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ANTdrew's Pheidole bicarinata Journal - The Phatheads

pheidole bicarinata

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#221 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 13 2021 - 7:12 AM

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Update 7-13-2021

 

I woke up early this morning and decided to check on the Phatheads while my coffee was kicking in. I was surprised to find that all their queen pupae had eclosed at some point over the weekend! There are mostly female alates, interestingly, but I did spot a pin-head male. I'll let the photos speak for themselves:

 

IMG 0258
IMG 0255
IMG 0252
IMG 0251
 
And a June beetle feeding frenzy photo:
IMG 0259

 


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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.

#222 Offline NickAnter - Posted July 13 2021 - 7:26 AM

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Awesome!


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Hi there! I went on a 6 month or so hiatus, in part due, and in part cause of the death of my colonies. 

However, I went back to the Sierras, and restarted my collection, which is now as follows:

Aphaenogaster uinta, Camponotus vicinus, Camponotus modoc, Formica cf. aserva, Formica cf. micropthalma, Formica cf. manni, Formica subpolita, Formica cf. subaenescens, Lasius americanus, Manica invidia, Pogonomyrmex salinus, Pogonomyrmex sp. 1, Solenopsis validiuscula, & Solenopsis sp. 3 (new Sierra variant). 


#223 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted July 13 2021 - 7:54 AM

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Bro! That's awesome! 


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#224 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 13 2021 - 7:57 AM

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Bro! That's awesome!

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

#225 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted July 13 2021 - 8:00 AM

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Bro! That's awesome!

Jelly?

 

Maybe a little, but no worries! I snagged 50 or so Ph. tysoni queens from this morning's flight!


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#226 Offline yibsi - Posted July 13 2021 - 8:58 AM

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Man, all these pheidole photos are getting me all excited about my new pheidole pilifera queen!


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    Nylanderia parvula - 4 queen polygynous colony with larvae + devoloping workers

    Camponotus pennsylvanicus  - 1 queen with 2 cocoons, and a few larvae and eggs

    Tetramorium immigrans - 3 colonies, first nanetics!

    Formica pallidifulva - 1 queen, 8-10 eggs

    Tetramorium atratulum - 1 queen with roughly 17 host workers

    :D Pheidole pilifera - 1 queen! recently caught! :D

    Solenopsis Molesta - 2 queens so far, polygenous set-up

---------------------------------------------------

My Ant Journal - yibsi’s Wonderful Ant Keeping Journal 5-22-21 - Ant Keeping Journals - Ants & Myrmecology Forum (formiculture.com)

My T. Atratulum Journal - https://www.formicul...ontinued/page-2


#227 Offline AntBoi3030 - Posted July 13 2021 - 9:18 AM

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Extremely exited for my bicarinata queens!

Edited by AntBoi3030, July 13 2021 - 9:19 AM.

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My favorite queens/colony’s:
Pheidole Tysoni, Selonopis Molesta, Brachymyrmex Depilis, Tetramorium Immagrians, Prenolepis Imparis, Pheidole Bicirinata 


#228 Offline ANTS_KL - Posted July 13 2021 - 11:30 PM

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My Pheidole are dying. I feed them but they always start to die. Nvm. I can always get queens again anyways

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk
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Young ant keeper with a decent amount of knowledge on local ant species.

YouTube: https://m.youtube.co...uKsahGliSH7EqOQ (It's pretty dead. Might upload again soon, don't expect my voice to sound the same though.)

Currently kept ant species, favorites have a star in front of their names (NOT in alphabetical order, also may be outdated sometimes): Camponotus irritans inferior, Ooceraea biroi, Pheidole parva, Nylanderia sp., Paraparatrechina tapinomoides, Platythyrea sp., Anochetus sp., Colobopsis sp. (cylindrica group), Crematogaster ferrarii, Polyrhachis (Myrma) cf. pruinosa, Polyrhachis (Cyrtomyrma) laevissima, Tapinoma sp. (formerly Zatapinoma)

Death count: Probably over a hundred individual queens and colonies by now. I cannot recall whatsoever.

#229 Offline SYUTEO - Posted July 14 2021 - 12:32 AM

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My Pheidole are dying. I feed them but they always start to die. Nvm. I can always get queens again anyways

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

Huh, that's strange, I rarely had problems like this with mine (except that sometimes they will try to escape).


Began antkeeping in 2018  :)

 

All ant journal: https://www.formicul...os-ant-journal/


#230 Offline yibsi - Posted July 14 2021 - 9:26 AM

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My Pheidole are dying. I feed them but they always start to die. Nvm. I can always get queens again anyways

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

pheidole can be sensitive when it comes to not getting enough sugars, and colonies will usually start having problems because of this, so maybe it could be this?


    Nylanderia parvula - 4 queen polygynous colony with larvae + devoloping workers

    Camponotus pennsylvanicus  - 1 queen with 2 cocoons, and a few larvae and eggs

    Tetramorium immigrans - 3 colonies, first nanetics!

    Formica pallidifulva - 1 queen, 8-10 eggs

    Tetramorium atratulum - 1 queen with roughly 17 host workers

    :D Pheidole pilifera - 1 queen! recently caught! :D

    Solenopsis Molesta - 2 queens so far, polygenous set-up

---------------------------------------------------

My Ant Journal - yibsi’s Wonderful Ant Keeping Journal 5-22-21 - Ant Keeping Journals - Ants & Myrmecology Forum (formiculture.com)

My T. Atratulum Journal - https://www.formicul...ontinued/page-2


#231 Offline ANTS_KL - Posted July 15 2021 - 12:40 AM

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My Pheidole are dying. I feed them but they always start to die. Nvm. I can always get queens again anyways

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

pheidole can be sensitive when it comes to not getting enough sugars, and colonies will usually start having problems because of this, so maybe it could be this?
But Pheidole parva don't need sugars. They are sorta like ponerines. Carnivores.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk
Young ant keeper with a decent amount of knowledge on local ant species.

YouTube: https://m.youtube.co...uKsahGliSH7EqOQ (It's pretty dead. Might upload again soon, don't expect my voice to sound the same though.)

Currently kept ant species, favorites have a star in front of their names (NOT in alphabetical order, also may be outdated sometimes): Camponotus irritans inferior, Ooceraea biroi, Pheidole parva, Nylanderia sp., Paraparatrechina tapinomoides, Platythyrea sp., Anochetus sp., Colobopsis sp. (cylindrica group), Crematogaster ferrarii, Polyrhachis (Myrma) cf. pruinosa, Polyrhachis (Cyrtomyrma) laevissima, Tapinoma sp. (formerly Zatapinoma)

Death count: Probably over a hundred individual queens and colonies by now. I cannot recall whatsoever.

#232 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted July 16 2021 - 2:52 PM

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My Pheidole are dying. I feed them but they always start to die. Nvm. I can always get queens again anyways

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

pheidole can be sensitive when it comes to not getting enough sugars, and colonies will usually start having problems because of this, so maybe it could be this?
But Pheidole parva don't need sugars. They are sorta like ponerines. Carnivores.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk
If I were you I would give them sugars just to see if it makes a difference. (Also Ponerines will eat sugars, at least Ponera will)

Edited by Kaelwizard, July 16 2021 - 2:53 PM.


#233 Offline ANTS_KL - Posted July 16 2021 - 9:49 PM

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My Pheidole are dying. I feed them but they always start to die. Nvm. I can always get queens again anyways

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

pheidole can be sensitive when it comes to not getting enough sugars, and colonies will usually start having problems because of this, so maybe it could be this?
But Pheidole parva don't need sugars. They are sorta like ponerines. Carnivores.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk
If I were you I would give them sugars just to see if it makes a difference. (Also Ponerines will eat sugars, at least Ponera will)
I did but they rejected. Yes ponerines eat sugars but only some like odontomachus (fruits) and a couple others.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk
Young ant keeper with a decent amount of knowledge on local ant species.

YouTube: https://m.youtube.co...uKsahGliSH7EqOQ (It's pretty dead. Might upload again soon, don't expect my voice to sound the same though.)

Currently kept ant species, favorites have a star in front of their names (NOT in alphabetical order, also may be outdated sometimes): Camponotus irritans inferior, Ooceraea biroi, Pheidole parva, Nylanderia sp., Paraparatrechina tapinomoides, Platythyrea sp., Anochetus sp., Colobopsis sp. (cylindrica group), Crematogaster ferrarii, Polyrhachis (Myrma) cf. pruinosa, Polyrhachis (Cyrtomyrma) laevissima, Tapinoma sp. (formerly Zatapinoma)

Death count: Probably over a hundred individual queens and colonies by now. I cannot recall whatsoever.

#234 Offline ANTdrew - Posted October 13 2021 - 8:33 AM

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Update 10-13-2021

 

This colony continues their crazy ways. They are growing fast and shocking me by how fast they empty out their water feeder. They have lots of brood, but lots of deaths as well, so they are kind of holding steady at their current size, which is several thousands. Another thing that shocked me was to check one day and find that they had culled all their queen alates. Every last one. That's pretty harsh efficiency that I haven't seen in my other two colonies with alates, Crematogaster and Nylanderia. 

 

Insect protein gets processed with impressive speed as well.

IMG 1075
 
Gotta love Pheidole!

 


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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.

#235 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted October 13 2021 - 8:37 AM

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Now you gotta get another Ph. davisi queen and get her colony this big!


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#236 Offline ANTdrew - Posted October 13 2021 - 10:26 AM

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Now you gotta get another Ph. davisi queen and get her colony this big!

Yes, I do!


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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.

#237 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 15 2021 - 11:26 AM

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Update 11/15

 It's been way too long since I updated this, but this colony continues to do very well. They suddenly culled all their queen alates back around Labor Day are back to producing purely workers. I put this colony down to hibernate in my parents' unheated basement this weekend. Until next season!


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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.

#238 Offline Chickalo - Posted November 15 2021 - 1:57 PM

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Please, no!  My need for P. pilifera is increasing again!  I clicked to see an update and I scrolled through pictures of fat headed majors and- oh, why must Massachusetts absolutely suck at having decent ants.


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シグナチャーです。예.

 


#239 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted November 15 2021 - 3:25 PM

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Update 11/15

 It's been way too long since I updated this, but this colony continues to do very well. They suddenly culled all their queen alates back around Labor Day are back to producing purely workers. I put this colony down to hibernate in my parents' unheated basement this weekend. Until next season!

You might actually not need to hibernate them every year. None of my Pheidole colonies ever hibernate, and even in places like Massachusetts they aren't required to. 


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#240 Offline ANTdrew - Posted November 16 2021 - 3:14 AM

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I need a break from them, to be honest. They’re very mischievous ants.
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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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