117 replies to this topic

[KitsAntVa]

Make that very easily stressed I should know I have some Formica colony’s that don’t even flinch when they are exposed to light or are touched, Pogonomyrmex on the other hand go crazy even if a noise is made in their enclosure.

[1Shadow1]

 

she had around 6 but is now down to around 7 eggs

Maybe you keep looking at her too much. Pogonomyrmex are very easily stressed.

 

You're probably right about that. My colony of Pogonomyrmex hate the light. I keep them in an incubator at 84 degrees with my Formica queens I caught this year. They all love heat. When I open it up to feed or water once a week, the Pogonomyrmex go nuts. It may be best to just put something around the glass so they're always in the dark. I have another species...think it's some other kind of formica...I can't identify them but they don't mind the light at all. 

[AntsDakota]

 

 

she had around 6 but is now down to around 7 eggs

Maybe you keep looking at her too much. Pogonomyrmex are very easily stressed.

 

You're probably right about that. My colony of Pogonomyrmex hate the light. I keep them in an incubator at 84 degrees with my Formica queens I caught this year. They all love heat. When I open it up to feed or water once a week, the Pogonomyrmex go nuts. It may be best to just put something around the glass so they're always in the dark. I have another species...think it's some other kind of formica...I can't identify them but they don't mind the light at all. 

 

Yes, no matter how many times I check my Pogonomyrmex, they never ever can get used to the light.

[Antkeeper01]

ok

Edited by Antkeeper01, September 11 2020 - 2:02 PM.

[DDD101DDD]

I feel like mine actually got used to light, they tolerate it when I shine a light on them for a few seconds. But they don't like it when I expose them to light for extended periods of time. However I wouldn't take that risk with a solo queen.

[ANTdrew]

Tape some aluminum foil over the glass. I do this with all my mini-hearths for the ants’ comfort.

Edited by ANTdrew, September 12 2020 - 2:26 PM.

[DDD101DDD]

I use paper clips to cover the glass. So there will be a card covering it and paper clips(being metal) are attracted to the magnets already on the mini hearth glass. So I put the paper clips over the card so it stays on.

[ANTdrew]

I use paper clips to cover the glass. So there will be a card covering it and paper clips(being metal) are attracted to the magnets already on the mini hearth glass. So I put the paper clips over the card so it stays on.

That’s genius!

[KitsAntVa]

I was terribly mistaken when i made that update, Here's a correct statement add heat, always keep water in the tower, never let them run out of seeds, and give protein every now and then or once a week termites are great for this. My colony because of these factors now have around 12 workers 15 pupae 10 larvae and around 75 eggs which is crazy but that's all next year i'll update more. 

[KitsAntVa]

Tech ant reminded me to update this or close this I mean. Leaving off this year with 18 workers and a bunch of larvae, they are put in hibernation now and it’s their 3rd day they are so slow I can take the glass of to take a picture and it’s nice seeing them with no sand in the way.

[Ants_Dakota]

good growth.

[KitsAntVa]

Thursday october 8th, Pogonomyrmex Time!

I just checked on these to feed them and check their growth, i took them out of the fridge a little while ago once i had learned i could keep them going through winter. She has laid a small batch of eggs and is already growing fast. Now i just need my fortress to get here so i can move them in. Total eggs looks to be around 30 and total larvae is 10 plus around 7 pupae, I believe they produced a male pupae because when i was checking on them it looked like a weird deformed male or worker, they looked like they were grooming it or stressing it out like camponotus do with larvae sometimes because it grows to fast. Whatever it is i don't see it now. I'm so confused on another thing, why are the workers getting dark heads like grey colored before they wake them up? also i've only had 2 worker deaths so far which is good. Hopefully this journal entertains people during winter.

[Ants.co]

Nice! If only they existed in AUS... No wait they do in the form of R Metallica. Anyways, amazing journal, keep posting more!

[ANTdrew]

Nice! If only they existed in AUS... No wait they do in the form of R Metallica. Anyways, amazing journal, keep posting more!

By living in Australia, you forfeit all rights to complain about what ants you don’t have.

[Spazmops]

Thursday october 8th, Pogonomyrmex Time!

I just checked on these to feed them and check their growth, i took them out of the fridge a little while ago once i had learned i could keep them going through winter. She has laid a small batch of eggs and is already growing fast. Now i just need my fortress to get here so i can move them in. Total eggs looks to be around 30 and total larvae is 10 plus around 7 pupae, I believe they produced a male pupae because when i was checking on them it looked like a weird deformed male or worker, they looked like they were grooming it or stressing it out like camponotus do with larvae sometimes because it grows to fast. Whatever it is i don't see it now. I'm so confused on another thing, why are the workers getting dark heads like grey colored before they wake them up? also i've only had 2 worker deaths so far which is good. Hopefully this journal entertains people during winter.

These don't need hibernation? I have a colony as well, and I was worried they'd only have one worker before I'd have to hibernate them.

[ANTdrew]

I don’t think most Myrmecines *need* hibernation in the way Formicines do. You could keep your colonies going to get more workers.
Mack at THA says these don’t need diapause to “thrive.”

[KitsAntVa]

Yes tar heel ants catches theirs in a very hot desert basically where it would never get even below 60 so I’m not hibernating mine unless I am trying to keep them a smaller size until I can get a bigger nest. can't Pogonomyrmex get to around 100 or so before having to move out of a fortress because I do know they like the water tower and because there is one they limit themselves to how much room they have basically.

[KitsAntVa]

Uppppppppdate

I checked on them today after a while and saw exploding in number which is amazing, brood is covering half of the floor of the mini hearth and the 3rd gen workers are huge! they probably have around 30-35 workers and tons of pupae larvae and eggs maybe even around 70 eggs! i fed them and watered them and checked up on them. i fed them a cricket which was killed immediately well almost... i also fed them a centipede even though they are not the fastest of ants they still managed to catch it and eat it. I have 2 genetically morphed workers which is so cool and i hope to see more of these types of workers. number 1 has a dark red and brown head completely different from a Pogonomyrmex head which is so cool looking and the other is a literal major and i'm not kidding when i say this because its head is around 2/3rds the size of the queen´s and you know these queens heads are pretty big.

[AntsDakota]

Give it 7 months and your colony will be as big as mine!

[Ants_Dakota]

 

Give it 7 months and your colony will be as big as mine!

 

 

i was literally just going to say that