29 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

8-19-2014
 
I found this Pheidole gilvescens queen 8-3-2014, near Joshua Tree National Park in the Mojave Desert of California. I found it on my black light trap around 10:00 pm after a storm came through earlier in the day.
 
It tore its wings off a day or so later and started laying eggs. So far it looks like it has two larvae already, so I figure it's most likely fertile.
 

 

 

[dspdrew]

Update 8-31-2014
 
This queen got her first workers a few days ago. That is just a little over three weeks.
 

[Gregory2455]

Beautiful Pheidole.

[Alza]

sharing is caring 

[Gregory2455]

Alza you know he only has one queen.

[Alza]

oh...

[Gregory2455]

I am dying for a picture update.

[Gregory2455]

This should be updated- also the dates are wrong.

[dspdrew]

Haha, good catch. I thought I fixed all of them.

[dspdrew]

Update 11-4-2014
 
The colony is dong fairly well. It is slowly growing, and I haven't seen any deaths. Right now there are about 12 workers, and a nice little pile of brood including quite a few fresh eggs. When my last Pheidole xerophila died, I gave their little pile of brood to these guys, and they seem to have excepted them.

[dspdrew]

Update 11-18-2014
 
So far four of the P. xerophila workers have eclosed, and seem to be getting along just fine with the colony. There are now about 16  P. gilvescens workers.
 

 

 

[Gregory2455]

"Day 5- The gilvescens still do not suspect a thing... They have no idea what the four of us are plotting." -P.xerophilla workers.

But seriously, I am jealous. Looks like they are doing great, but I am a bit surprised they accepted the P.xerophilla workers.

[dspdrew]

Update 12-9-2014
 
Well the queen's dead now. So much for these.

[Gregory2455]

These were amazing ants, just like my Forelius.

So sorry Drew.

Edited by Gregory2455, July 23 2015 - 3:57 AM.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-23-2017
 

I finally found a whole bunch more of these queens in Wild Crossing, California on the night of 7-9-2017. I think these didn't fly until it was dark because I never actually saw them flying, I just found tons of them on my black light. Hopefully they will do better this time around. I put most of them in test tubes, but do have a few of them in my newly designed founding formicariums. I have a few tubes with two or three queens together.

 

They are all doing great so far with big piles of very small larvae now.

[dspdrew]

Update 8-9-2017
 

This new bunch of queens just got their first workers a few days ago.

[dspdrew]

Update 10-1-2017
 

I had a few with majors, but now only two. The largest colony had about 25 last week but now is down to 17. Something killed a bunch of my ants, including a lot of these.

[dspdrew]

Update 1-13-2018
 
The largest colony is actually doing quite well now. It's the largest Pheidole colony I've reared since my very first one that got into the hundreds. This is also my first successful P. gilvescens colony ever. I counted about 60 minors and 4 majors. They also have tons of brood, so the colony is continuing to grow quickly. In addition to this colony I still have one other that only has four workers, but a nice little pile of brood too, so they're actually growing.
 
Here's a few pictures of the larger colony.
 

 

 

[FeedTheAnts]

So shiny and beautiful! Those majors are huge!! If I were you I would put a colony like this that seems to be doing so well into a terrarium. Maybe it would help them keep flourishing and increasing in numbers.

[dspdrew]

Update 2-18-2018
 

This colony just keeps getting bigger. They're up to about 120 workers now.