mikemeritus: Does ants eat snails/slugs? (9. Jul 2007 23:54)

Ok the story is this: my parents have problems with a certain type of slug. This one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_slug . So now i wonder if any ants eat these slugs? I´ve read that not many animals eat these because they taste bad. About a week ago i found a quite large snail which i placed at the entrance of a rufa/sanguinea nest and it was gone when i went to check on about 2 hours later, I placed it so it would´nt be able to escape on its own but maybe it did anyway. Does anyone know if ants eat these pests?

Fabian: (10. Jul 2007 05:52)

A big colony of Formica rufa eats almost everything which moves around their nest :) So in my opinion its possible that they had killed the snail und moved them into their hill.

JimmyVe: (10. Jul 2007 12:19)

i never try to feed them this kind of snails but i think they would eat it yes. ;) Try one out and see for yourself if they accept it and let us know. ;)

Yria: (10. Jul 2007 17:21)

Wow, exactly this question I had a few hours ago, when I walked through the rain and a lot of slags crossed my way... :o

I wonder whether I should try it... but I don't know whether my ants in the formicarium would eat it. And shouldn't you cook everything before you give it to your ants in the formicarium because of the mites? Oh yes, my ants will have some escargôts! Maybe they'll become gourmet ants!!!
Only a joke! :grin:

Let us know whether they'll accept them.
LG Sonja 8)

mikemeritus: (10. Jul 2007 22:50)

I dont doubt ants can eat regular snails and slugs, but these slugs seems special since the seem to have very few natural predators, they must be avoiding the "killerslugs" for a good reason, anyway i will try to catch some "killerslugs" and feed it to a formica hill, i doubt the slug will win the battle.

JimmyVe: (11. Jul 2007 08:05)

That is true Yria, i cook all the bugs i capture before i give them to my ants. Just to make sure they have no sicknesses ore mites they can give to the ants.
Maybe you need to do that with the slugs to before you feed them mikemeritus.

ashhad1: (12. Jul 2007 09:30)

but how you cook them, I mean my mom wont even dare let me cook them...

Sam: (12. Jul 2007 12:55)

When cooking/killing crickets or spiders etc I just dunk them in a cup of boiling water for a few seconds, will probably take longer for fat slug or snail.
Pretend your making a cup of tea. But make sure you wash the cup thoroughly afterwards, and definitely don't serve it to your mum with dead slug floating in it. :wink:

JimmyVe: (12. Jul 2007 18:51)

;) i always put some boiling water in a cup (i use only for this) and than put the insects in this cup until they stop moving.

Varban: (13. Jul 2007 20:43)

but how you cook them, I mean my mom wont even dare let me cook them...

or microwave them for like 5-10 sec MAX! if you microwave for more than 10 secs they will explode.

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