292 replies to this topic

[AntsDakota]

Well, the fact is they don't need to send out that many. A dozen workers is a vicious swarm in their society. They swarm the food with a dozen or so workers, then leave and let the remaining few process it until they bring it into the nest. But they get really vicious when you disturb them. Then they send 70 percent of the colony into the outworld, and it almost scares me when they decide they really want to kill me......

[ANTdrew]

Update 10-6-2020

 Very few things in life fully live up to your expectations, but keeping Pheidole bicarinata has been one of them for me! These are really fun, well-behaved ants that are a joy to keep. The colony keeps growing by leaps and bounds, and they have tons of majors now - maybe even 50 or more. My current plan is to keep these going through the winter, based off advice I've received from some experienced PheidolePhenoms. To that end, I taped a heat cable to the side of their mini-hearth opposite the water tower. One issue I'm having with these girls is that I can't really refill their nestmate any more with out all holy-heck breaking loose. Nestmates aren't really the best idea for fast growing, tiny ants it seems. I just put a byFormica micro feeder filled with water instead, which isn't a big deal, but it does take up limited foraging space in their mini-hearth. I hope to get these ants a formicarium upgrade soon.

 

The past couple of days I've been giving them two dinners a night. The first is a piece of meat from my dinner, then I give them a feeder insect. They crush all the food!

 

[KitsAntVa]

You don't have to take the nestmate off once you have plugged the mesh with your finger and put water in and plugged it, mine never pills into my nest and all i do is open the rubber stopper and use the syringe to put a little water in. 

[ANTdrew]

Even small droplets leaking out of the mesh could be a big problem for such a tiny species.

[Ants_Dakota]

Even small droplets leaking out of the mesh could be a big problem for such a tiny species.

how so? i am planning to keep lasius next year, so i want to know so i don't kill my ants.

[KitsAntVa]

It is a problem actually if you overfill the thing and put the stopper on, just make sure the stopper isn't close enough to the water to push the water, whenever i fill it up for my Pogonomyrmex it overflows so since lasius and bicanarata are so tiny they may drown. 

[DDD101DDD]

It is a problem actually if you overfill the thing and put the stopper on, just make sure the stopper isn't close enough to the water to push the water, whenever i fill it up for my Pogonomyrmex it overflows so since lasius and bicanarata are so tiny they may drown. 

That actually hasn't been a problem for me and I've been filling mine the same way you have. The water is absorbed by the nest material so it doesn't matter that much.

[ANTdrew]

Ok, I may try filling without removing it. The byFormica feeder is working fine for now, though.

[Antkid12]

How many workers do they have now?

[ANTdrew]

200-300? I can’t really count them anymore.

[FeedTheAnts]

What did I do wrong? I just put mine in hibernation with 12 or so workers and barely any brood. The colony started out with three queens as you know but it is now down to one (kinda expected). I'm going to hibernate for only 2 months and heat them good right outta hibernation and feed them a baby dubia every day. Maybe they'll catch up.

[ANTdrew]

What did I do wrong? I just put mine in hibernation with 12 or so workers and barely any brood. The colony started out with three queens as you know but it is now down to one (kinda expected). I'm going to hibernate for only 2 months and heat them good right outta hibernation and feed them a baby dubia every day. Maybe they'll catch up.

Dang, hard to say, man. I feed mine like crazy (the two dinner thing) and with a lot of variety. They’re always very warm. Maybe I just lucked out with a star queen?

[ANTdrew]

Update 10-9-2020

 

I figured it was time to post another crazy feeding GIF. Several hundred foragers come up now, so this colony is getting crazy big. They must be really liking their heat cable. I'll need to do another THA order next paycheck.

[KitsAntVa]

It seems like you need a THA order now! Those are some crazy fast growers. I still haven’t got a tracking number for my THA order and it’s been almost 3 weeks.

[ANTdrew]

Update 10-15-2020

 

 I'm updating all my tiny ant journals today. This colony continues to grow explosively. Tons of workers are constantly up in the outworld, and I can no longer refill their nest mate because they've piled tons of brood right up against the mesh. Their fluon started failing, too, but I was able to renew it last night, thankfully. These girls will definitely need a size upgrade ASAP.

 One cool development is that they are liking seeds more. I gave them some hemp hearts, and they quickly dragged them all down into the nest.

 

Photos are getting challenging because so many workers are even up on the glass. You can get an idea how many majors they have now, though.

 

Edited by ANTdrew, February 10 2021 - 6:20 AM.

[TechAnt]

Wow.

[Antkid12]

that's a lot of ants!

[OhNoNotAgain]

Wow those majors are so cool, but soooooo TINY!!    I had no idea they were so cute.

 

Tiny ants are super cute but so hard to keep contained. 

[KitsAntVa]

I plan on keeping these next year and I think I’m into small ants now.... except Pogonomyrmex I will become a master at those ants.

[KitsAntVa]

What did I do wrong? I just put mine in hibernation with 12 or so workers and barely any brood. The colony started out with three queens as you know but it is now down to one (kinda expected). I'm going to hibernate for only 2 months and heat them good right outta hibernation and feed them a baby dubia every day. Maybe they'll catch up.

They love fruit flys and I feed all my pheidole at least 5 fruit flys a day until they hit around 10 workers then I will give them a fruit fly for each ant.