ANTSTORE World of Ants

[zachman030]

My Messor are not eating i know they could be eating when i look away but all the food starts to mould so i take it out they dont touch the seeds the sweets the biscuit the sugar water honey honey water or the meal worms please help i knwo they will probaly eat when they are hungry enough but i want to be sure
also what do your messor eat

[gabranth]

what temperature are you keeping them at?

[zachman030]

26 degrees

[gabranth]

so there not hibernating then there not hungry or there coming out when your asleep. try putting a fly in there if it disappear or moves you will know there checking out the food

[zachman030]

i put some grass seeds but last time i put a fly in they ignored it but i will try and find one to put in

[gabranth]

only a small one not much bigger than the workers so they can carry it easily. also is the mealworm cut up?

[zachman030]

yes i cut the meal worm in half i have fed them three so far they have been untouched so i took them out when they started to mould

[gabranth]

they have probably been nibbling at it they won't eat all of the mealworm

[ratgreen]

give them sunflower seeds(without the shells) that have been cut(or grinded) up into grass seed size(or smaller), thats what i do and it seems to work

[SteveUK28]

Hi there Zack and Welcome to the forum, Just wondering but what size is your colony? If it is still small then chances are they still dont need to eat yet, and if they do they will only come out at night when your asleep. With the meal worm you wouldnt really notice if they ate it much anyway as they would eat just the insides.
As for the sweet things, barbarus dont do sweet
Hope this helps

[zachman030]

thanks for the help guys i will put a fly in today and tel you how it goes they are about 15 strong but i have found 5 dead ants

[gabranth]

5 dead workers isn't good for a young colony what are you keeping them in

[zachman030]

yea i know thats why i am asking for help i am keeping them in a plastic nest with ready made chambers one chamber of sands and some stones and the other apart from one which has seeds in are empty
also does the fly have to be a newly killed one?

[gabranth]

yep newly killed is best

[zachman030]

ok just killed one put it in there left for a few mintues it got into another chamber then relised it was totaly dead lol so i properly kill it and 2 ants are exploring it