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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2014 22:55:35 GMT
What is it with this species of ant and fly?! I threw in a house and blue-bottle fly and I got a few feeding, no big deal! I put Green-bottles in and a shark feeding frenzy occurs. Anyone suggest why or is it just the Lasius niger equal to chocolate protein?!
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2014 22:59:31 GMT
I think it is because in nature they see green as good food and thus eat more green food then others in captivity. Not sure though.
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Post by Jenny on May 30, 2014 4:46:41 GMT
I am glad somebody else has discovered this too! For a few years now I have found blue bottles don't get the reaction like green bottles. All I know is when they are squashed, they appear more juicy. They have an annoying habit of coming back to life if you don't squat them hard enough. Maybe it's the scent they give off, horse flies don't get the reaction either. Maybe our ants are getting just as fussy as the dog and cat  The small spiders do well, but make sure they are dead! I found different species have their preferences, I have gone in the garden each year with a shopping list to collect different things. Wood just shakes his head, and lets me get on with it  |
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Post by Wood~Ant on May 30, 2014 7:37:05 GMT
From my personal experience of keeping many different ant species, I have found that Formica and Myrmica go on a feeding frenzy for Greenbottles. Even the tiny ants like Pheidole pallidula will drag these green flies into their nest in preference to other insect prey. I do sometimes wonder if it has anything to do with the ants sense of smell, and maybe pheromones given off by certain prey food which is either badly injured or freshly killed?  So far my studies have drawn no final conclusion, but it is true to say that Greenbottle flies are a firm favourite and are always eaten.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2014 22:42:08 GMT
Hover flies are coming into the No2 spot for my Lasius niger colony. Strange, they don't like crickets! My last colony loved them. The truth is different colonies do have different tastes.
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Post by vaants on Jun 12, 2014 21:42:35 GMT
From my experiance it can have a bit to do with age and location. A new queen you have a highier chance of her colony eating just about anything. While a colony thats already went through its first winter or two in the wild tend to like things in their area.
But those are only moderate factors I've personally found over the years.
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Post by annie on Jun 12, 2014 23:10:51 GMT
My girls always go mad for freshly squashed spiders, I`m not always fast enough to catch flies for them, but I do trawl along all the window sills in the house to see what's about and fresh! I do have to mention that scrambled egg was well received the other day (they didn`t request buttered toast to go with it!)
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