The ants’ diet consists mainly of two components: carbohydrate and protein feed. Protein as a “building material” is needed by growing organisms – larvae. The queen of the ant family also needs protein, because it is used to produce eggs. Workers need less protein, but they cannot live without it either.
In order to cover the needs of a home anthill for such an important substance, there are food crops. They can be different creatures, here we will tell you about some of the most popular ones.
- Mealworm. This is the larva of the mealworm beetle. To keep it, you need a container with a substrate (oatmeal, bran, any cereal and flour). Pieces of fruit and vegetables, dried food for aquarium fish are used as top dressing. The worms pupate on the surface, and later the beetles emerge from the pupae. Only the larva is used as food for ants. If you are not interested in intensive breeding, you can slow down the development by placing the culture in the refrigerator. There, the worms are stored for a long time without turning into inedible beetles. There are also smaller analogues of the “znahar beetle”, “buffalo beetle” and larger ones – “zophobas”. Caring for them is generally the same.
Feeding cockroaches are more nutritious than beetle larvae, and given the choice, ants prefer them.
- Marbled cockroach. Unpretentious insects with rapid development. For cultivation, you will need a spacious container with a lid and ventilation, as well as an additional anti-escape strip (ordinary Vaseline will do) – cockroaches run well along the walls and can get out. A small layer of dry coconut substrate and sawdust is desirable at the bottom. Shelters are necessary – cardboard egg trays placed on their edges. Food: fruits, vegetables, greens, bread – marbled cockroaches are not selective in this regard. Reproduction by viviparity. There are always many insects of different ages and sizes in the colony, so it is possible to feed both small ant families and numerous ones.
- Turkmen cockroach. These creatures are a little more difficult to grow than the previous ones. They need a wide and high container with pieces of bark or egg cartons as a home. A lid is not necessary, this species cannot walk on vertical surfaces. Coconut and oatmeal can serve as a substrate. Food: pieces of vegetables and fruits, dry food for cats, dogs and fish. In case of a lack of protein food, cockroaches can cripple their fellows. Reproduction occurs by laying capsules with eggs, which must be placed in a damp place and incubated for more than a month. Turkmen cockroaches are indispensable when keeping predatory hunter ants, because they have delicate covers, are not able to escape from pursuit along the walls or burrow into the ground.
It is not always necessary to breed food for ants at home. Often, a range of edible organisms is offered by pet stores. If there is none in your city, you can use the services of the post office or courier services. Sometimes fishing stores come to the rescue, where bait is sold – maggots. Flies are also good food for ants! Maggots are stored in the refrigerator. From there, they are taken out in small portions, put into a box with sawdust and placed in a warm place. The larvae pupate, flies hatch from them. After the flies emerge, the box is placed back in the refrigerator, and then the sluggish insects spill out onto the arena, where they are caught by ants.
With good development and high numbers, any arthropods can be a food crop: locusts, caterpillars, stick insects, termites, embia, woodlice, aquarium shrimp. Sometimes antkeepers contain more crops than their consumers in order to create maximum diversity (as in nature) and give demanding pets a choice. Remember: it will not be possible to completely exclude insects from the diet of your pets, proper protein nutrition is the key to the prosperity of the inhabitants of the ant farm.
