well i don't currently own any animals that eat ants or termites, but i know quite a few species of herps do. i know that a varied diet is wonderful and was wondering, just out of curiousity, if there was any place where us herp-lovers could purchase ants and/or termites for out pets? could you just buy an ant farm and order ants for it and feed those off and just keep ordering more ants from the ant farm company? what about termites? do they sell those anywhere? could you just collect ants/termites from the wild from nests, rotten logs, etc and feed them off or would they have parasites/disease/etc that would be harmful to herps? jus' wunderin' . . . :wink: edited to say: hey i found a website on horned lizard care that suggested this place: http://www.infowest.com/life/hornfood.htm
Hello Cynthia. I don't know of any commercial source for ants or termites but I did read of one individual who cultures termites and uses them for hatchling lizard food. One the world's most reknown reptile breeders runs his operation http://www.agamainternational down in central Alabama. Bert Langerwerf is the master recycler and problem solver when it comes to innovation and economy. He is THE "McGiver" of the herp world with more successes in reptile breeding than some of the largest zoos. Check out his website. Anyway, I recall reading on his website about how he collects corrugated cardboard boxes (the kind you find while dumpster diving behind the local supermarket), breaks the boxes out so they are flat and stacks them in piles in the shaded woods on his property. Naturally, the termites find the stacked cardboard and when it is damp and on the ground it is like "termite candy". It is then an easy matter to separate the sheets of cardboard and collect the termites into another container. Pretty nifty, huh? The scrap cardboard is free and nature provides the termites. I suppose with several stacks you will have a ready and renewable source of food. George
Interesting question Cyn. I may actually have to try that cardboard trick just to be trying! lol I had never actually wondered about that, but there are a lot of herps that eats ants and termites as a staple in their diet so I guess you'd have to get them one way or another!
coolness, george! thanks! and i can see you out in the woods collecting cardboard, angie . . . :roll: :wink:
I used to feed termites to my beardies (along with other bugs,) when they were babies. I buried a log in the backyard at my dads house, and during my next visit home, I dug it up and collected. I had to feed them other stuff before I gave them to them, but I liked them because they were small and soft.
