10 replies to this topic

[vtyler98]

A few pics and short video of some of my colonies. First off a nearly 2 year old C. castaneus colony with several hundred workers.





My 7 queen M. minimum colony, this is nearly 1 year old and has had a population explosion all year. This colony started with 7 queens and probably 50 workers and some brood when I collected it. No idea how many workers there are now, it’s tough to tell they are so tiny and numerous.



Also my P. occidentalis colony. I have two of these, one in a THA fortress and another in a clay setup. Both are doing well, both queens were purchased from THA a few weeks ago.





Of note with my P. occidentalis. They do not seem to handle sugars well, at least for me. The colony in the clay setup was doing great, I decided to try a small amount of the honey and some ant nectar I use for all my other colonies. The next morning there were 2 dead workers so I quickly removed it and since then no additional deaths. My other colony has been fed seeds only and hasn’t lost a worker yet. Perhaps it was coincidence but I know retroman on here advised years ago to avoid sugars for harvester ants as it was also detrimental in his experience. Seeds and freeze dried insects are the primary diet for them.

Well that’s all for now, enjoy!

Edited by vtyler98, May 26 2020 - 5:08 PM.

[vtyler98]

The Pogonomyrmex colony in the Fortress seems to be doing well. There are 15+ workers now and a good amount of brood. They’re putting stuff on the glass already so getting harder to take pictures of them.



The other colony is in a clay/dirt setup and doing even better. Now 20+ workers and exploding in growth, they’re going through food FAST right now. Diet consists of seeds and occasional freeze dried insects, no sweets. Temps are 90-95 just above the soil surface and 88-92 in the upper 1-2” of soil. Deeper down it drops into the low to mid 80s which gives them a nice temperature gradient to work with as they see fit. Here’s a brief clip of them foraging.

[Kaelwizard]

I love the M. minimum! I like small ants a lot. Too bad my Solenopsis molesta queen died...

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

I like medium sized ants, but that's probably because I just finished my second season

[AntsDakota]

The C. castaneus have striking coloration.

[vtyler98]

The C. castaneus have striking coloration.

Thanks, they are indeed pretty awesome! They exploded in growth this summer and it’s pretty cool seeing the majors now. They are also extremely aggressive now. 

[vtyler98]

Just a brief update here. My Pogonomyrmex colony in the dirt setup has exploded in growth. Well over 300 workers now, this video was taken 2 months ago. The rock in the back right has now been covered entirely with dirt...



My C. castaneus colony has plenty of brood and is starting to take off.

[Ants_Dakota]

That camponotus is indeed an awesome colony. How much care do they require?

[AntsDakota]

How did you get those videos on your posts? I’ve been trying to do that! Imgur doesn’t allow me to drag videos into my posts.

[dspdrew]

How did you get those videos on your posts? I’ve been trying to do that! Imgur doesn’t allow me to drag videos into my posts.

 

You just need to past the URL of the video (not an html page) into your post. MP4, Ogg, or Webm files will work.

[vtyler98]

That camponotus is indeed an awesome colony. How much care do they require?

They’re super easy they just eat a ton. They can go through a full vial of the byformica large feeder in a few hours lol and they eat a lot. Other than that though they are extremely low maintenance. They’re currently in a Nucleus and I am working on getting them to move over to the largest formicarium THA makes as they’ve packed the nucleus out.