8 replies to this topic

[Pmvvenancio]

Hi there.

 

I am new to ant keeping and i am starting a colony with a queen camponotus vittatus that i caught on my back yard. I keep her in a jar with some soil and a sotne where she and 3 or 4 workers are hiding.

 

Since i have to be away from home for about a week i decided to try one experiment. I got a piece of wet cat food and put on a piece of leave. inthe beguining they smeled but got away. i left it overnight and this morning they had covered the nest entrance. Was it because of the cat food? I also noticed a dead worker drowned in the sugar water.

 

 

Workers esting egg: 

Edited by Pmvvenancio, June 6 2020 - 10:21 AM.

[Thunder_Birds]

      Cool! I’m not sure about the fact they closed their entrance to their nest, but a colony would usually do that to feel safer, so I don’t know....maybe they are afraid of the cat food? Lol. It could mean many different things.

     And probably the reason there was a dead worker in the sugar water was because you put a lot of honey in there. So, the ant probably fell in there and couldn’t get out. I would recommend putting a little drop of honey in there at a time, on some sort of a little tray. 

[Pmvvenancio]

      Cool! I’m not sure about the fact they closed their entrance to their nest, but a colony would usually do that to feel safer, so I don’t know....maybe they are afraid of the cat food? Lol. It could mean many different things.

     And probably the reason there was a dead worker in the sugar water was because you put a lot of honey in there. So, the ant probably fell in there and couldn’t get out. I would recommend putting a little drop of honey in there at a time, on some sort of a little tray. 

 

I use to put just a drop of honney but they never seem to touch it but i have seen it drink sugar water very frequent that's why i did that.

 

About fear of cat food...well maybe smell of something bad...i use to put something to close te top and the smell didint get out. This morning when i opened the jar the smell got out and they opened the nest. that's why i thought of that. Hope it did no harm to the queen...

[ponerinecat]

Nice, never heard of anyone keeping these.

[Pmvvenancio]

Nice, never heard of anyone keeping these.

Here they are quite common. I hope i can make the colony grow. i will share here

[Thunder_Birds]

There is a place for ant journals on here, by the way. There you can keep all of us updated on your ants.

[Thunder_Birds]

 

      Cool! I’m not sure about the fact they closed their entrance to their nest, but a colony would usually do that to feel safer, so I don’t know....maybe they are afraid of the cat food? Lol. It could mean many different things.

     And probably the reason there was a dead worker in the sugar water was because you put a lot of honey in there. So, the ant probably fell in there and couldn’t get out. I would recommend putting a little drop of honey in there at a time, on some sort of a little tray. 

 

I use to put just a drop of honney but they never seem to touch it but i have seen it drink sugar water very frequent that's why i did that.

 

About fear of cat food...well maybe smell of something bad...i use to put something to close te top and the smell didint get out. This morning when i opened the jar the smell got out and they opened the nest. that's why i thought of that. Hope it did no harm to the queen...

 

Yeah, and that’s totally fine. And yeah about the cat food, that might be why.

[Pmvvenancio]

I have these other video of them hunting a fly.

 

[Froggy]

 

      Cool! I’m not sure about the fact they closed their entrance to their nest, but a colony would usually do that to feel safer, so I don’t know....maybe they are afraid of the cat food? Lol. It could mean many different things.

     And probably the reason there was a dead worker in the sugar water was because you put a lot of honey in there. So, the ant probably fell in there and couldn’t get out. I would recommend putting a little drop of honey in there at a time, on some sort of a little tray. 

 

I use to put just a drop of honney but they never seem to touch it but i have seen it drink sugar water very frequent that's why i did that.

 

About fear of cat food...well maybe smell of something bad...i use to put something to close te top and the smell didint get out. This morning when i opened the jar the smell got out and they opened the nest. that's why i thought of that. Hope it did no harm to the queen...

 

If your ants are drowning in the sugar water then you could try feeding them with one of byFormica's nectar feeders, I personally haven't tried one yet, but a lot of people say that they are good

https://byformica.com/