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Odontomachus awkward behavior


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#1 Offline FloridaAnts - Posted June 22 2022 - 7:39 PM

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So, today, I finally remember to post this.

So first, I would like to start out, is it me or do Odontomachus nests have a distinct smell. All my Odontomachus colonies I have kept, have had this weird stench after a day, but not matter how clean the outworld was, you could smell their nest. I almost wonder if this is their pheromones or nest scent, but whatever the case, I can’t smell it in wild colonies(Although I haven’t gotten real close because I would look like I was drunk if a guy just started smelling the ground)

Also, I would like to mention what seems like a joint partnership between Odontomachus species, and Pheidole megacephala. I sprinkled rice near their nest, impediment Pheidole find the rice, send majors to quickly bring some back. Then, the ants scatter and Odontomachus comes, and takes all the rice…

Also, I have noticed whenever I cause raids on a nearby termite colony, Odontomachus will send out 10-20 workers, and pheidole will charge into the tunnels- both at the same time, ignoring each other. Not only this, but I have dug into Odontomachus founding chambers to come across what? A P. Megacephala queen, and alive?

Now that just seems like maybe it’s they are smaller and avoid Odontomachus, but no. They seem to be attracted towards them. A P. Megacephala colony of mine I found one day, missing half its brood and the queen… I set the tube down and was like “Oh shoot, might as well let them join the colony. I checked in all moist dirt and all, no ants. No dead colonies. No, they moved in with my small Odontomachus colony, but in the water reservoir…. The nest was 3 ft away… they had a queen with 2 full legs… They could have moved into some dirt, or even the water sponge in an acrylic nest, but no, they had to go live with the Odontomachus colony. Couldn’t have stayed put, or moved in with the colony next to them who also could get out, they had to go the extra 3 feet to be with their beloved Odontomachus. I left them their thinking the Odontomachus we’re going to die in battle, but no, they coexisted. The Odos later moved into a new nest due to the fact I couldn’t water them with their smaller friends inside… and the P. Megacephala colony even got to eat their leftovers…

I bring this up now due to the fact I continue to find Odontomachus coexisting with Pheidole, and when you remove one of two competing Odontomachus colonies, the middle man, or I should say the middle child, thrives by now getting to raid the disturbed dirt of any creatures left, and it allows more termites for them instead of having to share with two mature colonies.

#2 Offline FinWins - Posted July 18 2022 - 8:35 AM

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When I had my O. haematodus colony (they died) they did have an interesting smell, to me it smelt like wet dead insects.
  • FloridaAnts likes this

I keep: C. modoc, C. sansabeanus  :D, C. maritimus, Formica argentea, M. mexicanus  :D, Odontomachus brunneus :D, Pogonomyrmex californicus, Pogonomyrmex rugosus, 

 


#3 Offline FloridaAnts - Posted July 18 2022 - 12:18 PM

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Curiosity made me: Did you get males? Could they climb smooth surfaces?

#4 Offline FinWins - Posted July 18 2022 - 12:49 PM

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Ok awkward but I killed one of the rarest ants in California. It may have been my inexperience but I think it was the seller’s fault because when I got them they were in an asperater bottle (so I think they were freshly wild caught and not raised from a queen as he had made it sound) and they didn’t have ANY brood not a single egg and several workers were dead. Then I tried to put them in a tubes and tubes setup but I used the wrong substrate so there wasn’t enough humidity and they started dieing, now I know I should have used coco fiber instead. After that I cleaned out the bottle and put moist cotton in it and transferred them in but then they were all ready declining to much and about week later the queen died.
Note I offered them fruit flies which they refused.
If I could do it again I believe I could have get them to survive especially if I could start them from a single queen instead off a WC colony.
This so far has been my darkest moment in the ant keeping hobby and to top it off the trap-jaws cost me a small fortune which really cleaned me out.

I keep: C. modoc, C. sansabeanus  :D, C. maritimus, Formica argentea, M. mexicanus  :D, Odontomachus brunneus :D, Pogonomyrmex californicus, Pogonomyrmex rugosus, 

 


#5 Offline FinWins - Posted July 18 2022 - 12:53 PM

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So to answer your question they didn’t survive long enough to produce males

I keep: C. modoc, C. sansabeanus  :D, C. maritimus, Formica argentea, M. mexicanus  :D, Odontomachus brunneus :D, Pogonomyrmex californicus, Pogonomyrmex rugosus, 

 


#6 Offline FloridaAnts - Posted July 18 2022 - 6:28 PM

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So to answer your question they didn’t survive long enough to produce males


Mine produced males at 10 workers :lol:.

Really sad, if you get a permit to get them let me know. I always catch a lot. They refused… fruit flies? That’s mines favorite food…




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