16 replies to this topic

[AntsCali098]

I caught 14 of these queens around June 13th this year, but I lost about half to deaths. I've never had luck with this species as they always die, but my main queen seems to be doing well, with a neat little batch of eggs and a couple small larvae. Lets hope that she brings me workers and I can finally start a colony. 

 

In this picture you can see her stinger which I thought was pretty cool, she's a protective one!

 

[UtahAnts]

Looking good, have you ever considered using dirt boxes for Pogonomyrmex? - https://www.formicul...es-best-method/

 

Additionally, if you don't mind me asking, what time of day did you find those 14 queens?

[AntsCali098]

Thanks for the tip, I'll consider trying that next year, don't want to stress the queen out too much now.

It was around noon, I think that's when they forage.

[Locness]

Looking good, have you ever considered using dirt boxes for Pogonomyrmex? - https://www.formicul...es-best-method/

I'm going to try this. I noticed seeds tend to mold in test tubes and become inedible. The dirt will help to absorb the excess moisture.

[AntsCali098]

The queen now has some more larvae, I haven't checked on her that much because I want as little stress as possible.

Edited by AntsCali098, August 5 2023 - 1:26 PM.

[AntsCali098]

I never updated this, but all of them eventually died. The main queen got nanitics but still died shortly after.

I caught about 85 queens or more this year on June 23rd and 24th. I found that the hotspot is around 7pm after a high temperature of at least 85°, but on the days I caught them the high was 88-89°.

Since I haven't had success in the past with this species, I am trying new seeds. I previously used a type of birdseed, but am now using Kentucky blue grass seeds. I've also taken some advice from some other ant keepers, and put a smaller amount of them in each test tube.

I will post pictures soon. Hopefully these new measures will help me raise these ants!

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Good luck!

[AntsCali098]

My estimate has been raised to 116, I undercounted quite a bit. There are probably more than 116, that's just an estimate. I have finished tubing them all up, and decided to test the polygyny of these, because in some populations they are polygynous. They have gotten along so far, and have laid a lot of eggs!

 

I have 4 duo queen tubes, all of which have a number of eggs. I took aside the one with the most to keep:

 

 

I also have 2 triple queen tubes, which were originally part of a group of 10 that I decided to split up.

 

And, I have 1 tube of 5 queens. The eggs are spread out because I had to transfer them little by little, but they are currently gathering them up:

 

 

All the rest are single queens. A lot of them laid a good amount of eggs, and I had about 10 deaths that I know of. This queen has one of the most amount of eggs of all the singles:

 

 

Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of all 116 queens, but was able to lay out 70 to get this cool picture:

 

 

I'll update once they get larvae.

 

Thanks for checking out my journal!

[NotAxo]

Is it just me, or are 2 of the tubes smaller?

[ZTYguy]

You should have greater success this year with the Kentucky blue grass. I found all of my granivorous species on it exclusively and I have great success with it. I also like to put a layer of dirt into each tube and then a layer of seeds. The dirt provides a comfy layer for the brood and it helps wick up any stray moisture which the queens can move around to their liking.

[AntsCali098]

You should have greater success this year with the Kentucky blue grass. I found all of my granivorous species on it exclusively and I have great success with it. I also like to put a layer of dirt into each tube and then a layer of seeds. The dirt provides a comfy layer for the brood and it helps wick up any stray moisture which the queens can move around to their liking.

I just realized I think I overcounted and there is probably only about 5.

[AntsCali098]

Is it just me, or are 2 of the tubes smaller?

You're right! I ran out of the ones most are in so a couple are smaller.

[AntsCali098]

I'm not sure what has happened with these gals, but I've had an extremely high mortality rate, maybe 70%.

I don't understand what I've done wrong. They should have enough heat, with the room temperature they are kept in being an average of 80-85°. They have plenty of seeds as well. I have pulled aside a few that have done pretty well, and will be keeping those.

[Pogonomatt]

I’m keeping P. californicus bicolor right now and they seem to do better with an out world right from the start. She’s in a test tube linked to a small plastic box with sand across the floor. The queen started foraging several times a day once she had a batch of eggs. She seemed to prefer greenbottle flies which she appeared to dry out against the heat mat, before storing them in the test tube. She has a worker, 5 pupae, plus a load of larvae now (and about 8 dried flies stockpiled). She closes the entrance by kicking the sand around after every foraging trip. I’ve never seen such an active queen in any species I’ve kept - she’s more like a tiny solitary wasp in behaviour and totally fearless. She takes the flies directly from the forceps too. I’d recommend trying to give this species a setup that allows natural foraging behaviour. My other Pogonomyrmex species (badius, barbatus and rugosus) don’t seem that bothered although both my barbatus and rugosus have foraged irregularly (not the badius though, she’s remained sealed in even though she has a worker now). 

[AntsCali098]

I’m keeping P. californicus bicolor right now and they seem to do better with an out world right from the start. She’s in a test tube linked to a small plastic box with sand across the floor. The queen started foraging several times a day once she had a batch of eggs. She seemed to prefer greenbottle flies which she appeared to dry out against the heat mat, before storing them in the test tube. She has a worker, 5 pupae, plus a load of larvae now (and about 8 dried flies stockpiled). She closes the entrance by kicking the sand around after every foraging trip. I’ve never seen such an active queen in any species I’ve kept - she’s more like a tiny solitary wasp in behaviour and totally fearless. She takes the flies directly from the forceps too. I’d recommend trying to give this species a setup that allows natural foraging behaviour. My other Pogonomyrmex species (badius, barbatus and rugosus) don’t seem that bothered although both my barbatus and rugosus have foraged irregularly (not the badius though, she’s remained sealed in even though she has a worker now).

Thanks for the advice! Many of mine now have workers (pictures soon), been off social media for a bit. That sounds pretty cool though, maybe I'll try the outworld space next year.

[Pogonomatt]

Love watching that queen wrestling a dead fly twice her size, cutting it up into three more manageable pieces. I’ve just bought a pair of the concolor variant. I’m interested to see how similar they are in behaviour.

[AntsCali098]

Once again, all the queens I kept ended up dying last year. I sold most, but kept a good amount, I'd say around 30. I think they all died because of improper heating. I thought the ambient temperature in my room would be enough, but I don't think it was. This year, I caught some queens earlier then in years before. It was a small flight, as it is still relatively early in their season, and I managed to catch 28 queens. I paired more of them up this time, as none of them killed each other when I've paired these in the past. I have about 8 duos, one tube with 3 queens, and the rest singles. Some have laid eggs.

 

 

This time, I am trying something completely different then before. I've decided to make myself a DIY incubator, and hopefully it will help keep the heat consistent and will be a better method then in previous years. I made it by putting a heating lamp in a 45 qt cooler, and attaching a thermostat to is. The thermostat not only tells me the temperature inside, but also has a setting that regulates the temperature, so I keep it around 90F in there.

 

(Not 90 degrees here because I had the cooler open for pictures)

 

For now, I'm just using a plastic container to keep all the test tubes in the incubator, but I might need another solution later when I catch more queens and run out of space in the container. 

 

 

I plan to catch more once another heat wave hits, as there should be bigger flights now. If I do, I plan to try out Pogonomatt's method or something similar, which would be using a sort of dirt box instead of a test tube. I also plan to use a small tank to raise a colony, as I think it should be cool to see them dig through the sand. To do this, I will have a drainage layer with some sand on top to make sure the humidity is taken care of and the moisture doesn't grow mold.

 

Hopefully with this new setup, I will be able to finally raise a colony of this species! Thanks for checking out my journal.

Edited by AntsCali098, June 4 2025 - 6:50 PM.