ANTSTORE World of Ants

[AntsNational]

You may be wasting a little bit of money / time IF:


1) If you're buying formulas online for your ants with these "special formulas" and "ant juice" (You're wasting your money)
2) If you're buying crickets or other live insects which die too early or become infested with mites
3) If you're using unnatural protein supplements for your ants, their little bodies cannot handle the burn!

SO, I created a cheap solution which will help YOU save money. It's a personal recipe that I've used for a long time now. A formula which I think all ants will go crazy for. From vegetarians to carnivores, this formula has passed the test for every ant colony I've given it to. Great for both adults and larvae, with what seems to be a proper balance of proteins, vitamins, sugars and energy. I'm currently testing it as a supplement for replacing insects.

Formula Ingredients:

- 1 teaspoon of peanut butter.
- 1-2 tablespoons of 2% milk.
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup of regular water (avoid distilled and gaseous water).
- 1 tablespoon of white sugar.
- 1 tablespoon of natural honey.

Steps:

1) Add everything into a coffee cup or other type of thick cup. Do not use a thin glass. Do not stir yet as things will just stick to your spoon.

2) Put in microwave for 45 seconds.

3) Once you take out the cup, stir until everything is dissolved. Take care as contents will need to cool down to a room temperature before use. (Shouldn't take longer than 5 minutes to cool to a room temperature).

4) Use a syringe to feed your ants a pinhead sized droplet of the liquid. They should take interest and drink almost instantly. If they do, add a larger droplet 5mm in diameter (no larger). Feed according to colony size.

5) Store the remainder of contents in either the fridge for later use or enjoy a naturally made energy drink. If storing in fridge, make sure container or cup is almost completely airtight, or remake the formula once every two days. Fresh is always best!

I hope this helps! Good luck!

To those with nut allergies, please do not make this formula!


Here's a nut-free formula:

1) Purchase a "meal-replacement shake" six pack.

2) Keep refrigerated, open one and extract about 1 tablespoon of the meal-replacement shake (to put into a coffee cup) and then close bottle and return it to the fridge.

3) Add 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 tablespoon of regular white sugar and 3-4 tablespoons of water.

4) [Optional] Microwave your formula and allow to cool before feeding your ants.

5) Store contents in a small jar or vial and refrigerate for later use.


I hope this helps everyone out! Say NO to buying "ant jelly" and "ant juice" !

[kapytanhook]

Very nice supplement, how has it held up over the years? was it enough to replace insects completely?
I would prefer this over growing insects just to feed my tiny colony.

[baumarkthammer]

Weeeell I would suspect that this contains very little protein and in not siutable for many species of ant.
Can not imagine how Ponerinae would ever grow a big colony with that. Also there was a discussion about feeding ants protein and sugar at the same time. Some species don not handle that well.

My main concern is that the only source of protein in this formula is from the peanut butter and maybe the honey.
Ants also have essential amino acids they can not do without and which in many cases will be found in other insects. I am not saying that the diet in ant keeping in general is the best it can be, but I am saying that a no-insect diet will be hard to maintain.

So I highly doubt that you can feed a colony with this supplement for years and it will grow well.
Will surley be good for some species, will not be good for all of them.

Regards
Kaj

[Rottweiler]

I 'll feed it once a delicacy .

Regards
Rotti

[kapytanhook]

I'm assuming the milk + peanut butter would have sufficient proteins. In any case I am still very interested in keeping ants without keeping other insects.
You have a point about not mixing the sugars and proteins.

I think I might do this:

Offer them the proposed mix on a little plate on the left. And then offer them the 2 components separated, so on the right there will be 2 plates.
1 with honey, sugar, water. 1 with peanut-butter, milk, water.

Then I will just see what plates get most activity. If they accept the all-in-one mix and not prefer any of the plates on the right I will know the mixture is not too low in proteins.

I will keep you all up to date on how it will progress, If I stop seeing brood getting raised then I will switch to insects.

Thank you all for the feedback

[baumarkthammer]

Oh my! Sorry I overread the milk in your list. That might have enough protein.
My tests with milk however did not end well.
I guess one will have to decide for himself if this is a mixture fit for the species of ant he is keeping.

Regards
Kaj

[kapytanhook]

For anyone looking to use this supplement, Hoping it will get rid of the need to keep insects to feed your ants.

You might want to think twice. I have tried this for 2 months on my budding Lasius niger and here is what I found.

First of all about the mixture:
- It is easy and cheap to make, the honey, milk and sugar mix well. The peanut butter did not seem to mix too well, it fell out of solution very quickly causing a small brown layer on the bottom of the solution (I had a clear container).
- Not a fan of the smell during preparation, something about heated milk + peanut butter made my kitchen smell like a Chinese takeout place for a while.

Feeding it to the ants:
- The ants do seem to touch it now and then but they don't go crazy over it, they wont hang around it nearly as long as they do with their other food sources.
- Little bits of meal worm they still prefer greatly for their proteïne, once they find some they wont leave it alone till it's gone completely.
- They choose the sugar+honey+water mix over the all-in-one supplement too.

Not sure what species the OP had but his observations do not seem to hold true for my ants.
I might make another batch this spring when they get out of hibernation and back to normal food for a while.

If anyone can give me tips on how to replace the insect food I would love to know, currently my problem is that my family is not too happy with me keeping meal worms in the refrigerator.

Thanks for reading all

[AntsNational]

Guys thankyou for your replies! I've since made an update to my formula, without milk or peanut butter! I appreciate your feedback as always