16 replies to this topic

[yen_saw]

Hi I'm from Houston, Texas an have been keeping ants (on and off) for about 5 years. There are many species of ants around this area but the one that I am interested in are Atta texana, Pogonomyrmex barbatus, and Pseudomyrmex spp. It is good to see many hobbyists here interested in ants and I am sure i will learn a lot from this forum. Thanks in advance.

 

 

[dspdrew]

Welcome. He have a few other active members from Texas.

[Alza]

Welcome!

[BrittonLS]

Yay, more Texans! Definitely good species to be looking for. Hoping I can get some of those too, but don't think I'm ready for a fungus species, being a beginner All I've got for now is S.invicta.

Looking forward to seeing you on the forums. I'm from the Ft. Worth area.

[LC3]

Welcome to the forum.

[cpman]

Hi from Austin! I found some A. texana queens last year, but they died. You're a bit too late to find them this year. I've got a Pseudomyrmex gracilis queen that refuses to lay eggs for some reason.
Good luck!

[yen_saw]

Hi from Austin! I found some A. texana queens last year, but they died. You're a bit too late to find them this year. I've got a Pseudomyrmex gracilis queen that refuses to lay eggs for some reason.
Good luck!

Actually I did collect some Atta texana queens this year. They showed up earlier than I thought in April due to the more than expected rain in Texas this year.

 

P. gracilis prefer to live in hollow twig. I use vinyl tube and they do well and place eggs and larvae inside the tube.

 

[BrittonLS]

Ooh, vinyl tubing, nice idea.

[Gregory2455]

Welcome! Very jealous of anyone who has even seen Atta in person.

[Trailandstreet]

Hello

[cpman]

 

Hi from Austin! I found some A. texana queens last year, but they died. You're a bit too late to find them this year. I've got a Pseudomyrmex gracilis queen that refuses to lay eggs for some reason.
Good luck!

Actually I did collect some Atta texana queens this year. They showed up earlier than I thought in April due to the more than expected rain in Texas this year.

 

P. gracilis prefer to live in hollow twig. I use vinyl tube and they do well and place eggs and larvae inside the tube.

 

 

 

I've got my queen in a vinyl tube, and she does seem to eat wingless fruit flies, but she wanders around her outworld constantly like she is searching for an escape. She doesn't want to stay in the tube.\

 

How are you keeping your Atta? I tried keeping my queens in little round containers about 7 cm in diameter with paper towels moistened by distilled water at the bottom and kept at 26 degrees Celcius. Some had successful brood piles and no success with fungus and others had some success with the fungus (not much) and no success with brood. I had contacted a couple people who wrote a paper on starting new colonies from incipient queens. If you want, I can send you a copy.

Edited by cpman, July 6 2015 - 8:35 AM.

[Bigb]

Welcome!

[Jonathan21700]

Welcome!

[William. T]

Hey there!

[yen_saw]

 

 

Hi from Austin! I found some A. texana queens last year, but they died. You're a bit too late to find them this year. I've got a Pseudomyrmex gracilis queen that refuses to lay eggs for some reason.
Good luck!

Actually I did collect some Atta texana queens this year. They showed up earlier than I thought in April due to the more than expected rain in Texas this year.

 

P. gracilis prefer to live in hollow twig. I use vinyl tube and they do well and place eggs and larvae inside the tube.

 

 

 

 

I've got my queen in a vinyl tube, and she does seem to eat wingless fruit flies, but she wanders around her outworld constantly like she is searching for an escape. She doesn't want to stay in the tube.\

 

How are you keeping your Atta? I tried keeping my queens in little round containers about 7 cm in diameter with paper towels moistened by distilled water at the bottom and kept at 26 degrees Celcius. Some had successful brood piles and no success with fungus and others had some success with the fungus (not much) and no success with brood. I had contacted a couple people who wrote a paper on starting new colonies from incipient queens. If you want, I can send you a copy.

 

Not sure if this is the right section we should expand on this topic but I will continue the discussion until told otherwise.

 

Single queen of P gracilis is known to wonder around looking for the best place to start her colony. She will not stop until she found her ideal spot. It's not shown on my container of P gracilis colony but it is best to cover the tube instead of leaving it transparent. Keep temperature/humidity around 85F/40-50% and water source nearby and she will eventually settle down. I have use red transparent straw before and it works well. 

 

Thanks I would love to read the paper on rearing Atta texana. Appreciate if you could email to me. My colony is doing alright with the help of fungus from a mature colony. The worker will eventually help building up more fungus as you can see on the following pic (Notice different coloration).

 

 

I keep my Atta texana in a small acrylic container with hydrostone. I wouldn't use moist paper towel as fungus never seem to do well for me when it is on contact with wet substrate or if it's too humid. The queen is hiding near the fungus in the following pic.

 

 

A quicker way to help establish Atta texana colony is to use larvae of another mature colony and place it near the fungus. Queen will 'groom' the larvae like one of her own and eventually become part of the established colony. But do not use pupa as queen likely reject it, probably due to scent or the late stage so queen doesn't want to risk it. It's just my own observation no scientific backup on this one.

[yen_saw]

Welcome! Very jealous of anyone who has even seen Atta in person.

Don't be, there are many California species I wish I could see here in Texas

[Gregory2455]

We should totally trade.