# How complicated is it to farm ants at a level that they could be used as food?



## Borris+Natasha (Aug 28, 2011)

Gday Folks, 

Just doing a bit of preliminary research into the issue, how easy is it to farm ants to a sustainable level that they could be used to feed an individual Thorny Devil? 

Any suggestions, stories or what ever would be appreciated

Cheers
Tom


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## leamos (Aug 28, 2011)

Well considering a thorny devil will eat up to 1000+ ants a day, you would need an ant colony consisting of at least a million (if not more) to support just one devil, even zoos with tonnes of money and resources struggle to keep these guys happy in captivity


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## Bez84 (Aug 28, 2011)

Apparently they only eat ants off ant trails so farming your own prob wouldnt work..


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## Fuscus (Aug 28, 2011)

The standard way is to attract the ants into the appropriate enclosure using a trail of sugar water


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## Jackrabbit (Aug 28, 2011)

I guess theoretically it would be possible. you would need to find a queen ant then be able to provide an area big enough for the ants to create a colony that will survive. So now you would need to provide food for the ants. Not sure what that would be.

then once you have the ant colony thriving throw in your Thorny Devil (love them by the way) and watch him hoover them up. It would need enough space so that he could get out of the way of the ants when he wants to rest so it isn't over run and stressed out by the ants.

I would think all things considered it would be very difficult to keep Thorny Devils in a private collection. Maybe you could move to where one lives in the wild and visit it periodically so you can pretend it is yours.

Good luck what ever you choose.


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## K3nny (Aug 29, 2011)

you probably also know this already, but thorny devils only eat several species of ants, talk about a specialized diet


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 29, 2011)

Where would one get one anyway? (apart from the black market or poached)


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## $NaKe PiMp (Aug 29, 2011)

many captive institutions have failed to keep this species.

prob the best way to keep them would be to move somewhere like Alice springs, and get a log drill holes all through it and pack the holes with honey,take them out into the wild and leave them,then come back later when its covered in ants and put the log in thorny enclosure. 
have a few logs in differnet places and you would get a variety of ant species.


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 29, 2011)

I dont think that would work so well as apparently they will only eat from a trail of ants


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## william_blakers (Aug 29, 2011)

I read somewhere that a zoo or something similar used old tins with jam smeared in them. They put the tins out and about near appropriate ant nests and then collect them during the day to chuck in the thorny enclosure they have these on the go all the time across several ant colonies.


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## crocdoc (Aug 29, 2011)

There was a thread on this just a few days ago: http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/australian-lizards-5383/thorny-devils-168504/
Luckily, the genus of ants they feed on form huge colonies with satellite sub-colonies, so it's possible to get several colonies going but requires a fair bit of work. Talk to the reptile keepers at Sydney Wildlife World about how they used to keep their thorny devils, or to the keepers at Melbourne Museum, who have been keeping them successfully for years. 

IMO, though, you're going to be up for a lot of constant, hard work to keep the molochs well fed and going strong.


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## Defective (Aug 29, 2011)

my mum use to keep one when she was a kid. one end of string tied to an orange tree the other behind the false head of the thorny devil. i have a photo of it sitting on her shoulder


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 29, 2011)

Defective said:


> my mum use to keep one when she was a kid. one end of string tied to an orange tree the other behind the false head of the thorny devil. i have a photo of it sitting on her shoulder



She kept a lizard tied to a tree????? :shock:


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## gillsy (Aug 29, 2011)

$NaKe PiMp said:


> many captive institutions have failed to keep this species.
> 
> prob the best way to keep them would be to move somewhere like Alice springs, and get a log drill holes all through it and pack the holes with honey,take them out into the wild and leave them,then come back later when its covered in ants and put the log in thorny enclosure.
> have a few logs in differnet places and you would get a variety of ant species.



Alice springs Reptile park do this, they get a larva rock normally used for aquariums as it contains holes and fill it with honey and/or dog/cat food. They leave it outside and then put it in the enclosure with the Devils. They also have outdoor pits which I believe from memory contain ant colonies and they actually rotate the display animals with the outside pit animals.


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## Borris+Natasha (Aug 30, 2011)

Yeah well. It may not be complicated just bloody expensive, time consuming and space consuming. 

Thanks
Folks


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## Defective (Aug 31, 2011)

Goldmember said:


> She kept a lizard tied to a tree????? :shock:



this was back in the 60's and out in the bush where the law didn't care because people caught them illegally anyway. probably should have mentioned the bit of string was massive like 15mtrs and he had a hide for when it got to hot and a plentiful supply of ants...


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 31, 2011)

Too bad if a predator came along.......


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## K3nny (Aug 31, 2011)

Defective said:


> this was back in the 60's and out in the bush where the law didn't care because people caught them illegally anyway. probably should have mentioned the bit of string was massive like 15mtrs and he had a hide for when it got to hot and a plentiful supply of ants...



lol for a sec thought it was hung on a tree or something


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## Jimbobulan (Sep 1, 2011)

What about if the ant colonies were all kept in seperate tanks but joined by pipes to the devil enclosure with stoppers in the end of each. Then make a sugar water trail from a different tank each day to a food source on the other side of the devil enclosure. then there will always be ant trails.


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## Defective (Sep 4, 2011)

Goldmember said:


> Too bad if a predator came along.......



hence the false head they ALL have..the lump behind their real head. they tuck their head down and a predator gets that instead...let up, mum was like 10


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## Fantazmic (Sep 4, 2011)

I dont know what you are all worried about.......remember those ant farms we all had a kids....just use a few of those lol


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## Jk888 (Sep 9, 2011)

only way ive seen anyone keep a devil happy is make a movable enclosure an every day place the enclosure over the ant nest an place the devil in there thus food


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## GSXR_Boy (Sep 10, 2011)

Maybe need something like this in your yard? Fwd to near the end and see how big an ants nest really is! [video=youtube;qtzkz-omeqI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtzkz-omeqI&amp;feature=related[/video]


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