133 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

Update 9-10-2014
 
My original colony from last year has had slow but steady growth. It's hard to see them because they have covered their test tube with dirt, but there are at least 80 workers now. Also, the workers are almost full-sized too.


 

 

 

 
 
All my new colonies now have one to four workers. Almost all the queens that never produced eventually died. I had one queen die and leave a worker and some brood behind, so I put the one last non-producing queen in her test tube. The worker and her fought for about a day, but are now getting along just fine. I'll keep watching this colony to see if this queen ever starts producing her own brood.

[Gregory2455]

Nice! I hope mine last that long...

[dspdrew]

Update 10-17-2014

 

I lost track of the queen that wasn't producing, so I have no idea if that ever changed.

 

I moved the two best new colonies into foraging containers with a layer of sand in the bottom. I'll be curious to see if they do any better than the others.

 

Pogonomyrmex rugosus feeding larvae ByFormica Formula Blue

 

[dspdrew]

Update 10-26-2014

 

My main colony is growing pretty fast still. They're now up to about 125 workers. I just flipped their old dried up test tube over so I could see everything inside it, count the brood, and make sure the queen's okay. I counted about 75 larvae and pupae, and saw a new pile of eggs.

 

One of the new colonies I moved into foraging containers two weeks ago I actually got to accept a P. subnitidus pupa, which I've never been able to do before. They've been taking good care of it for the last week and a half, and I can see its eyes have darkened, so it shouldn't be too long before it ecloses. It'll be interesting to see if they all get along.

[drtrmiller]

One of the new colonies I moved into foraging containers two weeks ago I actually got to accept a P. subnitidus pupa, which I've never been able to do before. They've been taking good care of it for the last week and a half, and I can see its eyes have darkened, so it shouldn't be too long before it ecloses. It'll be interesting to see if they all get along.

 

Do keep us posted. I was wondering if I could boost among closely related species, but have never tried it.

[dspdrew]

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Some genera are no problem, and others are. Right now I have two P. rugosus workers living with my new P. tenuispinus colony, but they are in the same subgenus. P. rugosus and P. subnitidus are not in the same subgenera, so they are not as closely related.

[dspdrew]

Update 12-20-2014
 
First of all, the P. subnitidus pupae that was accepted by one of these colonies eclosed, it was killed a week or two later.
 
Right now I have one of the newer colonies in a foraging container, and they only have five workers.
 
I just recently moved another one of the newer colonies into a ByFormica GroTube to try it out. I filled it with sand and let them dig it the way they want.
 

 

 

 
 
My older larger colony is doing fine, with about the same amount of workers they had on the last update--125 or so. They're producing some very large workers now.

[Gregory2455]

Your colonies from this year have 5 workers already?! My two remaining fertile queens, one with mites, never lay any eggs any more... They are all stuck at either one worker, or no workers...

[Chromerust]

One of mine has over 40 and another has about 30. A couple others have 10-20. That may sound impressive but I started with 25 queens and these were the only really good ones


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[Gregory2455]

I started with like 27, and most of them turned out to be infertile...

[dspdrew]

One of mine has over 40 and another has about 30. A couple others have 10-20. That may sound impressive but I started with 25 queens and these were the only really good ones


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WTF. Five is the most any of my new colonies have.

[Gregory2455]

Yeah, what is your secret???

[dspdrew]

Update 12-27-2014

 

A few days ago my largest colony got their first female alate.

[BugFinder]

My older larger colony is doing fine, with about the same amount of workers they had on the last update--125 or so. 

 

How do you accurately count workers when you have a lot of them?

[dean_k]

 

My older larger colony is doing fine, with about the same amount of workers they had on the last update--125 or so. 

 

How do you accurately count workers when you have a lot of them?

 

 

You take a picture of a colony with all ants in it and count.

[dspdrew]

Aside from taking a picture, sometimes even while they are running around, you can get an idea of how many are in a given area, and almost remember how many were there as they're running around, and end up with a pretty accurate count. It's almost like taking a mental snapshot. I've counted workers multiple times and still have come up with the same amount each time doing it this way.

[dspdrew]

Since Dean wanted to see this, here it is.
 
This is what happens when you keep Pogonomyrmex test tubes in the light.
 

 
 
There used to be a lot more than this, but I didn't take a picture until now, after some of the sprouts have died.

[dean_k]

Thanks for the photo.

[dspdrew]

Update 1-22-2015
 
A few days ago I moved the largest colony into one of my antfarm-style formicariums. This time before pouring the wet dirt/sand in, I lined the inside of the sides with some thin plastic sheets that I pulled out once dried. This actually kept the muddy water from drying on the sides and leaving the film that makes it so difficult to see through. To make sure the substrate stays in place, I roughed up the inside walls.
 
I poured them all in, and they started digging immediately. After just a couple hours they had enough of their nest excavated to allow the majority of the colony to move in. At first the view was very clear and looked great, but then as Pogonomyrmex always do, they stuck dirt all over the sides anyways obstructing the view after all.
 

 

 

 

 
 
it looks like about 15 or so workers have died since moving them in. I'm not sure why they died, and I hope this doesn't continue.

[Chromerust]

That's a really cool setup, I like it a lot!