ANTSTORE World of Ants

[EGoody05]

I have 1 queen - 2 workers - 6 pupae

They are in a test tube attached to the Antworks farm / basin

Should I give them some aphids that I found in the garden ( they are black ones)

[ratgreen]

you found aphids already?! and you can try but with only 2 workers i doubt it, colonies try not to go out of the nest when there so small, but who knows....

[miszt]

Ant's dont tend to eat aphids, they are more useful to them alive, infact they farm them, protecting them from predetors, and being rewarded with sugary sap when they tickle them

[tail__]

There are a lot of aphids now, today I found really huge ones (above 3mm) on a tree, of course tended by ants, this time Lasius brunneus. But the aphids can produce honeydew only when they are sucking a living plant. Otherwise they can be useful only as meat...

[ratgreen]

wow england is so dead, no aphids around here, but its ok i am currently growing a little silver birch tree that the ahpids love here, and i am very pleased as i grew it from a seed.

[JimmyVe]

Back on topic. No you don't need to give them aphids (like tail said, they need a plant ....) It is better to give them sugar water ore honey.

[Moiser]

It would be pretty cool to have aphids living in a basin though, I wonder how difficult it would be to set something like that up?

How many Aphids do you think it would take to supply a colony with sweet stuff?

[ratgreen]

well aphids breed like crazy so after a while you will have loads, also i dont think that the ants use them for thier main source of food,and it depends on the size of the colony but im guessing at least 100 aphids should do it,im going to check around now to see if i can find any aphids to put on my mini-silver birch.

[marc.tulley]

i was thinking about this just the other day , it would be awsome to have a cool life cycle plant>aphids>ants