16 replies to this topic

[MegaMyrmex]

My C. Chromaoides colony won't eat any protein, I put in half a cricket or a piece of a super worm and they never seem to show any interest. They have a big pile of brood and they seem to be getting smaller. Does anynody have any suggestions? I plan on catching some termites or fruit flies to feed them.

[T.C.]

I've noticed in my camponotous colonies, about a month before and after hibernation they only took to sugars. What is your colony doing right now?

[Batspiderfish]

It's difficult to diagnose a problem about eating habits for a colony that should be hibernating right now.

[Winston]

I have tons of Camponotus Chromaiodes colonies, so from what I've seen they don't eat too much protein in there first year. I've never fed them feeder insects yet, but I've given them meat scraps, left overs from stuff I eat. I've had good luck with that. They've eaten chicken, beef, and pork.

[MegaMyrmex]

I took them out of hibernation early since the colony's queen's gaster was the size of her head(same with workers). They've done about 3 months of hibernation and they seem to eat mainly sugars.

[T.C.]

I took them out of hibernation early since the colony's queen's gaster was the size of her head(same with workers). They've done about 3 months of hibernation and they seem to eat mainly sugars.

Then, just give it a little longer. For future reference I would be sure it is at least a 3 full months. And I recommend more than that generally, like four. However they should be fine, give it some more time and I personally would start heating the colony.

[Serafine]

If the gasters of the ants go very small you can put them out of hibernation for a few days and feed them with sugars. Even in nature temperatures aren't constantly low and ants might be able to get access to sugars (some species "milk" their larvae, some drink from early-blossoming flowers and others live in symbiosis with other species like root aphids) when temperatures rise for a few days. Just wait until their gasters look fat again and then put them back into hibernation.

Edited by Serafine, January 11 2018 - 3:00 AM.

[Miles]

I generally have a hard time getting my Camponotus colonies to take mealworms and crickets. I've had a lot more success with freshly-frozen flightless fruit flies, and even live flies for the ambitious hunters in the larger colonies.

 

[Serafine]

My Camponotus (barbaricus) were barely interested in hard-shelled prey (crickets, grasshoppers, roaches) until they reached around 1000 ants (probably more like 850 or so but you get the idea). They still don't like superworms though.

They were really picky while the colony was small and mostly took just fruit flies, bee brood, dead spiders and other softskinned prey. I didn't try minced meat (which is rather soft as well) at that point so I can't say if it would have worked but they love it now.

Edited by Serafine, January 11 2018 - 3:06 AM.

[MegaMyrmex]

I'll try the fruit flies and spiders, since lots of people seem to have success with them, but for some reason one of the larvae seem to be growing a bit bigger than the others.

[Serafine]

for some reason one of the larvae seem to be growing a bit bigger than the others.

That's completely normal for Camponotus.

[MegaMyrmex]

YES! They dragged 2 cricket legs back into the nest and all of the larvae look nice and fat, with 2 being bigger than the others.

[Ants_Texas]

You've got to cut the crickets up into many pieces.  They won't commonly take whole insects until they get some strong majors. 

 

Here's what I do, feel free to completely mimic it: I catch a spider, or buy some crickets, and then freeze them until they are dead. Then I take scissors and cut each of the limbs off, and then cut the body into three pieces. Sounds gross, but this seems to be a very efficient method. My Camponotus pennsylvanicus go for it every time. 

[Serafine]

Every colony is different (my Camponotus barbaricus colony didn't like crickets until they were around 800 workers while in the one other journal I could find they loved them) but cutting food into smaller pieces is a good idea in general.

[MegaMyrmex]

Thanks, AntsTexas that is exactly what I do, but with cricket drumsticks and they seem to love them. However the brood pile seems to be diminishing in size rapidly with 2 larvae being bigger than the other.

[Serafine]

Camponotus always feed some larvae more than others.

[Ants_Texas]

Maybe some variety is in order? You could attempt to catch local insects, which is what I do sometimes. Mine have never accepted earwigs, though.

 

If it helps, my colony's favorite spiders are grass spiders and wolf spiders (be careful catching wolf spiders). I go out to find them when it gets dark, and if you wear a headlamp you can easily see their eyes shining.