2 replies to this topic

[aznphenom]

I am in year 4 of ant keeping and I am still very unsure of this. I guess it has came up because I now have raised more species. Especially ones without social stomachs. I can see them physically bring the whole food sauce to the brood and I can see the brood attached themselves to the protein. So that obviously answer the question for those species. But what about species with social stomachs? Are they doing the same but they're just taking tiny little pieces and going back and forth from protein to brood? Or are they "drinking" the protein and giving it to the brood via trophallaxis? This has always been an uncertainty to me because my crema would prefer insect first. Never bringing it into the nest. Leaving the exoskeleton. Then they would also collect dry blood worm and have it stockpile inside the nest which eventually disappear (I assume they fed it to the brood). I've been to wanting to give my ants like chicken, beef, pork, etc. Still unsure if raw or cooked is better. 

[ReignofRage]

Plenty of ants will consume and store proteins within the workers. Having the larvae eat it on their own is more efficient, but it often is easier and cleaner for the ants to bring it back inside of themselves.

[Ernteameise]

My Messor cut the meat / insects into pieces and feed it to the larvae directly. They dump the pieces right on top of the larvae and queen.

They do it exactly as they do it with the ant bread: They chew up the seed, salivate on it, and then give it to the brood and share around.

But Messor apparently have a very small social stomach since they went down the "ant bread / seed storage" route.

 

Opposed to this, my Camponotus piceus do not drag anything into their test tube (yet) and only drink / lick their sugar and protein and fill op their gasters and carry their big bellies to the test tube.

 

So- it really depends on the species.