# ant for horned lizards



## otb2 (Nov 30, 2006)

Does anyone breed ants as food?
Im looking to set up a colony for my horned lizards and just wanted to see if anyone else was doing it.
I've ordered a myrmica ruba queen and workers and wanted some breeding advice, how to sustain a good breeding rate etc.


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## jartok (May 13, 2009)

if you want a good breeding rate you really need about 50queens or so to keep replenishing and remember they do hibernate for 6 months of the year from october to march - if you dont hibernate them they will grow very slowly and not to full potential

it takes 2 months from brood to worker also 

to keep alive you can keep in an box with some argos sand baked and then add test tubes and they will live in that make sure no light hits the actual nest tho.

use a test tube with water in it and then cotton plugged and they can drink from this - they will need protein from insects - crickets locusts worms etc the usual.

but if you want a big colony you will need alot of room and alot of out break protection as rubras are very aggressive stinging species

i dont know much about the lizard but it will be attacked from the ants if they are given alive


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## otb2 (Nov 30, 2006)

Stinging doesnt bother them, they are immune to harvester ant bites in small amounts and their far stronger i believe.
I am going to establish the colony well before getting the lizards. 
Ill try and get as many queens as I can then!!
Will the colony still produce if i do not hibernate them? I'm just worried about a source of food for the winter for the lizards.
If i do hibernate them, but seperate some workers that wont be hibernated to tide my lizards over the winter, will the colony replenish its numbers quickly after the winter?

cheers


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## deadmeat30 (Mar 29, 2008)

for help with ants and breeding them check here - ANTSTORE World of Ants - • View forum - English forum


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## jartok (May 13, 2009)

the ants will suffer if you don't hibernate they will grow slower in numbers and the queens life with be shortened considerably


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

Horned Lizard Food - Harvester Ants


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## jartok (May 13, 2009)

oh they need harvester ants - you might aswell give up on the idea harvester ants are big ants and take long time to produce and most are only able to have 1 queen and with 100 ants a day for a lizard you will never be able to supply that


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## Philldan (Aug 16, 2007)

You can't breed ants quick enough for horned lizards... believe me, I've tried, they eat loads!!

There are much easier ways of giving them the acids they need, either gutload the crickets with nettles, or else add a small amount of soluble vitamin c to their drinking water - the latter was suggested by a respected breeder in the US!!


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## otb2 (Nov 30, 2006)

grrr, and I really wanted to give them a closer to natural diet, I know they eat harvester ants in the wild, however I thought that adding myrimca or formica ants to their diets as well as supplementing them with nettle gutloaded crickets would probably work. 
I accidently ate a Lasius Niger (black ant) yesterday whilst trying to pooter them up, that tasted pretty acidic!!


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## jartok (May 13, 2009)

lasius niger are monogyn so only 1 queen - rubra can have upto 100 queens but you will never be able to supply the amount ants they need especially without hibernating . try find alternatives


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## Philldan (Aug 16, 2007)

otb2 said:


> I accidently ate a Lasius Niger (black ant) yesterday whilst trying to pooter them up, that tasted pretty acidic!!


:lol2: My son did that the first time I asked him to go catch me some... after that he refused and I had to resort to buying red ants - blades biological will sell you ants by the 100, but mine seem to prefer the crixs to the ants anyway, maybe because they are CB and were never fed ants before I got them?!


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