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ANTdrew's Pheidole bicarinata Journal - The Phatheads

pheidole bicarinata

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#281 Offline ANTdrew - Posted March 23 2023 - 11:50 AM

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Update 3-23-23
I fed them their first protein of the season last night, a chopped up dubia roach. They swarmed it immediately.

Did you deshell that roach for them? it looks like it has no exo on the underside there.
No, I just chopped it up for them.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#282 Offline ANTdrew - Posted April 13 2023 - 5:13 AM

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Update 4-13-2023

 

 In my last update on the Phatheads, I mentioned how quickly they would recover their wintertime population losses. Well, it's happening just as rapidly as I imagined. Here are some photos of their massive larvae and pupae piles. Our April has been way hotter than normal, plus all my ants are kept in my hot kitchen now, so that certainly helps speed up growth! 

 

IMG 4912
 
IMG 5001
 
Their new nest is working out great so far, but I still haven't gotten around to hooking up their new mega-outworld. I got over 100 large dubia roaches from an old ant customer of mine, so that has been their only source of protein to this point. I'll diversify soon with mealworm, crickets, and wild caught insects from my safe yard. 
 
IMG 4913
 
IMG 4914

 


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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#283 Offline Ernteameise - Posted April 13 2023 - 9:40 AM

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Oh wow!

That is a lot of brood!


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#284 Offline ANTdrew - Posted May 15 2023 - 10:13 AM

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Update 5-15-2023

 

 The Phatheads continue to do very well. There has been steady brood growth, and I think I'm starting to spot some alate larvae. I continue feeding them mealworms, dubias, and I've recently added crickets back into the menu rotation. 

 

IMG 5212
IMG 5213
IMG 5214

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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#285 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted May 15 2023 - 12:28 PM

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Is the colony at full size?

Interested buying in ants? Feel free to check out my shop

Feel free to read my journals, like this one.

 

Wishlist:

Atta sp (wish they were in CA), Crematogaster cerasi, Most Pheidole species

 

 


#286 Offline ANTdrew - Posted May 15 2023 - 12:45 PM

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Yes, they won’t be getting any bigger than this.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#287 Offline Ernteameise - Posted May 16 2023 - 1:23 AM

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Love these big soldiers.
What do you think, do these soldiers make up 10% of the colony? I did read something along these lines and I wonder if this is also true for pet colonies. It surely depends on nutrition? What are your observations?

#288 Offline ANTdrew - Posted May 16 2023 - 2:13 AM

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Love these big soldiers.
What do you think, do these soldiers make up 10% of the colony? I did read something along these lines and I wonder if this is also true for pet colonies. It surely depends on nutrition? What are your observations?

I bet this colony is 20% majors, if not more.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#289 Offline ANTdrew - Posted August 11 2023 - 7:39 AM

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Update 8-11-2023

 

This is now my oldest and most successful colony, and the Phatheads continue to do amazingly well. They produced a big batch of queens for the third year in a row. Interestingly, I haven't spotted any males yet. I power feed the colony a large dubia roach or cricket almost daily. They also get fruit flies when I have them and random wild bugs like termites. I'm also very thankful their fluon barrier on the lip of the AC outworld they live in has held up as long as it has, but I better renew pretty soon. I've given up on cleaning it because thousands of workers cover everything, so it's not nice to look at, though. I'll give it a deep cleaning once they go down for diapause, though. 

 

Photos and a video:

IMG 6214
IMG 6213
IMG 6212

 

Their custom UtahAnts Red Sand mAntsion continues to be a perfect home for them with great visibility. 

IMG 6215

 

https://drive.google...ew?usp=sharing 


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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#290 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted August 15 2023 - 7:40 AM

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They look great! I accidentally killed my oldest colony of Pheidole dentata this year, so I am working on bringing up my newer Ph. crassicornis colony to take their place. 


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#291 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 21 2023 - 9:19 AM

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Update 11-21-2023

 

It's been a good while since I updated this journal, but all has been going well for these tiny, teeming ants. They raised quite a few alates this season, and a few males were still around the last time I checked. Most alates have already been mercilessly culled, though. High fall humidity ruined their fluon barrier a few weeks ago, and they staged a big escape as a result. I was able to renew the fluon, though, and all is good now. I put the colony into hibernation mode in my parents' unheated basement last week. I'll leave them there until March at the earliest. It's good to have a break!

IMG 6764
IMG 6765
IMG 6766

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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#292 Offline dspdrew - Posted November 21 2023 - 11:11 AM

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That's a pretty big colony. How old is it?



#293 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 21 2023 - 2:15 PM

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That's a pretty big colony. How old is it?

The queen was collected in June 2020.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.





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