So about a three days ago I decided that I couldn't handle the breeding crickets in my house any more! The chirping finnaly drove me to the point of action and I decided that I must move the cricket cage. So I kept some juvies in the house for feeding and moved all the adults outside into a 10 gallon terrarium with a layer of plain topsoil and a few pieces carboard. Since I have also been breeding mealworms, I decided to throw a few handfuls in just to see if they would breed. I am happy that I don't have any chirping in the house anymore but I have encountered a problem. The day after I put them outside I noticed that there were a lot of ants crawling on and around the container and upon closer inspection I saw a two groups pull out a dead cricket (one that had been dead for awhile must have been dead when I bought it) and a dead mealworm (no clue if it was already dead). I didn't think anything of it I just assumed they would clear out any bugs that died. No big deal, right? WRONG! A few minutes ago I pulled out the cardboard because we have a storm comming and I disturbed the substrate just to see if any of the mealworms are still there and I was shocked (and disgusted) to find millions of ants!!!! I promply jumped back from the container, threw the lid back on and washed my hands.
So what I know about the ants is that they are Allegheny Mound Ants and there are millions around here. They annually enter our home and if there is a piece of food dropped on the sidewalk they are swarming it in a matter of minutes. I am not too worried about the adult crickets as they are so large and seem to be well protected (exoskeletons) but I don't know about the mealworms. While they do have very hard exoskeletons and fairly large mandables they are living right along side the millions of ants that are burrowing down into the substrate. If these are able to survive for the time being I know they won't make it past their molting and I know the ants will eat the eggs of both the crickets and the mealworms.
So now for questions:
Has anyone ever bred crickets and/or mealworms outside?
What do I do about the ants?
Do you think they are actually killing the crickets and mealworms or just eating the dead ones?
Should I scratch the entire project and move the adult crickets back inside and dump the ants and mealworms?
Will ants cause a problem if my frogs eat them?
Thanks for any help,
Razz
So what I know about the ants is that they are Allegheny Mound Ants and there are millions around here. They annually enter our home and if there is a piece of food dropped on the sidewalk they are swarming it in a matter of minutes. I am not too worried about the adult crickets as they are so large and seem to be well protected (exoskeletons) but I don't know about the mealworms. While they do have very hard exoskeletons and fairly large mandables they are living right along side the millions of ants that are burrowing down into the substrate. If these are able to survive for the time being I know they won't make it past their molting and I know the ants will eat the eggs of both the crickets and the mealworms.
So now for questions:
Has anyone ever bred crickets and/or mealworms outside?
What do I do about the ants?
Do you think they are actually killing the crickets and mealworms or just eating the dead ones?
Should I scratch the entire project and move the adult crickets back inside and dump the ants and mealworms?
Will ants cause a problem if my frogs eat them?
Thanks for any help,
Razz