292 replies to this topic

[Antkeeper01]

I recntly obatined a colony of these and since you are the best at coming up with names what should the colony and queens names be? almighty name giver

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-3-2021

 

Mini-update here to say that I started working on customizing an old school AC Outworld 1.0 to use for the Phatheads. I'm hoping to get them into something with less tubing and less escape points. I really need to change their setup, so I can start enjoying this colony once again.

[ANTS_KL]

Hey ANTdrew can u help name my Pheidole too? Mine are P. parva

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[ANTdrew]

Ok, but I'm going to start charging 5 cents a name.

[Antkeeper01]

Ok, but I'm going to start charging 5 cents a name.

Oh the horror!

Edited by Antkeeper01, June 3 2021 - 6:23 AM.

[ANTS_KL]

What Antkeeper01 said

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[ANTdrew]

Antkeeper01: Your queen will be named Urd, another one of the Three Norns

Ants_KL: Your queen will be named Verdandi, also one of the Three Norns

[ANTS_KL]

Oki thx!

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[Mdrogun]

Beginning 6-24-2020

I have an obsessive side to my personality. Since finding a Pheidole major in my yard last September, I had become quite obsessed with the idea of finding a queen and raising a colony of this species. Through my research, I learned that these are night flyers that like to fly on warm humid nights usually after a good rain. Other members on here recommended using the black light method, so I ordered a 25watt bulb off of Amazon and experimented with several configurations to attract queens.

On Friday, 6/19, I tried a new approach using a lamp from my living room and an old white sheet we had laying around. It looked like this:

 

Literally within minutes of turning the thing on, right after nightfall, a reddish little queen showed up on the sheet! It looked just like a little red Tetramorium queen, and I knew this had to be Pheidole. Within the next hour, two more had shown up. I put all of these first three queens in test tube set ups and called it a night.

On Father's Day, 6/21, I set up my spooky blacklight again, and two more of these girls showed up. What a great Father's Day gift!

Currently, all five of these are in standard test tube set ups. Three of them have shed their wings, and I'm seeing a few egg piles starting to form. I'm super excited to raise this species and document the journey here. Stay tuned!

 

 

If you are a PheidolePhenom, please share advice because these ants seem to be kind of shrouded in mystery on this forum for whatever reason.

 

I just noticed this, but I figured I'd mention it to you anyways, I would HIGHLY recommend getting a different source of ultraviolet light than the bulb you're using here. I have used these same bulbs before myself. In a side-to-side comparison between true fluorescent bulbs and LED bulbs I have found that they are abysmal. I have seen in real-time as the LED/true fluorescent attract many, many more queens/alates and just bugs in general. I think it's likely that it's a result of low light output combined with the sub-optimal shape of the bulb itself. A lot of the light is wasted and isn't "used" to attract anything.

It's DEFINITELY worth the $25-$50 you'd spend getting LED lights or fluorescent bulbs. 

[ANTdrew]

Thanks, Mdrogun. Can you share a link to a better bulb?

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-26-2021

 

A lot happened this past week for the Phatheads. I finally got around to evicting all the ants that were still in the old mini-hearth, which was quite an ordeal. I dumped them into this old school AntsCanada 1.0 Outworld that I had modified for them:

 

 

At least a thousand ants were up in that mini-hearth. I would have just left them, but all the tubing connections led to multiple escape issues, so I needed to simplify things. I put two test tube setups in the AC Outworld to give them some more space, plus I sealed the gaps around the existing tubing with silicone. Curing silicone fumes are NOT harmful to ants. I found this out multiple times, which is good to know if you have escape artist species.

 

 

The other big news is that these wee beasties are raising their first batch of alates! I spotted several very fat queen larvae a few days ago.

 

Here's a look into their totally full Fallen Fortress. You can see queen Alfhild in one of these shots, though she's out of focus.

 

 

 

 

[TennesseeAnts]

Wow, congrats on the alates!

[AntBoi3030]

Wow! Nice the queen looks cyphogastratoric

[NoveltyAntsYT]

always wanted Pheidole. I am in CA and everyone tells me that I am lucky to live here for all the ant species haha. But I am still struggling to find queens.

[AntBoi3030]

Don’t we all lol. I’ve been frantically black lighting and I think I found a pheidole drone but it could have been a different species of temnothorax.

[jplelito]

https://www.amazon.c...F9NJSB6C7HMH0H1

I use a 365 nm bulb (link above) in addition to a waterproof “UV” strip which emits a lot of visible but also some high-end UV.

Strip: https://www.amazon.c...ding=UTF8&psc=1

Note that this strip is not the exact one I use but is the same manufacturer. I have one I bought last year and it seems there is a newer version now.

These two together not only bring in the ants but every other imaginable critter - moths, beetles, flies, lacewings, stink bugs - insects I had no idea lived in my yard!

[ANTdrew]

Update 7-5-2021

 

This colony is doing very well with their new expanded space. They've moved a lot of brood into the two tubes I gave them in the AC Outworld. Their queen larvae just pupated! I finally got a good shot of them today. I'm excited to see where this leads:

 

 

So far, I've only caught one new queen of this species this year, but she has an egg pile now. I'm hopeful for the next few days, plus I bought some stronger blacklights.

 

[Antkeeper01]

only I've only caught none

[AntBoi3030]

I got one! She looks exactly the same as your queen. Wish me luck lol

[AnthonyP163]

They've come so far