3 replies to this topic

[Civz]

Hey at the suggestion of another member i dug up an argentine ant colony as my first colony, but I'm having problems getting them to accept protein.. offered meal worms and fish food so far with no luck.. sorry if I'm just retarded, but i figured you are the guys and gals to ask! i also just came up on a thief ant colony i believe to be solenapsis molesta that are JUST starting to move in to my test tube.. these are my first days with ants and i just don't wanna mess up.  I post this looking for people with heavy experience and success with these ants. I would love to hear what you have all had success or problems with =)  i have GALILEO feeders and ant nectar showing up in the next few days, for now its 50/50 honey water on a piece of foil or a cotton ball. water is in at all times in a test tube set up.. Thanks in advance, and happy anting! =D

[Subverted]

Argentine ants have a real sweet tooth in my experience - try feeding mainly sugar water. Table sugar (sucrose) is the type of sugar preferred by ants, not honey.

They also tend not to act like normal ants unless they are given an extremely large outworld to explore. That could be another reason your ants arent accepting protein...

[Civz]

that would make a lot of sense, i have one queen an about 30 workers, as well as brood and ants about to eclose. the outworld has the floor space of a jewel cd case or so. i can post pic if that would help, perhaps my set up is just really trashy.. its my first time makin one and i was in a rush.. i am UNABLE to find Ytong anywhere here local so i have to look in to other options..

[ultraex2]

You could try adding long tubing to make their outworld "seem" bigger - that way they'd have to travel a lot longer distance and to the ant it would be like it has a bigger outworld.