5 replies to this topic

[cfreidsma]

I'm giving:
Crystalized honey
Suger water
Pre killed mealworms
Pre killed bean beetles
Various seeds: chia, hemp, oat seeds/berries, etc

Any favored foods though? Like specific proteins or seeds I should offer the founding queen?

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

To the best of my knowledge the adult ants of Pogonomyrmex do not eat solids but have a mostly liquid diet of nectar, larvae secretions, and insect blood(Hemolymph). While the larvae are who eats the seed and insect solids in a colony.
 

I'm not sure if your ant is a fully claustral one or not. If so the queen may not take in her own food and be needing the first generation of nanitics to come along to feed her maybe?
Though i seem to recall some images/videos of founding queens that take sunburst/sugar water that was put inside their test tube.

My colony of pogonomyrmex occidentalis take pretty much any seeds that they are able to open. Size is less important than hardness of shell for them, as long as they can open it up that's what matters most.

While i will give my ants organic fruit slices, i don't give them any honey. There are some risks in the fruit, but i find these are lower than the honey. The fruit don't fly off, while the bees go wherever they want and bring back whatever they do. Just cause the honey farm was organic don't mean the bees haven't been making honey from non organic sources in the area.
As well i can wash fruit, but not honey. So i've never given honey but i do regularly give organic fruit slices and berries. But those are treats, they experience with it. 

For proteins i give a good variety of seeds(I buy kentucky bluegrass and dandelion seeds from TarHeelAnts), and some seeds form the bulk food isle like poppy, chia, hemp, etc. And sometimes random packets of gardening seeds as treats to give variety.
I also give them occasional insects like crickets or waxworms (they did not like mealworms or superworms much). And i always flash boil any insect for about 5 seconds to help protect against mites, mite eggs, or other pathogens from being introduced to the colony.

And lastly in find they also go for fish flakes and pet food. Again these are things they feed to the larvae not what they eat as adult ants.
 

On fish flakes be sure and check the ingredient list. Like people food it is listed from most to least, so you want to see things like shrimp and fish paste as the first ingredient. With any dye, preservatives and fillers (like flour) being either absent or farther down the list than the actual food ingredients.

On pet foods/pet treats, this is again an "at your own risk" situation. I have had good sucess feeding my ants some very high end cat food a friend of mine had his cats reject. So  id' not have paid so much for that, only have it cause free. But it has been a good food source for them so far they go nuts for it. And as a wet food i see the adults drink from it a good deal before they start tearing up bits to bring back to the nest. And then even in the nest i see clusters of adult ants sucking the juice from bits of cat food.
As well pet treats like freeze dried chicken hearts or dried salmon flakes, which again i get for free, are very popular with the ants.
These things are costly enough i'd not suggest buying them just for the ants, but if you have a dog/cat already then thee are treats they can share with the ants.
 

[cfreidsma]

Thanks for all the info! From what I read, this species is semi-claustral and would need food during the founding phase.

[Somethinghmm]

Pogonomyrmex californicus queens found fine with just seeds. I use amaranth, poppy, and kentucky bluegrass seeds. Chia seeds can be a bit of a pain in test tubes since sometimes the ants put the seeds on the water source and allow it to balloon up. Optionally, you can feed them insects too, which increases their first batch by a bit but it's not necessary. This species is not picky so they'll take just about any feeder insect. Sugars are not necessary since this species is an obligate granivore. They will get all the carbohydrates they need just from seeds.

Edited by Somethinghmm, July 24 2025 - 4:59 PM.

[cfreidsma]

Ah ok. Will they take sugars at all or should I not even mess with that?

[bmb1bee]

They may take sugars sometimes, but they get all their carbohydrates from seeds anyway so you won't need to bother with that. I agree with Somethinghmm in that chia seeds aren't great for founding queens; stuff like bluegrass and dandelion work much better. You could also offer a small piece of feeder insect for a little protein boost, as it'd probably help with brood production.