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[CLOSED] Devi's 'Petrified Pogonomyrmex' Journal

pogonomyrmex pogonomyrmex occidentalis

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#1 Offline Devi - Posted August 25 2020 - 4:47 PM

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First Entry:  Aug. 25 2020

 

     I found this queen a couple months ago with my good friend Spazmops. (go check out his Pogonomyrmex journal here! https://www.formicul...ntalis-journal/    )  I was out looking for ants, and found one stray alate pogonomyrmex.  I called up Spazmops right away, and he came over to meet me.  Not long after that, we found a couple more alates.  Frantically trying to find the source, we stumbled upon a large pogonomyrmex mound with hundreds of alates pouring out of the main entry/exit point.  We got lucky with the timing, it was no less than perfect.  Within ten minutes, the ants started taking flight one by one.  They weren't the most ...errr... coordinated fliers, I saw multiple ramming into trees and spiraling out of control, but hey I doubt I'd be very coordinated if I tried to fly for the first time either.  Soon after, it was raining hundreds of thousands of mating pogonomyrmex.  I must have got hit by at least fifty.  In the midst of all the chaos, I hadn't brought the most ideal ant catching supplies, but I made do with it and brought home around five.

  

     In the next week or so, we'd go out to a different spot, (an abandoned trail) and hunt for founding chambers.  We found and dug up lots of queens, (around thirty) in the course of about a week.  We also had some close calls with among other things a massive hornet nest in a log we had looked at in hopes of finding ant colonies.  Amazingly, we made it home unscathed, and I immediately set out to get together some formicaria.  I wasn't expecting to bring home that many ants so I had to buy more materials, but within a few days, I had them all set up.  Some in tub and tubes setup, and some in just test tubes.  We ended up selling most, and because of a couple deaths due to parasites, I only have one now.  I currently have her in a Type III Mini Hearth by THA.  I'm overall very satisfied with it.  I put her in the fridge for 45 minutes and then after taking her out, hastily took out all the substrate from the test tube.  I carefully dumped her in the mini hearth and did my best to get the eggs in with a wet q-tip. (My best isn't very good unfortunately)  

 

     Overall, she is off to a shaky start.  For the first couple days, she ran around in the outworld like crazy and enjoyed snacking on all, yes, ALL, of her brood. Honestly not too surprising although a little disappointing. Then she finally settled down in the nest and started laying eggs again.  She can't seem to get comfortable though...  She has moved her brood pile from the nestmate, to a corner, to another corner, and it is now on top of the water tower.  I hope she continues to progress.  I will let you know when anything else significant happens or when someone requests an update.  I am planning on getting her some sort of heating source, I think she will do a lot better with that.  

 

    If you made it this far, I truly thank you for reading.  I hope you enjoyed it and I will continue to post updates.  Please give me any feedback you have about the layout I chose for this journal, and if you have any tips.  

 

Good luck anters!

 

Be kinder than necessary,

Devi

 

The mound I from which all the queens were found. You can see all of the reproductives swarming the top


Edited by Devi, January 19 2021 - 7:53 AM.

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#2 Offline DDD101DDD - Posted August 25 2020 - 5:05 PM

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I'd suggest taking the tube connecting the mini hearth and outworld out, because they can't really climb on the tubing very well.


He travels, he seeks the p a r m e s a n.


#3 Offline Spazmops - Posted August 25 2020 - 5:15 PM

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I'd suggest taking the tube connecting the mini hearth and outworld out, because they can't really climb on the tubing very well.

You can take it out? I sanded the inside of mine


Co-owner and founder of Mountain Myrmeculture and The Menagerie Discord Server

Ants I have:

1 Formica fusca group- 0 workers

1 Tetramorium immigrans colony-20 workers

1 Dorymyrmex insanus- 1 queen, used to have workers

 

1 large P. occidentalis colony- around 50 workers, plenty of brood

 

 


#4 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted August 26 2020 - 5:53 AM

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My colony could climb the tubing fine. They only fell if the nest got bumped.
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#5 Offline DDD101DDD - Posted August 26 2020 - 6:26 AM

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I'd suggest taking the tube connecting the mini hearth and outworld out, because they can't really climb on the tubing very well.

You can take it out? I sanded the inside of mine

 

You can take it out if you pull on it really hard. If you sanded it down it's probably ok.
 


He travels, he seeks the p a r m e s a n.


#6 Offline Devi - Posted September 16 2020 - 11:56 AM

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Second Entry:  Sep. 16 2020

 

     Unfortunately my pogonomyrmex queen hasn't been doing very well.  She only has a couple eggs, and refuses to lay more.  I have tried putting more seeds in, but she won't eat.  I am going to get a heating source for her in hopes that that will help her.  I will edit this with pics once I get it.  Hopefully this will help!

 

EDIT:  I went to a local pet store and found a reptile heating pad that should work just fine.  (I'll link the picture below.)  I put two mini hearths partly on it, one of my tetramorium colonies, and the founing pogonomyrmex queen.  The tetras immediately moved to the corner where the heat was, and that make me happy.  They since then have moved again, so I think they are getting comfortable with the heat.  I also put my pogonomyrmex queen partly on it, and she is doing good.  She seems to be a little bit more calm and subdued so that's good.  I'm hoping this will excelerate brood growth a lot, because she doesn't have much, only a few eggs after three months.  Down below I will include pictures of the heating pad, (4 watt) the mini hearth placement, (Should I do the water tower side or the other?) and the tetras moving towards the heat.

  

 

Be kinder than necessary,

Devi

 

 

Screenshot_20200917-072811_Gallery.jpg 20200917_072856.jpg 20200917_073017.jpg


Edited by Devi, September 17 2020 - 5:32 AM.


#7 Offline ANTdrew - Posted September 16 2020 - 12:06 PM

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Dang! How are the for sale queens doing?
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#8 Offline Spazmops - Posted September 16 2020 - 1:02 PM

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Dang! How are the for sale queens doing?

Really well. One has pupae and the other will any day now.


Co-owner and founder of Mountain Myrmeculture and The Menagerie Discord Server

Ants I have:

1 Formica fusca group- 0 workers

1 Tetramorium immigrans colony-20 workers

1 Dorymyrmex insanus- 1 queen, used to have workers

 

1 large P. occidentalis colony- around 50 workers, plenty of brood

 

 


#9 Offline Devi - Posted September 17 2020 - 5:20 AM

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Dang! How are the for sale queens doing?

They are doing good!  One buyer in Canada reported nanitics already!  I got a heating pad and it is working well! (See above)



#10 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted September 17 2020 - 5:35 AM

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Dang! How are the for sale queens doing?

They are doing good!  One buyer in Canada reported nanitics already!  I got a heating pad and it is working well! (See above)

 

Do you mean Colorado? Or can Pogonomyrmex be sold to Canada from the US?



#11 Offline Devi - Posted September 17 2020 - 5:50 AM

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Dang! How are the for sale queens doing?

They are doing good!  One buyer in Canada reported nanitics already!  I got a heating pad and it is working well! (See above)

 

Do you mean Colorado? Or can Pogonomyrmex be sold to Canada from the US?

 

They can with a permit I believe.  Our buyer in Canada was buying from another seller near us, so we gave him the ants, and he shipped them, to avoid multiple shipping costs and confusions. 


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#12 Offline Mariaface - Posted September 17 2020 - 3:47 PM

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Very nice!! I just ordered a queen from THA, definitely going to follow along here :) 


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Camponotus chromaiodes

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

And hoping to buy more, let me know if you can ship or are in super north NJ like me!

 

Are you in New Jersey, USA? Join us in this anting thread!


#13 Offline Devi - Posted September 18 2020 - 5:41 AM

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Third Entry:  Sep. 18 2020

 

I know it hasn't been too long since I last updated this, but at this point, I'm getting kind of worried!  She has absolutely no brood, won't eat at all, and travels around in circles for some reason.  I have an awesome Coast headlamp that has a strong red light on it and I've been using it a lot at night to observe the ants as naturally as I can, so they don't freak out.  While all of my other queens are doing normal queen stuff, this one seems to be really weird.  She'll just stand there for minutes and then freak out and run around in circles even though nothing happened...  I have been putting in dandelion seeds in the outworld, and even dropped a few in her nest, but she's not interested.  If anyone has any tips or ideas on how I can, for lack of better word, "jumpstart" my queen into laying eggs and having stable behavior please let me know.  :)  Unfortunately, due to die-offs, I was only able to keep one queen of the queens we sold, and I think I picked a dud.  :*(

 

Be kinder than necessary,

Devi



#14 Offline Devi - Posted September 21 2020 - 8:54 AM

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Fourth Entry:  Sep. 21 2020  

 

I think I found the issue.  A rookie mistake I made may have caused all of these issues I've been having with this queen. Whenever I was moving her into a mini hearth, I read online that you should put her in the fridge for about an hour to "subdue" her and then the move is easier because you can move the substrate/brood easier.  I took my aquarium thermometer, (I have fish and frogs) and put it in the fridge a couple days ago to measure the temperature.  42 degrees.  That can't be good for an ant queen, and that is probably the cause of my queen's issues.  Do you guys think that's a probably cause?   



#15 Offline Antkeeper01 - Posted September 21 2020 - 9:02 AM

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maybe I put my newly introduced queen in the refrigerator overnight at 38 degrees she woke up then lay upside down I came back a few hours later she was up and moving and also her gastor was bloated or was it just the sun, so I don't think so that's what is wrong.


1X Pogonomyrmex occidentalis 40-50 Workers

1X Solenopsis molesta 10 Workers (mono)

Ants I Want: Crematogaster sp, Camponotus Sp., Ponera Pennsylvanica, Mymercocystus sp.

 

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#16 Offline Devi - Posted September 24 2020 - 6:55 PM

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Get ready for an update!  I have given my ants a week long break from me bothering them, and I have waited (quite impatiently I might add) and it's finally almost Friday!  Tomorrow I will check out this queen.  I'm hoping she will have brood!  Think good thoughts!


Edited by Devi, September 24 2020 - 6:56 PM.


#17 Offline TechAnt - Posted September 25 2020 - 7:41 AM

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Why is it [CLOSED] ? Did something happen?


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My Ants:
(x1) Campontous semitstaceus ~20 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Camponotus vicinus ~10 workers, 1 Queen (all black variety)
(x1) Tetramorium immigrans ~100 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Myrmercocystus mexicanus -1 Queen
(x2) Mymercocystus mimcus -1 Queen
(x1) Mymercocystus testaceus ~45 workers, 1 Queen

#18 Offline Devi - Posted September 25 2020 - 7:48 AM

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Fifth and Final Entry:  Sep. 25 2020  

 

Unfortunately, this queen passed away in the last week.  I have been very worried about her, and was hoping she would make it because she was my only pogonomyrmex queen left, but this morning when I checked on her, she was deceased in her mini hearth.  She was one of my first queens, and probably my favorite.  I hope that I will someday be able to take care of this fascinating species again.  She taught me a lot about antkeeping, and was very pretty.  I had her in a mini hearth, but didn't get a heater until about a month in.  Overall, I am very sad about her.  The hit is equally hard on me because I have a tetramorium colony in a mini hearth with about 30 nanitics, and in the past 24 hours most have died in rapid succession.  They have water, humidity, and access to heat.  I don't know why they died too.  I wanted to have at least two or maybe three queens to keep in case something like this happened, but due to a few deaths, I had to sell the reserves.  Thank you everybody for reading this journal, I appreciate it.

 

Be kinder that necessary,

Devi

 

       R.I.P  9/25/2020


Edited by Devi, September 25 2020 - 7:50 AM.

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#19 Offline KitsAntVa - Posted September 25 2020 - 7:53 AM

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Dang sorry about that I knew as soon as I saw closed she had died :(
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We don’t talk about that

#20 Offline TechAnt - Posted September 25 2020 - 7:57 AM

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Rest in peace.


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My Ants:
(x1) Campontous semitstaceus ~20 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Camponotus vicinus ~10 workers, 1 Queen (all black variety)
(x1) Tetramorium immigrans ~100 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Myrmercocystus mexicanus -1 Queen
(x2) Mymercocystus mimcus -1 Queen
(x1) Mymercocystus testaceus ~45 workers, 1 Queen





Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: pogonomyrmex, pogonomyrmex occidentalis

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