Every ant colony requires affection by their keeper. An antkeeper who is successful takes care of their colony, and provides regularly the necessary water and food. They also ensure that the arena, or nest, is free of parasites.
What can you feed what to ants?
Like all creatures living on Earth depend on food and water for survival. Most species of ants are omnivores, which means they consume all things that are digestible. They obtain their food from the plant kingdom as well as other animals or insects. They are also adept at using their environment to nourish their own colony members and themselves.
Protein
Ant colonies are known to spend great deal of time capturing insects, as well as other items they think are high in protein. Protein serves as the foundation of the colony and fulfills the basic requirements for growth and expansion. Protein is fed to queens and larvae. The larvae are fed chewed pieces by workers, which gives the necessary nutrients to become adult insects. Workers themselves are unable to digest food that is solid – they only consume it when it is in liquid. While they have mandibles that can chew their food, they will not consume it due to the filtering in their mouths. The food that is solid isn’t sufficient to pass through the mesh. Adult ants don’t require protein in the same way that larvae do. The queen, however, requires a constant supply of protein for the ability to make eggs and lay eggs. This is a demanding task that requires protein and carbohydrates.
A typical woodland ant colony (Formica polyctena) will consume up to 6 million (or 28 liters) of insects in the course of a single year. This is a testament to the arduous life that other insects go in when they have the ants as neighbors. Their prey doesn’t limit themselves to specific categories, however, they will eat anything they could eat and kill alive or dead.
Carbohydrates/Sugar
Adult ants don’t develop and , therefore, they don’t require protein in the same manner as queens and larvae. Since the workers are spending their days and nights in the office, they require energy sources: carbohydrates. The easier it is to consume them, the more they are able to consume.
Ants are fond of sugar and almost always choose it when they have to replenish their resources. Sugar can be consumed in a variety of forms, but liquid sugar is definitely the most effective. Examples include honey, syrup or water that has been heated and blended with sugar. Sugar water is easy to make by mixing water and sugar in equal quantities. The amount of sugar can be adjusted to create various thickness variations of the liquid. But be aware that the higher the amount of sugar you add, the greater chance of ants being trapped and dying.
There are many ways of feeding your ants with liquid sugar. For instance, a simple method is to fill the test tube and then plug it in with the cotton. In this way, the ants will absorb the sugar water by the cotton and not drown. Other options include putting sugar water inside capsules of some type and placing it the arena where insects hunt (if you already have one). If you feed your ants viscous liquids, an aluminum foil can be used as plates.
If you’re looking to vary your sugar consumption, consider offering your live ants different kinds of fruits. They are a natural source of sugar which certain species might like.
Ants actually require water
As humans like us, ants require water to live. The majority of colonies can live in a dry environment for time but the absence of water is fatal. The wild ant colonies get its water from the soil they traverse on. The tropical ant that lives in trees collect water from the morning dew on leaves. Since water is crucial for ants ‘ survival, it is essential to provide them with a reliable and continuous supply of it.
Typically, ants “drink” through the nest’s walls in which moisture accumulates. This is among the reasons why nests made of ytong are so popular with the antkeepers as they absorb water and then spread it across the nest.
In addition to a moisturised nest An external source for water will always be an excellent idea. It is easy to fix this by filling the test tube and placing it on a cotton ball end. Why not mix it with their energy needs and add sugar water to it instead?
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