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Ant diets

Dragonrock

Militant Elvisian Tacoist
Dragonrock
Joined
May 17, 2002
Messages
10,289
Location
Emmonak, Alaska
I was wondering if there have been any studies on the diets of ants and what is most healthy for them. I mean, if you had several mounds of the same species of ant and fed one mound only fruit, one mound only veggies, one only corn syrup, and one only meat would the mounds end up with different levels of health? Do ants require a balanced diet or are they able to make what they need if given enough sugar?

I've looked around online and while I found listings of what different species prefer, I haven't found any studies about what's best for them.
 
Most ants prefer Stupid Tourist Buried Up to Their Neck In Sand and Coated With Honey.
 
each species has its own, individual diet needs and preferences. no worries, though--there's only hundreds and thousands of ant species. which one do you have? :D
 
Yeah, the fifty foot long ones mutated by exposure to radiation ("Them")

or

The twenty foot long ones mutated by exposure to industrial chemicals (ala the "Empire of the Ants" remake)?
 
bug_girl said:
each species has its own, individual diet needs and preferences. no worries, though--there's only hundreds and thousands of ant species. which one do you have? :D
Click to expand...

I'm from Texas, I have fire ants; tiny red ants that serve no purpose other than biting the hell outta you and building rock hard mounds that screw up your lawn mower. Supposedly they will eat anything containing sugar or fat, but what I was curious about was do they do better with simple carbohydrates or high protein? Is there an optimal diet for ants or will anything that they can digest with calories do?
 
I have no sympathy in helping ants find what's best for them. I hope the little rotters who invade my house eat all sorts of things that are very, very bad for them and die in horrible ways.
 
if you have fire ants, please kill them immediately. do not provide shelter or succor. they must all DIE.
DIE DIE DIE
(in my defense, it is an introduced species that is decimating the natural fauna, including birds and small mammals, as well as native inverts)
 
I was given some covered in chocolate last year. This year I got a lollipop containing a real scorpion.
Amazing how much weight you can lose on an insect diet.
 
I did the nematode thing a few years ago and it seemed to have worked, it took a few weeks but the mounds just kinda of faded away. Now they are back and I assume it's time for more nematodes, but I don't want to kill the large black ants that live at the end of my drive way and seem to enjoy cleaning my trash cans. Which is actually why I asked this question. I was watching them eat some old bread, a piece of cheese, and a sticky spot on the ground, I was wondering if one of the foods was better for them than the others.
 
i'm not entirely sure the nematodes killed any ants, but if they did, they are probably NOT species specific. so, the black ants are also at risk.
Boiling water on the nest seems to be a little more on target. and cheaper :)

whatever you feed the black ants, the fire ants will find and take away. i'd just let them duke it out :(

edited to add: it appears the evidence is mixed about nematodes and fire ants.
http://ipm.ifas.ufl.edu/applying/tactics/biological-control/fire_ants_nematodes.htm is pretty clear that it doesn't work. florida has high humidity, which is critical for nematode survival. if it won't work there, i am doubtful in texas. Texas A&M lists nematodes as "potential" biocontrol agents, but there is no evidence as yet. http://fireant.tamu.edu/materials/factssheets/fapfs009.htm
i've heard best results about a parasitic fly.
 
you made me curious, because i hadn't heard anything good about nemas as yet.
From a recent lit review: "Species and strains of nematodes vary markedly in their effectiveness (Drees et al. 1999, Journal of Economic Entomology 85:365-370). Strains tested to date caused ants in treated mounds to temporarily move away from the treated mound, but few colonies were actually eliminated."

i think you just made your fire ants move :(
 
I get rid of ants using a 50/50 mix of borax and icing sugar.

The ants like the sugar and take it home to the queen, and because the borax is the same consistency, they take that too. Queen dies, hill has no babies, problem solved.

This doesn't sound like the ecologically friendly method you may be looking for, and the borax can burn your grass, but I sprinkled the mixture on the hills themselves, which were already denuded. You can also sprinkle the mixture on the trails they typically frequent, and so cause damage more specific to your fire ants, rather than the black ants.

http://infoventures.com/e-hlth/pestcide/borax.html
 
I used to live in Africa where we got 'army ants' that sound quite a lot like fire ants.

You would walk along and then see a massive column across the road in fornt of you. You do a hasty retreat but its too late! the column has out-riders, 50 of which have already inflitrated your trousers and will soon be nipping at your dangly bits!

I used to kill 'em with petrol or boiling water.
 
just as a point of information--both using gasoline and direct application of borax are not, strictly speaking, legal. Gasoline, in fact, can get you a ticket. Both can lead to off target effects on other animals, and can harm water.
the whole instant grits thing is bogus, as well.

direct application of boiling water and swift running seems to work well, if done repeatedly. :D
 
I read a thing on ants that said that the natives look at the army ants as a mixed blessing. When they show up in your villiage you grab the kids and run. A week later you return to your home and you have a few weeks of parasite free living since the army ants ate everything they could find.

As for the fire ants, I'll try boiling water.

Now, back to my original question, have there been studies to find if scavenging ants have an optimal diet? Do they do better with high protein or high sugar? Or are they able to manufacture whatever they need as long as they find enough calories?
 
insects are extremely metabolically versatile. some roaches have been reared on nothing but styrofoam. i'd say that any source of sugars and water would do.
if you want anything definitive, you would need to look at species requirements, whick will be buried in technical literature. in general, maximizing production of an ant colony is not a common research goal. :)
 
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