ANTSTORE World of Ants

[barnettgs]

Hi, I have this colony for more than 2 years since I got it from Antstore.

It has grown to more than 200 workers in just 16-18 months from 8 when I first received.

This year...somehow, the number has dropped a bit and there are several workers death, I'm not sure what has caused this. One theory I can think of is that I haven't seen any death last year and it must be that workers have aged and died naturally this year?

This colony has at the moment, loads of eggs, larvae and cocoon...much more than last year.

For food, I only feed water/sugar, apple, luttuce and some flies. Sometimes ham or chicken leftover from family meal! I have tried strawberries, blackberries, some vegetables etc but this colony didn't take much interest in them! What else? Food seemed too basic, not sure if this is a bad thing.

Any advice is much appreciated! Will try to get some photos sometimes soon!

[Kiam]

no no no dont feed them ham I hear its bad for ants...

do you put the flies in boiling hot water to kill all the mites that they might have them I dont see how they will just die it is probably old age

[barnettgs]

Thanks for lightning fast reply! I have heard about ham but I think it's to do with some salt on ham, especially with pre-packed sliced ham.

No, I haven't put flies in hot water but it is mostly house flies!

[Kiam]

yes but they can carry diseases also and ham is not like a food they would you know really eat :p

[JimmyVe]

It is always best to boil insects before you give them, but with flies it is not really needed, i do it with all insects accept for the flies.

I do not feed them ham, i try to keep it to a natural product (like they can find in nature)