This will be my first journal here that will be about my 2-Years-old Pheidole Californica Colony!!! (Big-headed Ants)
This colony is from February 2020. It consists of 2 Queens with about 30-50 workers at that time. (I got this from Vern).
During their first year (February 2020 - February 2021), they lived off chia seeds all the time and some cricket once in a while. I would say about 8 times per month (2 days a week). They will have a 10% die-off once every few months. You can tell by the dead bodies all piled up in one spot. Their production was pretty steady and they did just fine in a THA mini hearth.
In their second year (February 2021 - February 2022), I pretty much kept the same schedule, sometimes I give them knocked out fruit flies by putting them in the fridge for a few minutes. I give them a mealworm too. I noticed that this colony likes to swarm their food most of the time. It’s always fun to watch them actively swarm their food during feeding time. They are very chill and never cared if there was lighting put up under the water tower or some kind of light vibrations.
They never really attempted to escape as long as they have a good amount of seeds saved up. You can tell they are hungry once they start climbing up the sidewalls of their outworld. At one point, there was huge germination of the chia seeds in their little mini hearth and it covered the whole water tower!! It only lasted for a week since there was no source of sunlight nutrition for the plants to thrive.
I’ve gone looking for a journal about this specific colony of Pheidole Californica but I haven't found any that lasted for a while, I thought it could contribute to others and help out in some way as a fellow ant-keeper.
One of the main reasons that motivated me to make this journal is because this colony just produced their first alate queen!!! I just saw large pupae bigger than their majors, it was shocking. This colony has almost filled the mini hearth, except for the glass.
Now, I’ve gone and looked over and over on my camera roll to find pictures that I might’ve taken over the past 2 years with this colony, but I only found 1 picture and that was when I first got them.
Thanks for checking out my journal!!!
2020

All recent photos March 2022

This photo shows the walls empty but after 2 weeks have passed, it’s almost filled, they have the piles of eggs by the water tower, but I can’t take a clear photo since that side of the glass is covered by sand.


April 4, 2022
First time seeing their first queen alate in the nest!!! Do you see it?

