Quote Originally Posted by Reggie
Oh, ok. Do you feed him ants since he is an anteater?
No they just get ants for treats and when they find some when out and about. It's been shown they don't do well on a diet of ants and termites in captivity. We have different species here than in South America. Even in a study done in their native habitat at a tamandua rehab they did bad on a diet of nests gathered from the wild and brought to them. They did much better on a man made diet.

Why is likely variety. You can't bring all the species of ants and termites they would be eating to them. different species live in trees, old wood, the ground, in ant or termite made nests. Even in the same species those from different colonies will have different nutrients from eating different things from the different areas.

I made my diet based on successful zoo diets and a study analyzing the stomach contents of wild tamanduas, which is essentially the same as daily dietary requirements since that is what they are living on naturally. Then a few adjustments to what worked best for them as individuals.

They do have freeze dried Asian tree ants as the insect part of their diet mix right now but I rotate insects for variety.