36 replies to this topic

[Vendayn]

Pheidole hyatti are sure great ants. I posted before, but they seem to go in overdrive mode in captivity. I imagine they one day could be transported to an exotic location and easily turn invasive. They get a bit like it already in ant farms. Mine had 1000s of eggs in only 2-3 months, and they never do that in the wild that I have seen. I wanted to do a test at the old place and take a colony, and see what they do in an urban apartment complex...but, I never got the chance. I had a theory they might have turned invasive, compared to their natural habitat. They did however seem 100% resistant to Argentine ants. The Argentine ants completely ignored the large colony of them. I moved though, so no idea what they did or what came of it.

 

And, as far as I know, there are no Pheidole hyatti in walking distance from where I live now or I'd have an ant farm of them.

 

Really easy to care for though, really large for Pheidole and look cool. Definitely were never boring, and were rather easy to stop escaping as they (at least ones I had) were bad at climbing.

[kellakk]

3-17-15

 

These really do have explosive growth in captivity.  I attribute this to the unlimited access to food and water that they get in captivity.  In the wild they nest in very dry areas that I assume would not have a lot of food items.  They also don't seem to like carbohydrates too much.  They almost never touch honey, Aqua 300, or sugar water when I offer it, but tear apart any insect I toss in and devour it within a day.

[dspdrew]

I notice the same about mine P. hyatti colony's eating habits.

[Foogoo]

I'm not certain mine are hyatti but they look similar and were found in the same area. Mine devours everything - insects, honey water, homemade food, BF food, etc. They're by far the easiest to feed. The only downside is, like L. humile, they will squeeze out of any tiny crack they can find.

[kellakk]

4-6-15

 

I gave one of these colonies to a friend.  The remaining one is still doing well, and now they started taking some sugar water too.

 

[kellakk]

4-22-15

 

I gave them a liquid feeder and I feed them a roach a day.  Needless to say, the size of the colony is getting overwhelming.

Edited by kellakk, April 22 2015 - 9:44 PM.

[Crystals]

What is your estimate on the worker count?

[kellakk]

It's difficult to say since they muddied up the glass of the test tubes.  There are usually 100-150 in the outworld at night, and the brood pile takes up about a third of one of the test tubes.

[kellakk]

6-10-15

 

A couple weeks ago, I moved them to one of Crystal's grout formicaria, but realized too late that it was too small for them.  They overran the fluon on the container I had for them and decided to move into a dirt setup that I had made for a P. magnacanthus  queen I had. I moved the dirt formicarium into a foraging container with fluon and they seem to have settled.  Since they're in the dirt, I can't really tell how many there are anymore, though.

[dspdrew]

 

How far did they travel to this other formicarium? These guys have been some of my most entertaining ants. I hope the P. vistana queen I just got this year ends up successful this time. Those are a lot like P. hyatti, except even more entertaining with their super long legs.

[Foogoo]

Is it just me that finds them entertaining but also annoying?? Can't remove a feeding dish without 5 stragglers crawling all over your arm. Any bump of the nest and they all come streaming out and start shuffling brood around. One tiny escape route and they will find it. I once tried moving them to another nest and used modeling clay as a bushing for the connecting tubing. They ended up eating the clay...

[kellakk]

They went halfway across the table, so around 3 feet.  I have no idea how they got the queen and all the brood there.  They had to climb up about 12 inches and over a downward-facing rim to get into the enclosure I was keeping the dirt formicarium in, and then they had to climb up and into the dirt container.  From what I've seen, they're not the best of climbers when they're holding things, and the queen is awful at climbing.

 

They are definitely my most entertaining ants. It's just annoying that they freak out from any disturbance.  They haven't tried to move from the dirt, though, which I suppose is a good thing.

[dspdrew]

Well I guess they prefer a box of dirt over a formicarium.

 

I haven't had any problems with escapes. I have mine in one of my prototypes, and it's working really well.

[kellakk]

When are you planning on making more of those prototypes and selling them? I know I'd buy some.

[dspdrew]

Well I might sell them once they are no longer prototypes. I haven't done a whole lot with them lately, because I've been so busy on other stuff.

[kellakk]

7-6-15

 

I got tired of them being in dirt, as it was a less-than-ideal setup.  To try to convince them to move, I let the dirt dry out completely and left a clean test tube on top, but they didn't want to move.  I eventually just dumped the dirt into a tub and left fresh tubes on top, but the dirt was deep enough for them to prefer it over the tubes.  To fix this, I put fluon around the inside rim of a plastic cup and left it inside the tub with food inside.  I eventually collected most of the workers with this method and transferred them to a new home.  The workers moved the queen and brood into one of the test tubes I had in the tub, so I switched them over too.  This whole process was really irritating and time-consuming, I'm never again letting a mature colony into a dirt container unless it's permanent.

[drtrmiller]

I murdered a Solenopsis invicta colony a few years ago that was in a soft plaster formicarium they chewed through from day 1.  It became the consistency of clay, and held water really well, but they would not budge for heat, cold, water, anything.

 

Good luck getting any ants to move out of a dirt setup consistently and easily.  Maybe Drew can devise some solution for this...just give him a few years.