ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Alby]

How many honey I have to melt in the water??

[miszt]

you dont need to mix honey with water, just a drop about the size of a pin/wall-tack is more than enough for a smaller colony sugar needs to be mixed with water, one tea-spoon with a few drops of water to make a syrupy solution

[JimmyVe]

in deed, you can give the honey pure. but also give them fresh water.

[4mykids]

hmmm....... I always thought honey would be too heavy...

I will try honey by itself - thanks guy's.

[tail__]

You may also try to mix honey with egg yolk - ants will have proteins and energy in one meal, so they won't need many insects. I give them a few insects anyway, but honey with egg is their main food source.

[4mykids]

Will try tonight

Thnx tail_

[JimmyVe]

that is true but than you have to refresh it every day, eggs go bad fast.

[Purifier]

Or use maple sirup. Thats the best....my ants LOVE it!

[SteveUK28]

Just wondering here.. As im about to hibernate my ants and have just fed my queen her last spidey for the year.. Should i still be putting Honey in with them?? Also if i do.. what about Egg Yoke ???

[Dr.House]

@Steve: You have lasius niger? And it's already a colony?! Through the winter they don't need proteins, they are not raising any more larvae. So, no Egg Yoke or something that may get bad. But you can put in some honey. I take a Q-Tip, throw the wool away and fill the stick with honey. So they have enough (depends on colony size) and it doesn't go bad that fast.
But normally some ants are already full of honey, you can see it clearly if you look at their back.
Important for hibernation is, that only larvae exist. If you steadily decrease the temperature, queen stops laying eggs, pupae hatch and larvae hibernate.
They hibernate 5 to 6 months

greetz

[mzfckr]

if i give mine rubra honey they dont eat it but if i give them a spider its gone in 5minutes.they like the hard food not the liquid food in the winter(fridge).

[JimmyVe]

I give them 1 time a week a very small insect, sometimes they eat it other times they leaf it. Also i put in a small cup with honey and refresh it 1 time a month ore something. (in hibernation)

[SteveUK28]

Its a VERY VERY new colony i got off miszt... still in test tube over winter.

[JimmyVe]

so if i'm not mistaken you now have a small colony of Lasius niger who are in hibernation at this moment and still are in the tube ?
How big is small ? 10 workers ?

If the colony is that small they probably would not eat much/nothing during the hibernation. You could put in a little honey. Insects is not needed if they are in hibernation.

[SteveUK28]

counted around 20 workers.. and yup still in tube.