14 replies to this topic

[Vendayn]

I bought this colony from Drew today. I'll definitely be taking pictures, probably be tomorrow though. They came with his new formicarium design, the founding one.

 

About an hour ago, I boosted with four Pogonomyrmex californicus callows. Two which were accepted, the other two I accidentally injured ( ). Now they are helping carry in pupae (and some larvae) that I also got from the same colony. I'd say I probably got around 15 pupae (maybe closer to 20 pupae) and a few larvae, I didn't do an actual count. The pile of pupae and the few larvae in their nesting area is quite tall though, almost reaches the top and nearly reaching halfway in width.

 

I've boosted Pogonomyrmex maricopa with P. californicus before and that worked out pretty well. Though they didn't accept any callows and only accepted half the brood. I seem to have had way better success with this Pogonomyrmex rugosus queen accepting the brood AND callows, than I did with P. maricopa.

 

I'd take pictures today, but I kind of want them to settle in. Plus, way too tired to do anything right now. So, you guys will have to wait for tomorrow.

Edited by Vendayn, February 19 2017 - 6:10 PM.

[dspdrew]

I usually had trouble getting P. rugosus to accept P. californicus brood, or it might have been the other way around, but I know I have had quite a few species all living happily together, so it can definitely work.

[Vendayn]

Yeah, it seems to work pretty well (usually) for Pogonomyrmex. However, Pogonomyrmex californicus don't seem to be very accepting of other species of Pogonomyrmex brood, so it could have been that for you. For this queen, she pretty much accepted the brood right away and has done most of the work to putting the P. californicus brood into the pile.

 

Will give them a good start in any case. Having the additional workers should help the colony grow really nicely.

[Vendayn]

Sorry for no pictures. Every time there is a heat wave I get tired, lazy and not want to do anything. Luckily Pogonomyrmex and Acromyrmex don't require constant food, since seeds and plants pretty much last forever.

 

I did want to update though. The Pogonomyrmex rugosus queen has already laid around 50 eggs! That is a lot! I see two huge clusters of eggs in their formicarium. Granted, I did boost them, so that probably plays a part. It probably isn't the most natural thing (or most "rewarding") to boost ants (unless the species actually relies on doing that), but I wanted them to be a success. And boosting greatly increases success rate. It may be nice to see a colony grow naturally, but oh well, I want a successful colony. Though with all these eggs already, the colony is going to pretty quickly grow the founding formicarium. Though it IS just a founding formicarium, not made for a bigger colony. Hopefully the Tarheel formicarium arrives before then.

 

I did have a Pogonomyrmex californicus queen that was a fast egg layer too, so it seems some Pogonomyrmex queens lay more than others. As I have had some Pogonomyrmex californicus queens and they didn't lay nearly as many or do well at all, while others have. I imagine Pogonomyrmex rugosus queens would be the same way. 

Edited by Vendayn, August 14 2016 - 1:44 PM.

[kellakk]

Wait, where did you get P. maricopa? As far as I remember, they're only across the Colorado river.

[Vendayn]

One of the Myrmecologists IDed a queen I got from the Salton Sea (southeast of Palm Springs) as Pogonomyrmex maricopa. I found a ton of queens of them, amongst the farm-land out there. 

 

This was quite some time back, like 5 years or so I think. I did have a successful colony of Pogonomyrmex maricopa. And if I recall, Argentine ants invaded them and killed them off sadly.

Edited by Vendayn, August 14 2016 - 2:35 PM.

[Vendayn]

I noticed the eggs were growing really slow, so I turned on the heat lamp for them (two weeks ago). Pretty soon after that, a lot of the eggs turned into larvae. So, that made a huge difference with the added heat. There is still only three actual Pogonomyrmex rugosus workers, the others are Pogonomyrmex californicus workers.

 

I plan to use this species for the Tarheel Pinnacle formicarium. I'm getting a second formicarium from Antscanada, just to see how I like his products. I'll be getting that all in one pack that includes an omni nest. The antscanada nest will be a lot better for Solenopsis invicta (which is what I plan to use), than the Tarheel formicarium. Though, plans might change because I think I got the Pinnacle formicarium with small tunnels and not medium. If so, I'll just use the Solenopsis invicta I guess.

Edited by Vendayn, September 17 2016 - 9:00 PM.

[Vendayn]

I don't have any pictures yet. In truth, mostly because I've been leaving my ants alone. They are next to my Acromyrmex versicolor inside the closet, and I don't really look at both very much. I know Pogonomyrmex rugosus, when people have kept them before, if they are disturbed too much they don't do as well. And with my Acromyrmex versicolor still recovering, I haven't really done much with either of them.

 

I will take pictures though! A journal without pictures is kinda boring, and feels empty. Plus I still really want to take pics of Tarheel's pinnacle.

 

Most of the Pogonomyrmex californicus workers I boosted them with (that started out as pupae and some larvae) actually died. There might be a couple or maybe three at most still in there. On the plus side, each Pogonomyrmex californicus worker seemed to live a month and they helped the colony a lot. Now there are over 30 workers (all which are Pogonomyrmex rugosus, who are far hardier than the local Pogonomyrmex californicus), lots of new eggs and quite a few larvae/pupae. I don't think the colony would be near its size without boosting them, even though the Pogonomyrmex californicus workers didn't last long. Which as an additional note, the local Pogonomyrmex californicus pretty much live that long in captivity too. Not good captive ants.

 

In any case. I had them in the garage, and putting them in the closet with my Leafcutters made them do way better. Partly because the garage was getting cold of course, because of Winter.

 

Colony isn't growing super fast (only 30 or so workers, maybe 40 at most), but I like how fast its growing. Its a lot more workers than when I first got them. Not super slow, but at a nice steady speed. I think it may partly because I haven't actually done much with them, and most of their food comes from seeds. So, I haven't given them probably "optimal" amount of food for colony growth. In any case, that is okay with me for the time being. Next year, I'll go out and get more insects and stuff for them once Spring is here. I'll just let them grow slowly over the Winter. 

 

Also they aren't a forced hibernation species, so no problem there. I could put them in hibernation I guess (since I'm not really doing much with them), but they are doing fine where they are. No point changing anything.

[Vendayn]

I put the Pogonomyrmex rugosus into hibernation today. Well, put them in a much colder area. I noticed the past couple months they've slowed down a lot. I still gave them an insect once a week, but they stopped eating too. Still have some larvae and a pupae, but figured they wanted to hibernate. Maybe a bit late, but at least it will still give them plenty of time to do their thing.

[Vendayn]

Sadly the queen died. Not sure why. She had laid a huge pile of eggs (even a few larvae) just a week ago after I put her into the closet where my Acromyrmex versicolor are (where its a lot warmer). Then, I look today and she is dead. 

[dspdrew]

That sucks. My favorite honeypot ant colony just lost their queen over the weekend.

[Vendayn]

Turns out the queen is still alive. I noticed were twitching this morning and looking really ill, so I ended up "rolling" them out of the Tarheel formicarium (by tilting the formicarium in a way to get the ants out). I put them on a wet napkin in a glass container with a lid, and with a little bit of honey. They are all back to being healthy. The queen even "woke" up and drank quite a bit of honey.

 

I looked more carefully in the ant farm, and I couldn't see anything growing or anything that would cause them to do that. Maybe I fed them something that was toxic, but I only use pet store food or food around the house and I'm always really careful what to feed them. It isn't the Tarheel formicarium as they've been in there for quite a while.

 

Sadly, a lot of the workers are dead (from around 30, to only 8). Hopefully they recover. 

[Vendayn]

I think its the water I used. The formicarium, even though its mostly dry and no mold, smells kinda like metal fixed with rotten egg. There isn't anything rotting though and it isn't really even wet at all. But, I used filtered water and I tried it and it smells fine. So, I dunno.

 

I'll have to make a thread with best way to clean the formicarium, since I can't take it apart.

Edited by Vendayn, February 15 2017 - 10:45 PM.

[Leo]

good for you

[Vendayn]

Sadly, she officially died before I could put them back in the Tarheel formicarium. The workers took apart her legs, and left her body sitting in the middle of them.