A lot has happened since I last updated.
Unfortunately, I'm down to just one colony. All the colonies previously mentioned here have died out.
The hyatti was doing amazing for a long while, but they mysteriously died out. My theory is it was just due to the queen refusing to lay. Pheidole workers generally don't live too long, as short as 3 months, so the nanitics (which were about half the colony) likely died from old age. After that, all the other workers mysteriously died. Since the queen wasnt laying any eggs, the workers were not replaced like normal. They had a full liquid feeder, water, and hydration. The queen is still alive, but I'm doubtful that she will lay again. I put her in a test tube setup and will try to not disturb her for a while.
The cerebrosior never recovered after their flooding incident, and the queen died about a week back.
The pilefera group's queen also recently died for an unknown reason.
It's sad, but I have managed to catch a Pheidole navigans colony, and they have around 100 workers. I put them in a Creamato-proof outworld from ANTdrew, which they seem to like. I love watching this colony's foraging activity, they are always scouting around. I'm happy that I finally found an outworld that is able to keep this species fully contained, all the others I've tried with P.navigans in the past have given me problems. This is when the colony wasn't in it yet
They are pretty active and always love their food. There is also a good amount of brood, so hopefully this colony can take off.
I'm hopeful I can catch some more cool desert Pheidole this summer and add them to this journal, but for now, it will just follow these gals.
Thanks for checking out my journal!
Edited by AntsCali098, April 29 2024 - 12:31 PM.
