153 replies to this topic

[Vendayn]

Nice, that is extremely fast. They are cute looking too!

I had a Solenopsis xyloni queen get workers in 2 and a half weeks. Wasn't even three weeks, and next thing I know there were workers. That was the fastest I ever got workers from any queen. No idea how she got workers THAT fast, but I was keeping them MUCH warmer than usual (it was summer and my room was very hot at the time).

 

Still, 3 weeks is very fast when the average time is over a month. And looks like a lot of workers eclosed almost all at once! Grats.

[Gregory2455]

Nice. Mine is just dying as yours is getting workers. Found her covered in fungus...

[dspdrew]

Well that sucks.

[PTAntFan]

Drew what are the temperature and light conditions you're keeping these under?

[dspdrew]

About 85F, and I keep them in the dark.

[nurbs]

This is an awesome looking ant.

[Gregory2455]

Well that sucks.

Yeah... she is dead now. I think she was infertile or a dud.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-29-2015
 
The first queen just got her first workers about five days ago, and I moved their test tube into a foraging container.
 

 

 

 

 

Edited by dspdrew, November 25 2023 - 8:28 PM.
dspdrew

[PogoQueen]

Population explosion! What set up are you planning on putting them in?

[dspdrew]

Good question. I forgot to mention it. I just moved their test tube into a foraging container.

[Foogoo]

Wow, those legs are no joke.

[Vendayn]

That is a lot of workers! And they look cute.

[dspdrew]

Update 8-7-2015
 
Not only did this one of the two other colonies get workers in a very short amount of time, they got their first major just a couple weeks after getting their first workers. You can see by these pictures that there is at least one more on the way also. The quality of these pictures is pretty poor because of the white background. White backgrounds always make the subject very dark, and silhouette-like.
 

 

 

 

 

[Gregory2455]

Looking good!

[LC3]

Those Pheidole have really long legs. o.O

[dspdrew]

Update 8-30-2015

 

The workers of the first colony were consistently dying for a while, and then yesterday I found the queen dead.

[Gregory2455]

So sorry Drew.

[Foogoo]

That's a major bummer, these looked like a really cool species. I'm assuming you don't have any indication of what may have been the cause?

[dspdrew]

Nope. No idea. I do still have my P. desertorum vistana, which are doing really well, and look a lot like this species.

 

 

Edit:  It was actually P. vistana as well.

Edited by dspdrew, November 25 2023 - 8:33 PM.
dspdrew

[dspdrew]

Update 9-16-2015
 
Just fed the remaining colony today and counted approximately 130 workers.