Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
Powered by phpBB Social Network © phpBB SN Group
Deutsche Übersetzung durch phpBB.de
Time : 0.012s | 44 Queries | GZIP : On
I don't know which color they can see. I think the fine hairs from the moth is a problem. Another think is the activ hunting. I don't know the size of your colony, but ants from a small colony are very shy. The best way to feed them is to use small house crickets (Acheta domesticus), but then you have to boil the crickets in hot water (I prepare then as follow: a cup of hot water and the some small crikets, on this way you kill all possible mites on the crickets). After some seconds you can put the crickets in the nest entrance.
You can give the cricket alive.
To remove the mites just to soak in coca-cola or lemon juice for 30 seconds. ;)
Or you can buy some crickets at the size you want then put them in freezer and take them out as needed the mites will die this way also and no rotting
alive is not good, it is often that the cricket are contaminated with mites. Harpegnathos are very sensitiv for mites!!!
The acid in lemon juice remove all the mites.
Dust mites don't support acid media.
Also, you can put a little vinegar or oak extract in water for humidification of the nest, it's good.
If you have a colony of ants contaminated with mites, and you put a cotton swab with lemon juice, you will see ants rub it in themselves to remove mites.
I saw that with Myrmica rubra for example ;)
Thats interesting, thanks for the advice on mite removal, I will remember it for the future but I think you are forgetting that Harpegnathos venators have to be fed live food.
My experiences of yesterday:
I caught 2 live big black flies that were about the same size of my ants and put them in the foraging area. My ants reacted but were very ineffective in killing them. They bit them, but it took a while for the flies to die, and these were helpless soft flies. With jaws that big I would expect a very quick kill. They then left them for about 10 minutes then picked them up and appeared to be trying to get them to the nest entrance but then I realised they might not be able to access it as the flie was quite heavy so I put in a tissue to act as a ramp for easy access. This didn't work and all they did was walk around the box and not make any attempt to go into the nest. They are also doing a similar thing with their dead workers, they just walk around carrying them. It is a small foraging area though, pictures to follow on Friday.
I did have better luck with the spider I put in there. I killed it then put it in the nest entrance but a worker moved it in about 2 inches then back again but much later in the day I noticed it was gone so I guess they must have eaten it.
By the way I still don't have any brood. My colony size I ordered was 26-50 but I got about 35 and about 5 died soon after. At the moment about 1 dies every day or two. My colony size is currently about 20. Interestingly nearly all of them insist on staying in the foraging area so I guess they must be hungry, but it is very hard to get them to eat. By the way, they have moved the parts of the bumble bee from Monday around.
The 2 flies I put in yesterday appeared inside the nest today which is good, but they didn't look as if they had been eaten. I put a freshly died beetle which I tore in half and nearly immediately a worker found it and picked up the thorax/head part but instead of walking into the nest just walked around with it. PS I still don't have any brood.
yesterday I put a spider from my flat in the entrance to their nest and later it had disapeared so I hope they ate it.
PS The library computer I use has the wrong cable so the photos will have to wait until Monday.
but they didn't look as if they had been eaten
Don't these ants consume prey by putting larvae on it, and the larvae do the chewing? And if they do not have a social stomach as Chemitech says, and you have no brood, then the only ant that may be eating anything will be the queen. This might explain why it doesn’t look like the bugs they take in have actually been eaten.
Just a thought.
I also think you should offer at least a little bit of energy food occasionally just in case (but don't leave it in long), as they still need energy to live and they may not get every thing they need from the bugs they catch. Even Acromyrmex will consume loads of sugarwater.
That is very informative, thank you very much I really appreciate that. I still have no brood and was worrying, but only time will tell as to what happens.
=> edit Mod
post from 2:47pm
I was trying to post a picture and got up
Das Bild muss zwischen 0 und 2240 Pixel breit sowie zwischen 0 und 1680 Pixel hoch sein. Das angegebene Bild ist 3296 Pixel breit und 2472 Pixel hoch.
But its just a normal jpeg picture. I don't have much time left on the internet and have a load of pictures to post. Can Antsore please sort the forum out so that any size picture can be uploaded and posted? Thank you.
Or you can resize your pictures so they can fit into the forum. ;)