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Post by mnemonix on May 4, 2006 21:19:58 GMT
I have found in my garden a colony of L. niger ants and I want to use the opportunity to find out more about the ants habits. I am going to try leaving different kinds of food out where they forage for them to find.
I mention reading about seeds on this forum one time.
Do Lasius niger eat seed? What kind of seed? Do they take the whole seed to the nest or do they transfer it bit by bit.
Also, I want to be careful not to upset the balance. I do not want to overfeed them so that they become dependant upon me. Is there anything I should not do?
I'm just a novice trying to find out more about our six legged friends.
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Post by Wood~Ant on May 5, 2006 8:29:01 GMT
Not many British ant species will use seeds as their principle diet, although Tetramorium often do; but generally speaking our native ants are more inclined to eat meat or sweet foods. Try putting down cake crumbs, jam or honey, and scraps of meat. Fruit such as apple, pear or strawberries will also attract foraging worker ants  |
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Post by Formicalondon on May 5, 2006 17:32:28 GMT
I doubt you could over feed them and I don’t think its possible for them to become dependant on you so you have no worries there.
The only thing I would not recommend you doing is feeding them grapes as apparently these are very poisonous to ants and could kill the colony I’m not sure how true this is but I wouldn’t risk it.
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Post by mnemonix on May 5, 2006 20:04:22 GMT
Thanks for the useful information! I think I'm going to start my own colony with some M. rubra that reside in the local forest. I will see how much the colony has grown since last year and see if I can grab a few queens |
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penlid
Nurse Ant 
Hello
Posts: 77
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Post by penlid on May 5, 2006 20:15:31 GMT
Grapes are ok to feed to ants, I got a colony of formica fusca off nattybob and fed them grapes for a while and they were very happy. They apparently liked them, I got a sheet of nattybob saying that they liked grapes.
There are so many different things to feed Lasius niger though, they will eat a variety of things.
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Post by mnemonix on May 5, 2006 20:19:55 GMT
L. niger probably like anything!
I'm sure if there were a few million they would surely eat my house, with me in it!!
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Post by Wood~Ant on May 5, 2006 21:20:03 GMT
L. niger probably like anything! I'm sure if there were a few million they would surely eat my house, with me in it!! There must be close to that number within 20 metres of my home; but we haven't been eaten yet, though they've invaded our kitchen several times, and we live in a 2nd storey flat ;D |
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Post by mnemonix on May 5, 2006 21:23:18 GMT
Heh, they must know you keep all the goodies out for the little ants to snatch and throw down to their mates waiting at the bottom!
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Post by Wood~Ant on May 5, 2006 21:31:23 GMT
The clever bit was the L. niger used our hosepipe to walk up, like we'd use a rope bridge. It was amusing to watch a long 2 way line of ants going back and forth from our garden, into the kitchen and back down the hosepipe again  |
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Post by anttastic on May 6, 2006 6:36:41 GMT
The other day there was a highway of ants in my garden ;D. They were going from there nest to a foraging patch. There where hundreds some going to the nest with food and some going to the foraging patch. I put a blob of jam down and some honey straight away ants notest it and started eating, then one hour later I came back and there where ants all over it!  |
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Post by jezza1 on Jun 21, 2006 22:31:20 GMT
My l.niger colony is coming along well, queen just laid a huge batch of 25 or so eggs. I've tried out a few foods on them:
- made a batch of ant food from the recipe in Holldobler & Wilson - steady stream of ants, not their favourite food and they seem to have gone off it (after about 3 weeks in the fridge I think it might have gone off!)
- they love bluebottles if I can catch them. They keep trying to drag a bluebottle into the nest and getting it stuck in the hole!
- they absolutely love a Cheerio every so often - precipitates a feeding frenzy like no other food!
- I tried them on banana which has also gone down well, they kept at it for several days until it started going mouldy
- they like clothes moths (we're infested with them) but start ignoring them if too many in quick succession.
Feeding patterns seem to be in waves - every few hours during the day, and a longer period wave every few days.
One strange bit of behaviour - I dropped a drop of water on the plate I use as a feeding area - they didn't like it at all and squirted formic acid at it, then brought a load of soil pieces onto the plate and surrounded the water drop! Not sure if it had some sort of obnoxious chemical in the water (chlorine??) or if they were just protecting against falling in??
jezza
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Post by jezza1 on Jul 11, 2006 21:48:01 GMT
My L.nigers are still growing well, now about 100 eggs/larvae at various stages and they are expanding tunnels through their AntZone. A few more food observations:
- as the colony gets bigger, the proportion of protein that they look for is going up (much more interested in flies etc than sweet things)
- top foods are big flies and (recently) a dead spider - swiftly dragged into the nest
- they love normal Cheerios, but not honey nut and definitely not interested in Frosties!
jezza
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Post by Jenny on Jul 12, 2006 6:07:09 GMT
Jezza, those nigers of yours would be good for a cereal adverts. I reckon the "Frosties" advert has put them off "Frosties" nigers, we have them by the millions around here, they are the dominant species in this area. Any sweet sticky sap on my trees and plants they are after at the moment. A plum tree close by is just one long motorway of nigers all day long ;D |
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