6 replies to this topic

[ariaant]

Hello,

 

Three weeks ago I caught 6 Veromessor pergandei queens in southern california in Borrego Springs.  I put them in a test tube setup and placed them in a shoebox in a dark closet.  I checked on them two weeks ago and saw 2-5 eggs in maybe half of the test tubes.  The results were disappointing so I started to heat up the room (prior temperatures 75-65 F) to 80-73 with a room heater.  I just checked on them one week later (today) and saw about the same number of eggs or less.  I just bought a heat pad with temperature control set at 80 F and started that system today.  I think the room is relatively quiet.  Looking at other people's journals it looks like they do all right in a test tube set up.  Should i put some sand in the tubes? Do I need to increase the temperature? Any advice? 

 

Thank you!

[Zeiss]

You're not being patient enough.  Keeping ants require a lot of patience.

Edited by Zeiss, March 23 2019 - 7:08 PM.

[nurbs]

You don't need sand. Once you get workers drop in some blue grass seeds. What I do is have seeds in there already, but you don't need them. 

 

Here is what they look like right before I left them alone in the dark. And yes, you need heat. I have a ceramic heat lamp hanging above them, around 88F.

 

[ariaant]

Thanks, I will turn up the heat a bit.

[sirjordanncurtis]

Also, try not to disturb them too much if possible, because 2-5 eggs is pretty little for Veromessor. I'd expect them to at least lay 10 within a week, so it's possible your queens are somewhat stressed.

[ariaant]

Also, try not to disturb them too much if possible, because 2-5 eggs is pretty little for Veromessor. I'd expect them to at least lay 10 within a week, so it's possible your queens are somewhat stressed.

 

Reading the other journals on Veromessor pergandei they don't seem to be doing that great.  I only checked on them those two times in the last three weeks.  I wonder if they are getting vibrations from near by pipes (the closest is next to a bathroom). Unfortunately its my quietest closet/area.  

[Xanuri]

I recently acquired my first V. pergandei queen. I placed her into the standard test tube setup and she was a complete spaz for days on end pulling at the cotton. The test tube was in my hotbox kept at about 83F. even after covering her up and such she just would not calm down. I decided to give her a bit of sand, that didn't help either and I was thinking of putting her in a dirt box and let her dig.

 

Finally I did some re-organizing and put her test tube in with another V. pergandei queen and my M. mimicus queen into a box I had with some egg foam and hid them away in the back of my closet where it was VERY dark vs. getting some ambient light. This seemed to do the trick, she calmed down a great deal by being in complete darkness. I also only check on them about once a week to keep the stress of light exposure down.

 

Each species is going to have their quirks, V. pergandei seem to really need the complete darkness, as the light seems to stress them out more than it did my C. fragilis queen, additionally my M. mimicus queen didn't seem to mind ambient light either as you can see from my journal on her she has laid a sizable number of eggs.

 

Also keep in mind that although the V. pergandei sp. is a desert dwelling ant, they are the first to have nuptials in early Feb/Mar and are active even when temps are in the 40-50F at night still. I would not be so quick to bake them at 88F already. use your local weather and follow along the gradual incline to summer temperatures. I think mimicking nature is a more natural process to follow than just turning up the heat and leaving it. Just my two cents, and also if you got it from an area that isn't quite local to you, then follow the captured locations weather!