Does the second pet ant replace the first?

[varset]

I fed the Red Ant Queen and she gave me a pet. I put things in his inventory and then got a second pet from the Fire Ant Queen. And now I can’t go into the red ant’s inventory. And he doesn't follow me, although I see him. I built a house for a pet, and a fiery pet settled there. I built a second house next to the red pet, but I can’t place him in this house - it’s as if the pet doesn’t exist. Is this a game bug or can there only be one pet ant? And I also wanted to feed the Queen of Black Ants.

[Ensign Toby]

I have all 3 Pet Ants (they're SO cute...), and all have inventory and their own houses...
They are a PITA to keep fed, but easily doable by raiding the Ant Den Food Stores regularly.
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At first guess, I would say:
* The Pet Houses might be too close together (or are glitching into something near by)
Mine are kept apart by almost 2 full Pet House widths, and they seem to work as intended

* Only 1 Pet will follow you at a time, but you "should" be able to change them out at will
If an Ant isn't following, just move about 100-300 cm away so it will teleport to you.
If it's still glitched, save/quit/relaunch and reload the game and try this again.

* Make SURE you keep your Pet Ant's happy (by feeding them each game day)
Ignore the Pet House preferred food and use: Cookies, Hot Dogs, Apples, or Rotten Food.

* With the NG+ update, you WANT the Baby Fire Ant as your pet over the others
You get a combat buff in the base game and in the NG+ iterations. Combat Buffs are Gud.

Good Luck.

[varset]

Thanks a lot! Perhaps I did something wrong because I saw both pets active at the same time. The second pet was nearby, and the first was far away. But for some reason I couldn’t control my first pet, even when I placed a house next to it. I couldn't place a pet there, and when I tried to do so, the message "No Pets" was displayed.
I used an earlier save to first build houses for them, then placed the first pet in the house, and after that I went to the Queen for the second pet. Now everything is fine, I can switch between pets and both are available. But I haven’t figured out how to feed them yet - I put fried aphids next to them, but they don’t eat them.
Thanks again for your help!

[Ensign Toby]

But I haven’t figured out how to feed them yet - I put fried aphids next to them, but they don’t eat them.

The Pet Ants will eat (2-3 pieces per game day, each):
* Apple Bits
* Billy Hog Bites
* Cookies (and, for that matter, who doesn't?)
* Rotten Food

Just drop it where they can "see it" (by Pet House is good), and they'll scamper over.

The legacy pets (Aphid, Gnat, & Weevil) eat the food listed on their Pet House stats.

[varset]

Thank you very much again! I’ll build them a special cafe.