Liquid Feeders
Liquid feeders. We love them, but sometimes we hate them.
Renowned for making life "easy", liquid feeders can benefit an ant keeper by reducing daily tasks. If you're like us then you'll have many ant colonies to look after. Any piece of equipment that can be used to help reduce the daily grind a little is appreciated. But liquid feeders are renowned for leaking their contents, drowning ants, and just giving us the shits in general.
So, which liquid feeder should you get? Multiple brands now exist and finding one that suits your ants is important. Check out some that we recommend below.
byFormica liquid feeders
byFormica has easily been the market leader with liquid feeders. Their first liquid feeder went on sale a few years ago and has since seen several updates and upgrades after a few teething problems.
Their new liquid feeder GALILEO 360 has been well received and features a new threaded base to keep things tight. This liquid feeder uses gravity to dispense the liquid.
We would recommend this type of feeder for larger ants that are not prone to dumping sand and debris on liquid hazards. Although byFormica have claimed that this is no longer a problem with this new feeder.
Tarheel ants liquid feeders
Tarheel Ants prides itself on quality handmade products and that's exactly what you get with their liquid feeders.
We have quite a few of these little feeders and we can attest to their usefulness. Suited to a wide range of ant sizes we have used them with our tiny Pheidole and also our larger Myrmecia.
We have never witnessed any of our ants trying to bury them with debris. Again this feeder is utilising a gravity feed.
DSPDREW's 3D Printed liquid feeder
Looking more like an ancient egyptian wonder than a liquid feeder, dspdrew, the owner of Formiculture.com, has created a fantastic feeder. Although it's not actually for sale.
One of our favourite 3D printed designs here at Gamergate, this liquid feeder is utilising a wick effect to feed the ants. Rather than relying on gravity, the liquid contents of the feeder are sucked up by the kevlar wick inside.
The unique shape of the feeder makes it almost impossible for the feeder to be knocked over or for cheeky ants to dump debris on top.
Be sure to head over to the forums at Formiculture.com and check out dspdrew's trials and tribulations of the creation of this liquid feeder.
Homemade
Of course there's always the option of making them yourself. While we prefer to purchase tried and tested equipment we understand that not everyone has a disposable income.
If you're interested in trying some out for yourself check out this thread over at Formiculture.com where Crystals gives you a lesson.
Let us know in the comments if you have any other liquid feeders we should know about.
