honey pot ants

[mountainmantids]

hello everyone, i have been considering starting some feeder cultures for my mantids and i came across honey pot ants. i have never done an ant farm before tho and just curious on thoughts if this would work?

 

[CubbySetsFire]

Personally, I’ve never found it wise to feed any type of ant to a mantis, you can risk injuring them 

 

[Digger]

No ants. Ants bad. 1. Virtually no meat   2. Formic acid .  No ants. ants bad.

No ladybugs, wasps, spiders, earthworms, bumblebees -- basically, no venomous nothin.  Ladybugs aren't venomous but they contain a toxin.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

Also, ants wouldn't make a good feeder culture. The colony won't grow as fast as you might think (since there's only one reproducing ant, it will never increase exponentially) and ants can be damn near impossible to contain.

 

[CosbyArt]

As you have a dog (I read it in your interests) put your dog to work for your mantids as I have mine. Buy a insect net (even a cheap $3 butterfly net works great) and let your dog leave a pile of it's droppings in your yard. Within hours of being in the sunlight it will attract dozens of flies.

Just hold the net end itself with your hand (pinch the end) and slowly hover the net above the flies, then when you get a few inches from the ground move it slightly back and forth and all the flies will escape into the open net. I can catch about 3 dozen bottle flies in just a few minutes this way.

I also found with a net it is easy to catch flies as well resting in clean grass and plants about an hour before sunset too. With a bit of effort it is easier to catch them this way too. I remove the cap from a plastic soda bottle, insert it into the upside down net and move the net and flies around to put them into the bottle. Then use your hand and screw the cap back onto the bottle before remove it from the net (really easy when you do it a few times).

Since my last fly trap was finally damaged beyond repair, I find with a bit of experience the above tricks have saved me from building another trap this year (and may not bother next year with a trap either).

 

[mountainmantids]

thanks for the reply guys, didn't read up on ants being bad until i posted the topic haha. i had been using meat in my fly traps but the dogs always seemed to get them, even when i put them up really high, ill try dog poo method. also how bad are spiders and wasps? I've been feeding all the hobo spiders i catch to my popa spurcas and they seem to love them

 

[Orin]

Spiders and wasps are generally a bad idea as well but it depends on the age and type of mantis. I would think you'd have an easier time finding crickets out in the lawn than hunting down wasps.

 

[yen_saw]

Did you find honey pot ants at your location in MT? As far as i know honeypot ants only exist in southwestern US arid area. Only mantis that live in the same habitat would take down ants, as i have seen ground mantis feeding on ants (honeypot and Acromyrmex sp.) in Arizona.

 

[mountainmantids]

Did you find honey pot ants at your location in MT? As far as i know honeypot ants only exist in southwestern US arid area. Only mantis that live in the same habitat would take down ants, as i have seen ground mantis feeding on ants (honeypot and Acromyrmex sp.) in Arizona.

I have never looked for them but from time to time I've seen people eat what they call honey ants by popping off the abdomen and eating it. can't say for certain they are in fact honeypot ants but none the less they were eating and seeming to enjoy those ants haha