CATDOLL : CATDOLL: What insects are best to feed ants? (What insects are best to feed ants?)

1. Some basic knowledge about raising ants?

1. We select the venue based on its size. Whether indoors or outdoors, it must have sufficient light, no clutter, and no bad odors.

2. The breeding facilities are surrounded by bricks (or plastic film). Build a 25 cm wide and 5 cm deep water tank. The inner edge of the water tank should maintain a certain inclination to effectively prevent the seed ants from falling into the water. When building the water tank, leave a drainage hole that is convenient for changing water. Build a frame 20-25 cm away from the inner edge of the water tank. The materials can be bamboo poles or wooden sticks, arranged side by side in a track type. The first layer of the frame is more than 30 cm from the ground, and the distance between the layers is more than 35 cm. Place 10-15 cm thick humus sand at the bottom of the frame.

3. Making and arranging feeding boxes Homemade feeding boxes are usually paper boxes that have been used to hold food and clothing, and the specifications are generally 35-40 cm long, 20-25 cm wide, and 10-15 cm high. Place the Masson pine, which is the favorite nest of ants, in the box, followed by leguminous plant straw such as red beans, soybeans, broad beans, etc. Wild plants include small-leaf camphor, large-leaf camphor, old grass, etc. All need to be dried to prevent mildew. The tightness of the straw should be appropriate, neither too tight nor too loose. This is very important. Ants do not differentiate and build nests on straw that is about to mold or has already molded. Put the straw together with the seed ants that have been divided into nests into the box, seal it with adhesive tape on all sides, and drill a small hole at one end of the box. The arrangement interval of the ant boxes should not be less than 60 cm. If the interval is too close, it will easily cause ants to fight with each other.

4. Feeding and management Ants have a wide range of food, and they like to eat anything sweet and animal-based. They can be divided into two categories: A. Animal bait: such as meat residues and thick blood of cattle, sheep, fish, pigs, chickens, etc. Various insects are also good food for ants, such as beetles, maggots, silkworm pupae, earthworms, etc. B. Food with sweet taste, such as watermelon, apple core, honey, brown and white sugar, pear core, etc.

Ants eat very little, 0.1 mg per day. 100,000 ants need about 100 grams of food per day, and they are usually fed every 3-5 days. When feeding, a food bowl and a sponge block for absorbing water should be placed on the top of the breeding box. To prevent the food from spoiling, the food should basically be eaten up every time, and it should be fed and cleaned frequently. When feeding, try to feed as little as possible and point as many as possible to avoid fighting for food. In addition, the types of food should be changed frequently to avoid ants from losing their appetite. If they are raised outdoors, in the hot summer, in order to avoid high temperatures in the ant box, some vines should be planted around the box frame to block the strong sunlight. The most suitable temperature for the growth and reproduction of ants is 22℃-37℃, the air humidity must be controlled at about 81%, and the soil humidity should be kept at 10-15%. If the air is too dry, a sprayer can be used to spray the ant box and the ground frequently to maintain the normal activities and reproduction of ants.

2. Which insects can ants live in harmony with?

Ants can live in harmony with aphids and whip scorpions.

Ants will protect some insects under certain circumstances, but it is not protection, but a symbiotic relationship. Aphids are one of them, because ants will suck some of the excrement of aphids, and if there is enough food, they will protect aphids.

Another type is the whip scorpion, which has a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with ants. Usually when the whip scorpion enters the ant cave, it will clean up the garbage for it.

3. What is the best way to raise ants?

Bullet ants are the most powerful ants in the world. Rated as one of the "Top Ten Most Poisonous Animals in the World", bullet ants are an outlier among ants. From a distance, they look like bees, but they have strong and powerful upper lemma and sharp and poisonous stinger. From a close distance, they are ants, and they like to wave their large pincers to show off their power. They are about 3 cm long, about 5 times the size of ordinary ants, and are one of the largest ant species in the world.

Bullet ants love challenges and are very aggressive. They even prey on insects and small frogs that are larger than them. Surprisingly, the only enemy of bullet ants, which terrify many large animals, is the humpback fly, which is much smaller than them. It looks like a small ant, and the adult is only three or four millimeters long.

4. What insects contain a lot of protein and can cause ants to produce more eggs?

All meat is composed of protein, so no matter what kind of insect it is, as long as it is meat, it is rich in protein. The ant egg spawning does not depend on the meat you give it, but to a greater extent on the amount of meat you provide. This kind of animal will reproduce rapidly in large numbers when there is enough food, and will not reproduce in large numbers when there is insufficient food. Many wild animals have the same characteristics.

5. What plants are needed to raise ants?

Different ants eat different foods.

Harvester ants eat seeds, which they store in cellars, while leafcutter ants eat mushrooms, carrying leaves underground to grow them. Some ants store insects called aphids, extracting a sugary substance from their bodies as food, much like humans milk cows.

The diet of ants can be simply divided into the following categories: carnivorous, omnivorous and partially carnivorous, omnivorous and partially vegetarian, and vegetarian.

1. Carnivorous, preferably insects as the main food. The proportion of pure carnivorous ants is relatively small, but each type of carnivorous ants has different preferences for food, so not all insects can be used as food for all carnivorous ants. Therefore, when raising them, you need to prepare the insects that the ants like to eat, otherwise it will often cause the ants to mistakenly think that they have enough food, but they will not eat or starve to death. Therefore, if you cannot prepare the food that the ants like, it will be very frustrating to raise them.

2. Omnivorous and carnivorous Ants are more likely to be omnivorous and carnivorous. They can eat both vegetarian and nonvegetarian food. However, nonvegetarian food is usually more likely to attract them. They are not picky about insects and generally accept all kinds of food. When feeding, in addition to insects, you can also feed them with animal protein. Examples of foods that can be used are as follows: Mainly carnivorous and dead insects, plus fruits and honeydew. When feeding, you can feed insects, fish (can be eaten raw), cooked pork, cooked chicken... and so on.

3. Omnivorous and partially vegetarian ants have many overlaps with omnivorous and partially carnivorous ants. The only difference is that when insect carcasses and sweets appear at the same time, omnivorous and partially vegetarian ants are more likely to be attracted to sweets.

4. Vegetarianism: The proportion of pure vegetarian ants among all ant species is not large. Some ants only eat certain special plants or fruit juices. For example, leaf-cutter ants abroad bring leaves back to the nest to grow fungi and use fungi as their only food. Therefore, raising this type of ants is just like raising pure carnivorous ants. You must ensure that you can prepare food first, otherwise it will be very frustrating.

6. What insects are best for ants to eat?

Ants are primarily carnivorous, feeding on insects, small animals, and even dead larger animals.

It is best for carnivorous ants to take insects as their main food. The species of pure carnivorous ants are relatively small in the proportion of ants, but each type of carnivorous ants has different preferences for food, so not all insects can be used as food for all carnivorous ants.

7. How to raise ants?

1. Site selection:

It should be determined according to the size of the breeding population. Whether indoors or outdoors, there must be sufficient light, no clutter, and no bad odors.

2. Breeding facilities:

Use bricks (or plastic film) around the site. Build a 25 cm wide and 5 cm deep water tank. The inner edge of the water tank should maintain a certain inclination to effectively prevent the seed ants from falling into the water. When building the water tank, leave a drainage hole that is convenient for changing water. Build a frame 20-25 cm away from the inner edge of the water tank. The materials can be bamboo poles or wooden sticks, arranged side by side in a track shape. The first shelf is more than 30 cm above the ground, and the distance between the shelves is more than 35 cm. Place 10-15 cm thick humus sand at the bottom of the shelf.

3. Production and arrangement of breeding boxes:

Homemade feeding boxes are usually paper boxes that have been used to store food and clothing, and are generally 35-40 cm long, 20-25 cm wide, and 10-15 cm high. Place the Masson pine, which is the favorite nest for ants, in the box, followed by leguminous plant straw such as red beans, soybeans, and broad beans. Wild plants include small-leaf camphor, large-leaf camphor, and old grass. All need to be dried to prevent mildew. The tightness of the straw should be appropriate, neither too tight nor too loose. This is very important. Ants do not differentiate and build nests on straw that is about to mold or has already molded. Put the straw together with the seed ants that have been divided into nests into the box, seal it with adhesive tape on all sides, and drill a small hole at one end of the box. The arrangement interval of the ant box should not be less than 60 cm. If the interval is too close, it will easily cause ants to fight with each other.

4. Feeding and Management

Ants have a wide variety of food, and they like to eat anything sweet and animal. They can be divided into two categories: A. Animal bait: such as meat residues and thick blood of cattle, sheep, fish, pigs, chickens, etc. Various insects are also good food for ants, such as beetles, maggots, silkworm pupae, earthworms, etc. B. Food with sweet taste, such as brown and white sugar, watermelon, honey, pear cores, apple cores, etc.

Ants have a very small appetite, about 0.1 mg per ant per day. 100,000 ants require about 100 grams of food a day (different species have different values ​​depending on their body size). They are generally fed once every 3-5 days.

When feeding, a food bowl and a sponge for absorbing water should be placed on the top of the feeding box. To prevent the food from spoiling, the food should be fed in the same way as before. Feed and clean frequently. Feed as little as possible and point as many as possible to avoid fighting over food. In addition, the types of food should be changed frequently to prevent the ants from losing their appetite.

If you raise them outdoors, in the hot summer, you should plant some vines around the ant box to block the strong sunlight to avoid high temperatures in the ant box. The most suitable temperature for ants to grow and reproduce is 22℃-37℃, the air humidity must be controlled at around 81%, and the soil humidity should be kept at 10-15%. If the air is too dry, you can use a sprayer to spray the ant box and the ground frequently to maintain the normal activities and reproduction of the ants.