I was wondering if anybody else has had this. My HL seems more interested in crickets, wax worms or mealworms than ants. Odd or not?
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I was wondering if anybody else has had this. My HL seems more interested in crickets, wax worms or mealworms than ants. Odd or not?
No it is not odd. Many HL's, especially freshly caught, are reluctant to feed on ants right away. Probably because of the stress factor of the complete change of environment. They just can't resist the temptation of the other juicy, high protein, high fat insect prey. Perhaps in wild conditions non-ant prey is harder for them to catch or come by. You have to be careful here, your HL should not eat large numbers of large prey. Make sure the mealworms and crickets are small.Only one or maybe two waxworms should be offered a week because of their large size, it's a digestability factor. You must keep offering the ants every day, first. Be persistant with the ants they are important.
Hey Jeff I've had the HL for about 3 months. They say CB who knows but I would say born this year. When I first got him started on ants just fine. Just seems lately not as interested as say two weeks ago. Don't get me wrong he's fat and healthy. By the way I've gotten my ants through info or Cable so I know they are the right food source, like I said during a previous message I did alot of research before I got him. Who knows Jeff maybe he's going through growing pains. But he just sucked 6 down so maybe it's just me being a little too concerned.
Nice to hear he's got weight and is healthy. Food intake will start to decrease rapidly for hibernation, if the HL is in good health. Skinny ones still eat through the winter because they would die otherwise.
I am going through a similar situation with my DHLs. They eat the ants, but not as many as I think they should be. I have lately been getting small moths and other winged insects from the backyard using a blacklight at night. It is amazing the hoops and hurdles the DHLs will go through chasing these items across the tank. They are far less enthusiastic about the ants. I don't like to feed store bought crickets or meal worms. I figure they are just not up to snuff, and since I live very near their natural stomping grounds the insects I catch are probably their natural prey. Anyway, I can't seem to catch enough winged things. I also experimented with some small grasshoppers caught on a hike last Sunday and they went wild for those as well. 
Cheers!
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