117 replies to this topic

[KitsAntVa]

Journal Date 21\1\19

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis,
These girls are doing great so far. I have just woke them up from hibernation to start preparing for the termite wars and collecting seeds. Later I will post a topic on these explaining the differences between feeding these just seeds and feeding them straight protein, in which the difference is huge.
Casualties so far: 4 as of now.
Total colony size: 30-25 as of now.
She should start laying eggs soon and I plan on updating this frequently to keep you guys entertained throughout hibernation, as I do check on these everyday. You guys might find this quite frustrating but these are my favorite most fun ants to keep right now out of all of mine.
The battle begins,
During hibernation I gave these a little bit of a wake up call, I put the heating lamp in their small outworld so it replicated their environment. Quickly they woke up and started foraging, but the unexpected was waiting for them there. Termites about five soldiers and 20 workers, quickly the Pogonomyrmex ran back into their den alerting all of the colony of the intruders. If there's one thing these girls love more than hunting its killing termites ( I mean this). I have no footage of their war but I can tell you it was sorta boring... But one important event was when a termite soldier had been bitten on the mandibles by a Pogonomyrmex and then the Pogonomyrmex was bitten so it was kinda a bite for bite thing, as the Pogonomyrmex was in the jaws of the soldier another sister came to her rescue and bite the termite on the neck fitting its mandibles all the way around it. And so ended the war between the Pogonomyrmex and the termites.
Don't judge my ways of entertaining the Pogonomyrmex and reducing their numbers slightly.
The new nest,
They have taken on their new nest quite well, Its a fortress from my very expensive order from THA a while back, and they like it a lot but sadly they don't collect the dandelion seeds anymore like they used to so when i watch pogonomyrmex occidentalis ant keeping it feels nostalgic even though its been around 6 months. Not much explaining to this topic so ill just say that they collected a ton of chia seeds and stacked them on the water tower and on heat. I love this design on my fortress but also sadly the have already stuck sand to the glass, hopefully I can get some pics for you guys.

I forgot!
I want you guys to pick a new name for this journal and a actual name for this queen! Leave the comments below and ill see which ones I like!

Edited by KitsAntVa, January 19 2021 - 8:04 AM.

[ANTdrew]

The Seeditionists.

[Devi]

Journal Date 21\1\19

 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis,

These girls are doing great so far. I have just woke them up from hibernation to start preparing for the termite wars and collecting seeds. Later I will post a topic on these explaining the differences between feeding these just seeds and feeding them straight protein, in which the difference is huge. 

Casualties so far: 4 as of now.

Total colony size: 30-25 as of now.

She should start laying eggs soon and I plan on updating this frequently to keep you guys entertained throughout hibernation, as I do check on these everyday. You guys might find this quite frustrating but these are my favorite most fun ants to keep right now out of all of mine. 

The battle begins,

During hibernation I gave these a little bit of a wake up call, I put the heating lamp in their small outworld so it replicated their environment. Quickly they woke up and started foraging, but the unexpected was waiting for them there. Termites about five soldiers and 20 workers, quickly the Pogonomyrmex ran back into their den alerting all of the colony of the intruders. If there's one thing these girls love more than hunting its killing termites ( I mean this). I have no footage of their war but I can tell you it was sorta boring... But one important event was when a termite soldier had been bitten on the mandibles by a Pogonomyrmex and then the Pogonomyrmex was bitten so it was kinda a bite for bite thing, as the Pogonomyrmex was in the jaws of the soldier another sister came to her rescue and bite the termite on the neck fitting its mandibles all the way around it. And so ended the war between the Pogonomyrmex and the termites.

Don't judge my ways of entertaining the Pogonomyrmex and reducing their numbers slightly.

The new nest,

They have taken on their new nest quite well, Its a fortress from my very expensive order from THA a while back, and they like it a lot but sadly they don't collect the dandelion seeds anymore like they used to so when i watch pogonomyrmex occidentalis ant keeping it feels nostalgic even though its been around 6 months. Not much explaining to this topic so ill just say that they collected a ton of chia seeds and stacked them on the water tower and on heat. I love this design on my fortress but also sadly the have already stuck sand to the glass, hopefully I can get some pics for you guys.

 

I forgot!

I want you guys to pick a new name for this journal and a actual name for this queen! Leave the comments below and ill see which ones I like!

My Pogonomyrmex hated their labyrinth as well initially, but now they won't move from the nest and love it.  I would not worry too much about it and just give it time.

[AntsDakota]

Marsada. My feminine version of Mars, the Roman god of war. 

 

Note that I named my queen Bella, after the actual Latin word for war.

 

Other ideas:

 

Morta (Death)

Semana (Seed)

Imperatra (Empress)

Regina (Queen)

Mila (Soldier)

Lenta (Tough)

Fortisa (Strong)

Rubinida (Red)

Parvespa (Small wasp)

Edited by AntsDakota, January 19 2021 - 7:59 AM.

[KitsAntVa]

Added pics for u guys.

[Antkeeper01]

The botanists

[Kaelwizard]

The Seeditionists.

This

[KitsAntVa]

I shall think about all of these, my choice will be chosen right after my class.

[Kaelwizard]

I shall think about all of these, my choice will be chosen right after my class.

I am also in school right now.

[ANTdrew]

Good choice, my man.

Edited by ANTdrew, January 19 2021 - 9:46 AM.

[AleeGuy]

Good choice, my man.

Yas, awesum name

[KitsAntVa]

Journal update 21\1\25

​Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis,
They are still doing quite well and shocked me quite a bit, almost stung me to but they shocked me because I left for the weekend with no eggs at all, but yet I came back to around 15 young larvae. Not much to say though but you guys will like the pics I have.
The move date,
Legit I had to move these into their old mini hearth because at the top of their fortress near the nestmate was mold-the type that grows over everything. Also I had a sprouting seed in the middle of their nest and overall I could see their main chamber because they put stuff on the glass. I cleaned it all up and they just moved back into it.
Protein Vs Seeds,
Overall seeds are great to feed these and they will grow fast with it, but with protein such as crickets and more you could have faster growing rates and even bigger workers. As I said was that they already have young larvae just friday night I left and they have it that quick, obviously its helping their growth. The workers are also almost the size of the queen already just the fourth gen of workers and i'm sure the fifth gen will be the same. What I'm saying here is that if you want your workers at the third and fourth gen to be as big as the queen then just try some protein.
Prefered foods for this are,
They love them selves some roaches of all thing, they also love termites. an easy food to get though is some crickets since they like these and they will take it into the nest, one downside is that they are messy sometimes. If they leave something in the nest that has dried out they may keep it there.
Protein Vs Seeds~
Managed to get the queen.

Edited by KitsAntVa, January 25 2021 - 10:09 AM.

[AleeGuy]

Journal update 21\1\25

​Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis,
They are still doing quite well and shocked me quite a bit, almost stung me to but they shocked me because I left for the weekend with no eggs at all, but yet I came back to around 15 young larvae. Not much to say though but you guys will like the pics I have.
The move date,
Legit I had to move these into their old mini hearth because at the top of their fortress near the nestmate was mold-the type that grows over everything. Also I had a sprouting seed in the middle of their nest and overall I could see their main chamber because they put stuff on the glass. I cleaned it all up and they just moved back into it.
Protein Vs Seeds,
Overall seeds are great to feed these and they will grow fast with it, but with protein such as crickets and more you could have faster growing rates and even bigger workers. As I said was that they already have young larvae just friday night I left and they have it that quick, obviously its helping their growth. The workers are also almost the size of the queen already just the fourth gen of workers and i'm sure the fifth gen will be the same. What I'm saying here is that if you want your workers at the third and fourth gen to be as big as the queen then just try some protein.
Prefered foods for this are,
They love them selves some roaches of all thing, they also love termites. an easy food to get though is some crickets since they like these and they will take it into the nest, one downside is that they are messy sometimes. If they leave something in the nest that has dried out they may keep it there.

Nice! Have you tried giving them fruit flies? They should like that too, and they have more nutrients than other feeder insects.

[KitsAntVa]

They love fruit flies, in fact because you said that ima go get some d:

[KitsAntVa]

Pics added ik they are messed up I’m sorry but I don’t know how to fix it..

[KitsAntVa]

I fed the colony 100-150 fruit flies and they have a egg pile the size of the queen.

[ANTdrew]

You're lucky, dude. I'm glad you hung on to this colony.

[KitsAntVa]

Quick update,
I was in walmart when I walked into the garden department, quickly I saw the venus fly traps and went over there to see them. I've wanted these I said to myself ¨knowing I would only use it to control ant populations¨ I picked the best one I saw and bought it. It was quite cheap to for how good it was, I went home and picked off the dead ones as well as feed it. I named it greed island today as a reference from a show called hunter x hunter which greed island is a place known for death, First I had fed it a meal of two fruit flies for its small ones and an earwig, three harvester ants, and a large bug for my biggest one. Truly the harvester ants in the jungle of death had reminded me of army ants most specifically neivamyrmex. I guess this was a good update and you guys should leave suggestions on types of updates you want next.

Edited by KitsAntVa, January 28 2021 - 8:12 AM.

[KitsAntVa]

Managed to finally get a pic of their egg pile, usually it’s always with the queen which is on the water tower.

[ANTdrew]

Venus fly traps need a lot of light and lots of humidity to thrive. They are native to North Carolina swamps, so they would probably do better outside, to be honest.