209 replies to this topic

[FeedTheAnts]

 

 

Are you raising wood roaches? If not, they are so easy to keep and just breed themselves without even trying. Easy insect food source

No, I'm not. I just catch them around my yard. If I ever get some feeders then I'm thinking about starting with mealworms. Or maybe catching some of the fruit flies that are all over my house.

 

Wood roaches are easy and practically raise themselves. Harmless, cute, don't smell and make no noise.

Whereas the other options are cannibalistic, will change form, make noise, smell etc
And require a lot more maintenance, complex setups etc

Fruit flies are easy, put fruit in a container and wrap the top with Glad Wrap, and poke a small hole in it.
Better if you have a electric fly swatter just under the wrap, kill both the fly and any parasites in one quick jolt

 

Do you think it would be possible for me to raise wood roaches from ones I catch in my yard? Would I be able to catch enough? I can look around and maybe catch a couple each day.

[CoolColJ]

 

 

 

Are you raising wood roaches? If not, they are so easy to keep and just breed themselves without even trying. Easy insect food source

No, I'm not. I just catch them around my yard. If I ever get some feeders then I'm thinking about starting with mealworms. Or maybe catching some of the fruit flies that are all over my house.

 

Wood roaches are easy and practically raise themselves. Harmless, cute, don't smell and make no noise.

Whereas the other options are cannibalistic, will change form, make noise, smell etc
And require a lot more maintenance, complex setups etc

Fruit flies are easy, put fruit in a container and wrap the top with Glad Wrap, and poke a small hole in it.
Better if you have a electric fly swatter just under the wrap, kill both the fly and any parasites in one quick jolt

 

Do you think it would be possible for me to raise wood roaches from ones I catch in my yard? Would I be able to catch enough? I can look around and maybe catch a couple each day.

 

 

yeah, all you need is one male and female and allow them time get some babies. The babies are what I feed my ants the most. they are the right size for small colonies

I believe one of the two sexes has wings. Not talking about regular roaches BTW

Edited by CoolColJ, July 4 2018 - 5:52 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

Are you raising wood roaches? If not, they are so easy to keep and just breed themselves without even trying. Easy insect food source

No, I'm not. I just catch them around my yard. If I ever get some feeders then I'm thinking about starting with mealworms. Or maybe catching some of the fruit flies that are all over my house.

Wood roaches are easy and practically raise themselves. Harmless, cute, don't smell and make no noise.
Whereas the other options are cannibalistic, will change form, make noise, smell etc
And require a lot more maintenance, complex setups etc
Fruit flies are easy, put fruit in a container and wrap the top with Glad Wrap, and poke a small hole in it.
Better if you have a electric fly swatter just under the wrap, kill both the fly and any parasites in one quick jolt

Do you think it would be possible for me to raise wood roaches from ones I catch in my yard? Would I be able to catch enough? I can look around and maybe catch a couple each day.

You would get enough. Under logs is where I find the most. I even found a female with an egg sack under one.

[TennesseeAnts]

Just moved to Tennessee. On the first day as a house warming gift, a Camponotus alate landed on my drive way! Also found some young C. sansabeanus colonies in two logs! I even got stung by a Ponera colony I was collecting. When doing so a Myrmentoma Camponotus queen fell from a tree onto my head! Seems as though it will be a great anting season for me!

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, July 13 2018 - 7:41 AM.

[FeedTheAnts]

The Valentines had a huge escape. The workers had been working on eroding away the barrier for about a week, when I noticed that they were almost through. I made the mental note to replace it... but completely forgot. So I woke up the next morning to about two hundred workers crawling all over my basement. I got as many as I could back in the setup. The colony doesn't look affected, and the missing workers will probably be completely replaced in less than a week. 

 

After all this happened I remembered that the colony hadn't had any sugar for about three weeks, so they probably just weren't content. When I put a large portion of honey dumped into their outworld then it was totally covered with ants in thirty minutes.

Edited by TennesseeAnts, July 14 2018 - 6:28 AM.

[FeedTheAnts]

I finally have created a feeder roach setup. Over the course of the last couple of days I've caught a good number of cockroaches. Most of them are young, and I think one of them is a male(it's abdomen is way longer, and nearly black, no full set of wings though). One of the females I caught has laid an ootheca!

I won't be feeding them to my ants until next year. Or at least until it seems that they have really settled in and start to multiply. The roaches are in one of my little cube containers with some dirt and a piece of wood.

Some quick photos of the roaches before being moved into their setup.

Oh.. wow... sorry, didn't realize how horrible this one was    You get the point though... roaches.

Edited by TennesseeAnts, July 13 2018 - 4:22 PM.

[CoolColJ]

give them some egg crates or toilet rolls to hide in

 

keep it super dry and lots of ventilation

Edited by CoolColJ, July 13 2018 - 4:51 PM.

[FeedTheAnts]

give them some egg crates or toilet rolls to hide in

 

keep it super dry and lots of ventilation

Oh, super dry? Thanks, I would have thought the opposite.

[CoolColJ]

 

give them some egg crates or toilet rolls to hide in

 

keep it super dry and lots of ventilation

Oh, super dry? Thanks, I would have thought the opposite.

 

 

 

just to keep mold and parasite chance low.

I would add test tube water feeder, and fresh vegetables like carrot, cucumber, tomato etc, every 2-3 days on a lid, for the water needs.

replace before they rot

They won't eat much so scraps will do.

And dry dog food for protein, or fish flakes, even pet rat food etc - i just put a few in, and top up when ever they finish it.

These you can leave until eaten

Edited by CoolColJ, July 13 2018 - 5:02 PM.

[FeedTheAnts]

There was another cockroach laying an ootheca this morning. These really do reproduce fast! That is two in just a few days.

 

The Moss Monsters have been nesting up against the glass. It gives me a good view of the inner colony. The amount of eggs has grown a lot. Even though the colony produced alates, it doesn't appear that any of their current pupae is alate pupae.

(The best pics I could get through the walls)

=

Edited by TennesseeAnts, July 14 2018 - 6:48 AM.

[FeedTheAnts]

Each of these pics is of a different part of the Valentine's nest. You can see how much brood the colony now has.

 

The smaller pile of mostly larvae

 

The largest pile of brood, mostly larvae

 

Some of the colony's young larvae and eggs(not sure if I got most of the eggs in this pic, they were on the wall)

 

The last major brood pile, again, mostly larvae

 

Edited by TennesseeAnts, July 15 2018 - 2:47 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I see the ants stick rubbish on the rim of the chambers, near the clear screen, always wodnered why they do that.

Is there airflow coming from there?

[FeedTheAnts]

I see the ants stick rubbish on the rim of the chambers, near the clear screen, always wodnered why they do that.

Is there airflow coming from there?

Probably, I didn't seal the glass with glue. 

[FeedTheAnts]

None of these are the best of photos(I'm trying), but it has been a while since I posted anything about the Carpenter Ants(who, btw, don't have names). I'm just itching to get the Camponotus chromaiodes colony into a wooden nest. It will be way easier to take pics than when they are in a tube.

 

Some young larvae.

 

Some eggs.

 

The entire colony. I think there may be four majors now.

 

Their brood pile, which is mostly young larvae. It was almost all eggs about a week ago.

 

The entire colony(minus the crazy amount of ants in the outworld)

 

 

 

The colony's eggs(you can hardly see them due to the color)

 

The colony's outworld. Yes, that is an entire Carolina Locust in the corner.

 

 

Edited by TennesseeAnts, July 22 2018 - 3:38 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

I'm thinking my Camponotus colonies are either C. chromaiodes or some strange color morph of C. sansabeanus...

[FeedTheAnts]

In a massive nuptial flight yesterday I managed to catch 22 Solenopsis molesta queens. I put them all in one tube together. A goal of mine this year was to raise a colony of some small, polygynous species. I may not keep them long term though, I guess I'll just see how things go.

 

 

The Valentines had another massive escape this morning        

This time it was that they chewed through the stopper plugging up the extra entrance to their formicarium. I literally can't contain them. They are even beginning to easily cross barriers, and if they can't cross it they just wear it away.

Edited by TennesseeAnts, July 24 2018 - 4:27 PM.

[FeedTheAnts]

I fed the Moss Monsters almonds for the first time, AntsAreUs had informed me that they like them. I did a time lapse(my first time), and I hope you guys like it. I was far from absent in the making of it. You can actually see a little bit of the Lego tripod:D
(so sorry for the tilted video)

https://www.youtube....h?v=AK-vonHE-H0

Edited by TennesseeAnts, July 24 2018 - 4:41 PM.

[AntsAreUs]

In a massive nuptial flight yesterday I managed to catch 22 Solenopsis molesta queens. I put them all in one tube together. A goal of mine this year was to raise a colony of some small, polygynous species. I may not keep them long term though, I guess I'll just see how things go.

I'm just going to point out that they will most likely kill each other off slowly until one is left.

[CoolColJ]

If they eat almonds, chances are they will eat all types of nuts and seeds as well, much like Pheidole. Actually most of the wild ants around here can't resist some raw macadamias

[TennesseeAnts]

Well, if the Valentines are escaping that much, I'm not sure if I will be able to contain my Crematogaster colonies when they get workers... Also, I just caught a colony of Camponotus chromaiodes with around 80-100 workers and majors! They also have around 150 pupae!