not difficult. These insects are completely unpretentious. However, you should know the rules for their content:
- Do not place the farm in a sunny or very bright place.
- Do not move the formicarium unless necessary.
- Eliminate the possibility of vibrations near the farm.
- Feed the ants in a timely manner, do not forget to water them during the time and maintain the correct level of humidity!
- The farm needs to be cleaned regularly as food and waste products accumulate. There will be no problems with care, because ants are clean insects that drag all the garbage to a certain place in the arena. It is convenient to clean the formicarium using tweezers or a hand-held vacuum cleaner.
- You cannot spray anything near the formicarium.
By following these simple rules, you can create comfortable conditions for insects in which they can develop and reproduce well.
Special feed
Beginning myrmikers should take note: there is no special food for ants. The feeding habits of the reapers were shaped by steppe vegetation. They can be called vegetarians, since their main food is plant seeds and wheat grains. Domestic reapers happily eat poppy seeds, millet, pumpkin seeds, mustard seeds, and clover.
Proteins are the building material for the body of ants, and carbohydrates are the source of energy for their life. The grains contain both. With a balanced selection, the ants get enough protein, since the seed contains it even in larger quantities than meat. For example, mustard seeds contain 30 g of protein per 100 g, and chicken seeds contain 24 g per 100 g. Thus, meat is not a necessary product for reapers, although they will not refuse boiled chicken. The difference in vegetable and animal protein matters for for humans, but not for ants.
Other
There are many messages on forums that ants are fed chicken, eggs, gammarus... The list goes on and on. My opinion is this. Fewer choices, better sleep. You can feed them. This will be an experiment in which you will find out how the colony will react to the dish. Second: why change a working scheme. There are food systems that have been established over the years; hundreds of colonies have been raised on them.
If you have ants in an ant farm and they have run out of food, it is better to order from a trusted supplier.
Source
Is it possible to feed ants human food?
You definitely shouldn't feed ants human food if it means cooked food. Salads, meatballs, kebabs, etc. are strictly contraindicated for ants. Sauces can be deadly for them.
Yes, if we are talking about fresh juicy fruits. They can be safely included in the diet. Reapers will be happy to taste a piece of melon, watermelon, pear, or peach. You need to be careful with citrus fruits: give them a try and observe the reaction. Ants also love to eat a piece of dried apple. The fruit pieces should be finely chopped or larger than the entrance. However, remember that fresh food must be removed after 6-12 hours before it spoils.
Syrups and sweet fruits
Ants have a real sweet tooth. In nature, they feast on flower nectar, carbohydrate-containing plant sap, and aphids. The latter is like a cow to them. Only what they get from it is not milk, but a sweet solution (honeydew).
In a formicarium, the ant economy, of course, will not be able to develop like this. Therefore, it is the owners’ task to deliver treats. You can use sugar or honey syrups, or glucose purchased at the pharmacy.
Important! It is strictly forbidden to give sweets to the Reapers. Sweet fruits and syrups lead to dehydration and death. In just a few hours, the entire colony can die.
Remember that syrups are a perishable product. Do not allow it to sour inside the farm.
How to give water
Ants love to drink. They also need water to humidify the air in some rooms. If you leave them without water even for a few days, they may die. There are several ways to crave ants.
- Pour a drop of water into the arena. A clean pipette is quite suitable - the drop will be formed and even. The ants will surround it on all sides and will eagerly drink.
- Water can be poured into a shell placed in the arena. There should be little water so that the ants do not drown. If you want to add more water, place an additional piece of cotton wool in the shell.
- The set with the formicarium includes an automatic drinking bowl. It consists of a test tube and a sponge. Pour water into the test tube and wet the lid. The ant watering hole is ready. If you want to go on vacation, such a water bottle can be very useful. It is better to place two and provide an additional supply of water in the shells. Thus, you can leave the ants alone for up to 14 days, providing them with water and the whole family can rest peacefully.
Can ants live without a queen?
Despite the fact that harvester ants are the easiest to care for, significant problems can arise when introducing a new queen.
Can ants live without a queen?
- Yes, but there will be no new family members, and the inhabitants of the colony will simply live out the life that is intended for them. If you want the family to develop, a womb is a must.
- On average, the queen lives from 5 to 25 years, depending on the type and the quality of care for it. There are individuals that live up to 28 years.
Insect
All about farm hydration
Hydration is the most important component of the development of ants, since water is for them, as well as for us, the main source of life.
All formicariums in which amateurs breed ants are divided into two groups:
To put it simply, a farm set without plaster can be compared to a car without an engine, that is, we can say that it looks like a full-fledged car, but you won’t go far with it.
Ant farm structure and hygroscopicity
In an ordinary anthill, regardless of the type of insects themselves, a part is reserved for brood, reproduction, egg laying, etc. To do this, this part of the formicaria must be sufficiently moist. In most cases, this part of the anthill is located at the bottom.
The rest of the anthill should remain dry. For example, if we talk about reapers, they keep their food here, and the young live and develop in the wet part.
The most popular materials from which farms are made are high-quality food grade plastic or acrylic glass (almost the same plastic). One of the main features of these materials is the lack of hygroscopicity, that is, the ability of the material to absorb moisture.
