23 replies to this topic

[Artimusclydeperez]

Hey Friends, so i have a number of queens and colonys going at the moment all are relatively new to me as i just moved from California to Texas! 

So there are alot of new ants for me to find and learn about. excuse any poor grammar and spelling its not my forte but i hope you enjoy journal.

this is my first colony in Texas. A Pheidole i havnt gotten an id on as of yet from one queen over 100 strong they even have 2 new queens just hatch!

B252DB19-A7E2-42F9-ABA1-5726DB4B0DC3 by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

this is i believe a Patchycondyla she has layed a few eggs but hasnt been eating much so any help with food ideas would help.

 

CB42D4A7-B33E-46FA-BD97-CF0EC1F53F5E by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

57186DD0-B3D6-4F1E-94ED-D3DC581FA091 by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

this is my Pogonomyrmex barbatus she has settled and has many eggs I'm eager to see one hatch I'm not sure if she is fertile i found her at work on some re-bar lol

91EABB3B-2D52-496A-932B-275EF173438A by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

9CDD2536-92FE-4DB4-B78E-3719968C357F by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

 

this is a bad pic they are fast and hard to focus on but these are my Leptogenys elongata?

they are probably one of my new favorite ants now they don't seem to burrow much they just hid under sticks or rocks  and are nomadic so every few weeks they move to another spot in the container they eat pill bugs and are very fun to watch hunt.

83BB5987-5E6A-44CC-AC80-5BF79725D3E0 by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

this is a video from above

6A4BA6D5-3569-41CE-8E7A-7BAC1A9433C0 by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

 

these are the Cephelotes i found in a twig in an oak tree in all there is about 10 workers and the queen not sure what to feed them and i havnt seen them eat but they become very active under light and heat UPdate! got them to eat on  byformica sunburst ant nectar!

AEA9EEA0-FF95-4683-AEA3-FDF058636EAB by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

8F127D54-A71A-4967-AA21-6FE64FCBAB77 by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

this is a video

213FD70D-B303-4DB7-9403-75442253310A by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

 

this is another Pheidole i found twice the size of my first queen i can't find an id on her  any ideas?

736A9205-EC22-43FE-9F75-7DEEF6B1BB12 by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

 

this any is very small  i have no clue what it is lol 

0FEF9B4A-973C-4FB0-83D3-9D6881E8EE8A by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

FAABDFF1-7B41-466D-973B-527613388890 by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

 

this is one I'm excited about my first successful colony was a small black crematogaster  that got to around 1500-2000 strong

i saw these big red and black ones at work about to do a flight i know they were not fertile so i left them as i got in the truck to drive away this one hit me in the face got stuck in my beared and her first workers are only days away!

 

18FAAACF-679F-4870-A2C8-C1326DF8CB34 by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

 

pseudomyrmex gracilis i have them in my back yard i couldn't find a queen then i went camping looked for ants found NONE got back to camp to pout and as i sat down this beauty fell on my lap... texas ants seem to like me and my wife hates it lol i cut a snail shell in half and she moved right in!

 

472ADF34-C81A-48D5-BBBE-CE58F60450CF by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

1BF19E2F-A028-4ECA-BACD-D6A42C2B6BE6 by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

 

cyphomyrmex wheeleri   i found these in my back yard read about them and found that they are shallow so i took out the shovel 5" down i found the nest I'm not sure if i got the queen they all look the same and are hard to focus on lol but they broke the fungus down to nothing and i was scared but grew it back from the smallest piece and now look at it!

 

F5FE318D-03DE-4C79-B924-D778A26AA046 by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

0A7977B6-5A9C-487A-B7BB-33B748B83367 by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

8C593A86-7006-4C23-A98F-54787A80F22E by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

2F46DAF4-1A38-4F7B-A4FA-D374079A6725 by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

9892DF4E-BB5D-4FD9-AE62-4102487DC74A by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

FBBB615B-528E-4782-A3CC-2434F384307E by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

 

these are some camponotus i think they are C. sayi?

really cool entire nest are in this small oak gall and there are 30-40 and even have some alates i counted 3 winged queens come out last night its amazing how many fit in such a small opening they are also very nice as you can see and let me pick up the nest and drink food off  a drop on my finger!

BC4BD24F-CFAB-4A73-9F0A-8440586A3A87 by Arturo Perez, on Flickr

there are a few more i will update later its hard to get pics and I'm in the middle of moving them to new set ups but it will be nice to meet you all and hear your input and questions!

Edited by Artimusclydeperez, August 2 2019 - 4:29 PM.

[Leo]

I think you and I are the only people who have kept leptgenys on this forum XD

[ANTdrew]

Nice collection! I think you’re really small queen could be Solenopsis.

Edited by ANTdrew, August 6 2019 - 6:11 PM.

[NickAnter]

The really small queen is some other small Solenopsis species. Great ants, many of those are ants that I would love to have.  I really hope that the Cephalotes do well!

[Artimusclydeperez]

Ty for the ant ID!

Man leptogenys are super cool it’s the only any iv kept you could put in a fully planted terrarium and still see in its nest and it’s activi and then not be hidden all the time! And they are super hunters my nests have pull bug corpses all over the entrance and when I first moved them in to the dirt box they killed like 20 pill bugs and piled them up out side lol

[Artimusclydeperez]

Yeah right now they are my main concern as far as making sure they are eating and temps are right
It was the cyphomyrmex but they are super easy to care for as far as fungus ants go iv had acromyromex from Cali and they seemed to be a lot more finicky

[NickAnter]

You should try to find some Atta texana, or mexicana. They are super cool, and the queens are absolutely massive!

[Artimusclydeperez]

I found a few nests but I think I missed the flights already but I have the locations marked

[Artimusclydeperez]

Plus I’d need to get the fungus if they happen to drop it Andrew came up with some great ways around that but they take a lot of dedication and chance lol

[Artimusclydeperez]

Today at work they had taken down an oak tree by a slab I was working on branches broken on the ground there was one branch 2”thick and 2’ Long in the heat the ants exited the wood and cling to the bottom of it to try and cool down in this small section of wood was a Camponotus sayi, cephelotes , crematorgaster , colobopsis , and a psuedomyromex colony! And they where all huddled together in the underside of the branch no fitting at all lol
I guess they can. All work together to fight the heat
Any way in a few branches I found cephelotes they have multiple queens that is fore sure and I found at least 3 colony’s and in each I got 3-6 queens with workers

[Acutus]

Wow! what a great collection!

[CatsnAnts]

Wow, I literally can’t describe how jealous I am of your collection. Awesome job

Edited by CatsnAnts, August 6 2019 - 1:22 PM.

[Artimusclydeperez]

Thanks guys that means a lot I feel like I’m the only person in San Antonio who likes ants haha
Altogether local reptile shop has agreed to let me have some counter space for my extra ant colony’s! So now I gotta make a nice and easy set up I can reproduce
I’m thinking Sense all my ants are tree dwellers a split log with magnets on the side of a box I’ll post picks once all the parts come in!

[Acutus]

Look forward to seeing it! BTW. The Camponotus colony in the oak gall is just way awesome!

Edited by Acutus, August 6 2019 - 4:13 PM.

[Artimusclydeperez]

I know right ? They are still in it I plan on collecting a few more oak galls that are empty and use them in my formicarium also I should have most the stuff I need tonight to make my first attempt wish me luck

[Acutus]

I know right ? They are still in it I plan on collecting a few more oak galls that are empty and use them in my formicarium also I should have most the stuff I need tonight to make my first attempt wish me luck

 

Good Luck!!! 

[Artimusclydeperez]

ok first one is done but I can’t get the picture from flicker for some reason from my phone but pictures to come soon

Edited by Artimusclydeperez, August 8 2019 - 3:29 AM.

[Artimusclydeperez]

https://flic.kr/p/2gSDBBV
https://flic.kr/p/2gSDBJo
https://flic.kr/p/2gSErmo

[NickAnter]

How are they doing?  Have you caught any more?

[Kalidas]

Did you get those Cyphomyrmex Wheeleri recently? I'm guessing in Texas?

I looked it up and it says they're native in SoCal and Antwiki but have not heard of anyone in SoCal catching them