Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey,
about a year ago i have a terrarium for some carnivorous plants... when i had to move, i had to take out all the plants, and the soil. this was good quality soil (no nutrients in it lol). So, i put it in 2 safeway bags, put it in a box, and forgot about it. today, when mixing up coco fiber with peat i remembered i had the ready to go mix, so i went into the sun room to find it. now, we have had ant problems for a long time in there, and we never found out why, but today I did: when i opened that box a hundred thousand ants swarmed out!i quickly closed the box to keep them from invading me and biting me all over... anyways is this safe for the vivarium? would it be bad to kill the colony? should i dump the osil into the garden and let the ants be free lol? or would they be a never ending supply of tasty snacks for the dart frogs? should i catch the queen and put her in? thanks for your input
-Spectabilis
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spectabilis.crosswinds.net-dart frog area added as soon as i can find password!
www.geocities.com/Spectabilis73-can't update this one

I say throw the entire thing out and be done with it. Ants can be nasty little creatures.

Even the smallest of ant colonies need food to thrive. I bet a starving colony would make quick work of a dart frog. Don't even bother with feeding the frogs a few ants. Its just not worth the hassle.

I wouldn't even want them in my yard let alone house.

-Richard
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1.1.4 D. auratus

Okay, here's the opposing opinion. I would take a few of the ants and feed them to your frog (when I say a few, I mean less than 3, and preferably just 1). If your frog eats it and doesn't do the spit out, tongue dragging, I'd use the soil and consider it a constant food source. Alternatively, I would just use the box of soil as an extra culture, sprinkling sugar in there from time to time (probably the better of the two ideas).

While most hobbyists in the U.S. fear feeding ants to frogs, it is important to note that a lot of European froggers readily use ants. Actually, the Shedd Aquarium uses ants of various sizes almost exclusively to feed their dart frog collection (or at least that was the case when my sister worked there).

You have to remember that darts feed almost exclusively on termites,ants, aphids, and other "custodial" bugs in nature, so if you have a small ant without big mandibles, I say you should at least try it. I know I've fed ants from colonies I've found in rotten logs before to the great satisfaction of my tincs.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

Homer,

I can see the point you are making. My impression of the post seems as if Spec is trying to have an ant colony living in his viv.

I have no problems with catching bugs to feed frogs, but this situation sounds messy.

-Rich
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1.1.4 D. auratus

Having the colony inside the terrarium is probably not the best of ideas. At best, it's a risky proposition with the incredible amount of power a colony of ants can have . . . I shudder to think about 10 ants carrying off a froglet like I've seen them do with earthworms. Granted, it depends heavily on the species of ant, as some do not even have mandibles capable of doing harm.

As with any thing in this hobby, a strong dose of common sense is recommended before trying anything.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

>>Having the colony inside the terrarium is probably not the best of ideas. At best, it's a risky proposition with the incredible amount of power a colony of ants can have . . . I shudder to think about 10 ants carrying off a froglet like I've seen them do with earthworms. Granted, it depends heavily on the species of ant, as some do not even have mandibles capable of doing harm.
>>
>>As with any thing in this hobby, a strong dose of common sense is recommended before trying anything.
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>>Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
>>Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

these are little black ants
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spectabilis.crosswinds.net-dart frog area added as soon as i can find password!
www.geocities.com/Spectabilis73-can't update this one

Last summer I fed my Juvy auratus almost exclusively on ants that i collected. The frog grew faster and bolder in the two month period than he did before or since then. After a while there were enough ants that escaped his tongue to start a small colony(the queen isnt the only one that can produce eggs). The awesome thing about it was that they kept the viv clean and because the frog ate so many of them the colony stayed small!
At first when i fed him he did the spit out thing but he tried again and when he got it in his mouth he did a funny little chew like people do when we eat something that is very hot. After a few days he got used to eating ants and ate them like a pro! the other thing that is good(in my opinion) is that the ants body is made of real strong chitin that seems to work for the frog as bran cerial does for people. in other words it really kept everything moving and you could see little and parts in his waste.
He also really seemed to like the ants more than anything else. he would stalk the ants on leaves above his head and jump up to get them. He doesnt seem to be that enthusiastic about fruit flies.
on the down side the ants are pretty good at getting out and if given enough time they will tunnel through the silicon between the pieces of glass.