Ants

[Leopardbreeder]

Has anyone ever tried feeding domestically raised ants for feeding to your Leos. I know that some species of ants can get quite large. I am also almost sure you can get large quanitys of them, and they breed fairly easy. Giant ant farm time?

 

[cooter]

I dont know about domestic but have heard lots people against feeding wild due to possible pesticides. I would wonder about the fact if they could bite and hurt gecko too.

 

[Leopardbreeder]

Yea, I wouldn't feed wild caught. I just found out, its illegal to ship queen ants, I would have to catch one then.....hmmm.

 

[cooter]

Any exp catching the queen's? I found a huge ant colony under a rubarb leaf pile!

 

[Gecko]

Find a fairly harmless ant and put it on your tongue and you'll immeadately relize why most species except specialists don't eat ants . . . even the ones that don't bite/sting,etc.

Feeding ants to a non ant eater is a bad idea IMO.

 

[Leopardbreeder]

Ok, but would there be a business with chameleon owners?

 

[Gecko]

From what little I know about chams probably not. . . I can think of only a few groups of lizards that really eat a lot of ants off the top of my head.

Don't get me wrong I can think of a few things where a small part of the diet may be ants, but things that eat only ants or a large amount are usually pretty specialized with regards to diet.

 

[GroovyGeckos.com]

Ants "bite", and spray formic acid, as a defense mechanism. I am pretty sure your Leos, and many other lizards would turn their noses up at them in an instant.

 

[Stitch]

First I would like to state that I have never eaten an ant. But the next time you see an ant smash it with your bare finger and then smell it. They give off a potent smell and I would only imagine that they would taste bad too. I have had 6 chameleons and I don't think 1 of them would ever be interested in ants, they are just not big enough for them to eat. Most of my chameleons, as adults, would not go after crickets smaller then 1/4 inch. I don't think they were big enough to get their attention.

P.S. Anything with a mouth can and will bite if threatened.