4 replies to this topic

[teek]

Okay all, this is my first year collecting queens, and I am really excited. Today... TODAY!!!! I caught two Odontomachus queens. TRAP JAW ANTS!

 

I am terribly excited for these little buggers, but my research has told me that they are difficult to get up and running, and they are semi-claustral... Here is where the problem comes in... I am going on a 10 day vacation TOMORROW.

 

I have them both in the kind of Tar-Heel Ants Mini-Hearth as pictured. I have both the water tower and the nest mate filled with water. And I have a water dish filled with brown sugar water in the outworld.

 

I know that Odontomachus sp. are predators. Hunters. And I am unsure if they will be okay while I am out of town. When I put the brown sugar water towers in, they both went to them and drank heavily. So I know they're taking a liking to those.

 

Any tips? Tricks? Has anybody raised trap jaws before? I don't have time to go to a reptile store to get feeders for them. I don't have someone I can trust to feed them. Heck, I wouldn't even know what directions to leave for someone.

 

These are among the very first ants I have caught, they're known to be difficult, I am going out of town, and I am ultimately clueless.  Any input or help would be MUCH appreciated.

 

 

Photo!

https://imgur.com/gallery/ZGYQl

[AntswerMe]

Feed them small insects like termites. Since you're leaving for 10 days put a lot of them in each set up and even put in a moist small piece of wood so the termites can live for a while and the queens can then hunt them. This should work well. You can also feed them other things like small moths and small cockroaches. Just make sure what prey you feed them isn't too big as the queens may not accept the food if it is.

Edited by AntswerMe, July 26 2017 - 5:21 AM.

[Superant33]

The above is great advice. I feed my odontomachus colonies fruit flies and meal worms. I raise my own mealworms and select only those that can fit in their jaws. When I go on a long vacation, I place a vial of fruit flies in their outworld. The trap jaws can't climb up the vial, and it provides a constant source of food.

[teek]

Feed them small insects like termites. Since you're leaving for 10 days put a lot of them in each set up and even put in a moist small piece of wood so the termites can live for a while and the queens can then hunt them. This should work well. You can also feed them other things like small moths and small cockroaches. Just make sure what prey you feed them isn't too big as the queens may not accept the food if it is.

 

The above is great advice. I feed my odontomachus colonies fruit flies and meal worms. I raise my own mealworms and select only those that can fit in their jaws. When I go on a long vacation, I place a vial of fruit flies in their outworld. The trap jaws can't climb up the vial, and it provides a constant source of food.

 

Thank you all for your advice. I went out and bought some flightless fruit flies and dumped a handful in there. I just got back today and they're doing great. One seems to be doing much better than the other. Left all the carcasses in a corner of the outworld. The second one is a bit special and piled all of the carcasses next to the water tower in the TarHeel Ant's Mini hearth and they molded. I dumped some more fruitflies in the outworld and waited for Queen Special to come out to investigate and plugged the entrance. I cleaned it out as best as I could and I have my fingers crossed.

 

My Dorymyrmex have been doing pretty well and they all have piles of eggs in their test tubes right now.

 

Again, thank you for your advice, everyone!

 

@Superant33: I'd be interested in seeing your setup for feeding your trapjaws.

[Superant33]

I just cut a hole to accommodate 1/2 OD tubing in a plastic food container. I attach it to their Formica. Put the fruit flies in the food container. Done. I learned the hard that with species that can chew (Camponotus), that I needed to secure the tubing to the food container with silicon