I have a Temnothorax queen and some nanitics. They eat pretty readily, but noticed they were very very resistant to relocating when water in their tube ran out. I had attached them to a tiny outworld (3x3") with a fresh test tube for water. However 1/2 the nanitics ended up dying as they refused to leave the original tube to forage for water. I realized this too late (happened very fast), but before hibernation I removed them from their outworld connection and connected the tubes directly. I'm not sure about SoCal since it's so much warmer, but read up here in the Northeast, very often a good portion of the colony freezes and dies in the winter, so they can rebound (we'll see this Spring.)
Mine seemed to eat pretty much anything I gave them; honey water, Byformica ant nectar, and even chicken scraps.
Edited by noebl1, December 10 2016 - 7:18 PM.