Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all. i do have another "food" question weve all heard, but a different one too.
as far as the food goes, whats the best way to catch those little black ants on the drive way? My 4 blue auratus did eat them last time, but i only put in like 15 or so. can i keep feeding them this as a supp once a week or so? if so, any ideas on catching them easy?

and also, my tank has a little "pool" in it below the waterfall, but some rocks and wood in the water are starting to building up a lot of algea. i was wondering if i could put a little fish in there to keep it clean? if so, what kind? and again, its a small pool, 8"x5" or so, and 2 inches deep.

thanks!

For people who are collecting masses of ants, they usually dig under a nest, and pile the dirt onto a sheet and collect the ants that run from it. I've done it and it worked pretty well, but in the end I found it not worth it. The ants so easily escape. I also laid out chips for those blacktop-sidewalk little ants and knocked them into a container, which worked well (but again not worth it). I really use termites in place of ants. Termites are not as easy to stumble upon and can't be collected right outside your house (or at least hopefully )
I usually just go to an area where there is fallen, hard wood (that is soft from termites and weather) and split it open in places and knock in termites. Then I sift them through a screen to collect the wood I knocked into the container as well; I then keep them in deli cups (a couple hundred per cup; you always end up collecting more than you think) with wet, dark construction paper fit to the jar. They are so easy to use in a bowl, but without a bowl they often burrow into the ground...like in my vivarium...eh. Try termites if you can get them.
-Sean

Hey, you just contacted an ant-capturing fiend. Put a Deli-cup on its side, with a slice of orange sprinkled with a lace of sugar inside of it, put it right next to the ant trail or nest entrance. You might dribble just a bit of orange juice outside the cup to give the first explorer a hint where to go. They communicate quickly. Pick it up and cap it off when you have a load of ants. You can store them in the refrigerator for a day or even more, which will immobilize them. When you feed them, they will gradually warm up and move again. You may have to change the bait. If your particular ants don't go for sweetness, try a piece of raw meat. They may not have heard about the Atkins Diet scandal yet.

There is a third method with some potential for the brave masochists into pain. I do not recommend it for the more senstive skinned folk. My daughter and I have never been able to pass up an ant pile without kicking it. There is just something about a huge pile of leaf litter full of stinging mound ants that simply has a sign on it: "Kick Me." It might be one way to collect them, using your body as bait and your underware as a trap. We have learned to kick and run like hell, not waiting to collect. But you don't want those kind of ants for frog food anyway.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

Hahaha nice story. If there is one thing that troubles me while I'm herping it's ants. It's always lifting that perfect flat rock or log to expose a great snake, toad, whatever...whenever I disturb them, I never know...but when I see the first ant I get that instinctual supiriority saying "Leave it, 1 hand on the rock, 1 hand on the camera". Every place that screams "lift me!", what can I say, I always fall for the trojan horse... they give me a beeautiful specimen and pictures to prove it...and a leg full of ants and red spots to prove it.
-Sean

One of my more memorable ant experiences was years ago when riding motorcycles in the desert with my husband and some of his raunchy, obnoxious friends, I stopped to pee out of sight behind a little knoll. Just as I noticed angry red ants crawling up my leg, the whole gang came bursting over the knoll whooping at me. My first instinct was to stand up and pull up my pants mid-stream, being a rather shy and modest lady at that time. The ants weren't too happy about this maneuver either. Try riding a motorcycle 100 miles back to camp in the desert in wet pants on top of ant stings. The only reasons the "boys" lived to tell about it is because they could ride faster than I could and I wasn't packing a gun. Ask any woman: "Penis envy" is not about sex--it's about not having to squat to pee on angry ants.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

While I have not tried it, I have heard peanut butter is a good bait for ants.
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Josh Willard
www.joshsfrogs.com

Ok, thanks all, lots of responces. But, still the main question is what about the fish? Will it be ok in there? If so, what kind is good?

Also, I got a tiny little mushroom growin under the brom leaf. Its only about 1/2 in now, should I pull it, or let it keep goin? thanks

Your waterway is pretty shallow for fish, but you could try one of the small gold Chinese algae eaters and see if it survives. I use them in my paludarium, along with a variety of small tetras, but the aquarium section of this is deeper and bigger than yours, going from 12 inches over falls down to 6 inches in a 135 gallon tank. The better solution might be to introduce aquatic plants to shade the waterway. Algae is stimulated by light. It may take awhile, but things will adjust. Leave the mushrooms. They will add interest while they are evident, but will cycle out. Most of us are thrilled to find a mushroom fruiting out. They won't harm your frogs.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus