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Post by omega489 on Aug 5, 2010 20:48:35 GMT 1
As I'm sure you know its not too fun to go looking for insects in the middle of winter and that Ant jelly isn't exactly normal ant diet also I don't have the money to buy things like dried flies on the internet but can I make my own alternative?
An alternative such as drying out wasps and flies caught in insecticide free traps in the summer and keeping them in an air tight container until winter?
At the moment I have a jam jar full of drowned wasps because my parents fill the jars with watered down jam, leave it outside and the wasps drown and die.
I know insects don't need any preserving when being kept for years on display but is it the same as keeping it for food?
Do you think this will work? Any ideas or tips would be helpful.
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Post by thomas on Aug 5, 2010 21:33:38 GMT 1
It will. I already do this. Thomas
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2010 10:18:22 GMT 1
Hm. I think the meat inside the fly/wasps exoskeleton would decay. I believe they do not need preservation when they go on display because they have exoskeletons. So the meat just drys up and rots away inside the and the bones on the outside stay fine.
I think the wasps insides would rot even more so if drowned in jam water. Nice and moist for bacteria to decay the meat.
Im no expert, just my opinion so i could be way off. Someone correct me?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2010 14:22:46 GMT 1
Kipita is absolutely right. They would just decay.
You can freeze them and then when you are ready to feed them you could thaw them out for 15 minutes.
Flavus
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Post by omega489 on Aug 15, 2010 15:16:31 GMT 1
Ok, I think freezing them will do. Thanks for the advice.
I didn't want to try it until I had heard what experiences you guys had.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2010 2:08:00 GMT 1
Freezing would be fine. It will perfectly preserve the insect for as long as you like. Like flavus101 said just thaw them out first then feed the ants with them.
Another little tip, pop into your local pet store the bigger the better and find a member of staff that seems the most approachable and explain that you have an ant farm and that you need way worms etc to feed them. Most places will give you these free as they have loads to feed there live animals and lots die before they can be used so they will happily give you them.
Hope this helps
Tweedie2000
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2010 21:36:22 GMT 1
Well - you know - best way in my opinion - get a cricket or roach colony running - so that you have a constant supply of FRESH meat ;D one more thing - this will sound nasty - cut the fresh insects into pieces, that will do two things: *1st - make the corpse more efficient - because the ants sometimes fail to crack the ectosceleton and gather all the meat within. *2nd - it will make the ants waste less energy on actually getting the meat out of the corpse.... ....freezing by the way - is not a good solution in a period longer than (in my experience 3 months), maybe thats the fault of my fridge, maybe - it's just the way it actually happens - but instead of staying fresh - the insect corpses become juice-less and dry... I actually had a problem before I got a constant supply - the ants would actually not eat a 5month frozen fly after it has been defreezed... so freezing is good - but not perfect... P.S. This is totally my expirience ;D and I ain't a specialist of any kind - just my opinion ;D
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