Leaf Cutting Ant Forum

Just been doing some research. Found this, its fantastic, check out the post in Advanced Section, Behaviour forum.

Apparently ants fed on Glucose live twice as long as those fed only on fungus. So the implications of this are that if you are raising a small colony you should provide a source of glucose because in small colonies in captivity, the life span of the workers can be important if the colony is struggling and spending a long time not expanding. Losing workers may be a significant cause of colony failure in instances where the development of the colony has stalled.

Andrew, do you think the principle could extend to fructose. If so, it would be worth noting that apple and grapes (raisins) might have the same effect.

I have both in powder forms left over from my Hawk moth breeding last year. Would you suggest a sprinkle of powder on the food plant or something like a 5% mix with water in a drinking pot ?

RichardP wrote:Andrew, do you think the principle could extend to fructose. If so, it would be worth noting that apple and grapes (raisins) might have the same effect.

Not sure about this, came from a paper which is on the list to study shortly so will update here once I have read it properly. For now though the key seems to be Glucose.

Andyj wrote:I have both in powder forms left over from my Hawk moth breeding last year. Would you suggest a sprinkle of powder on the food plant or something like a 5% mix with water in a drinking pot ?

I would say 5% solution is a more precise measure than sprinkled form but try both and report back, this stuff is new!!