34 replies to this topic

[Kaelwizard]

A few days ago I caught a P. pennsylvanicus queen while flipping over rocks. I asked around about what they eat and I was told springtails and fruit flies were their favorite foods. I went out today and caught some springtails to give to her. I dropped one into her container and shortly afterward she found it and grabbed it in her jaws. It was also pretty exciting because she is my first semi-claustral queen to actually eat the food i give her. I hope that she is successful and raises a strong colony. I am very excited to see her survive.

Edited by Kaelwizard, May 16 2020 - 7:21 AM.

[RushmoreAnts]

Keep in mind that colonies don’t grow larger than a couple hundred, though.

[Kaelwizard]

Keep in mind that colonies don’t grow larger than a couple hundred, though.

I actually like them for that as it would be easier to manage. My parents also probably wouldn't want a 100,000 ants that might escape into our house.

[RushmoreAnts]

Although for me, a thousand or two is an ideal size. More than that is a little hard to manage, and less can be somewhat inactive, depending on species.

[NickAnter]

Nylanderia are perfect that way! They tend to max out at about 2,500 workers.

[RushmoreAnts]

Nylanderia are perfect that way! They tend to max out at about 2,500 workers.

I've also heard that Aphaenogaster only get to a couple thousand workers as well, and I have A. picea, so that's nice.  However, I would also like to have one larger colony, though (other than my Pogonomyrmex, as it's not that terribly difficult to dump a bunch of seeds in their outworld  ). 

[Kaelwizard]

She seems to be doing all right and looks kind of fat. There is no sign of the springtail I gave her whatsoever. Can these guys eat millipedes? I had a couple millipedes and they laid eggs. So if they can that may be a good feeder.

Edited by Kaelwizard, May 19 2020 - 10:24 AM.

[RushmoreAnts]

She seems to be doing all right and looks kind of fat. There is no sign of the springtail I gave her whatsoever. Can these guys eat millipedes? I had a couple millipedes and they laid eggs. So if they can that may be a good feeder.

Nice! Just got a small colony of these. I'm assuming that both our queens will probably take a while to lay eggs, though. 

[Kaelwizard]

I am going to get some more springtails for her today. Good luck with your colony!

[TheMicroPlanet]

This is one species I definitely want to keep someday, even if they're relatively boring. I just love their tube shaped bodies that differ from the norm of ant morphology.

[Kaelwizard]

I am honestly surprised at how well she is doing. I bet she has eaten a bit of the dubia leg a gave her after I caught her because I don't know if she would have been able to live off of that single springtail I gave her. Maybe once she gets a colony going I can experiment a bit.

[Kaelwizard]

I don't know when or if she laid eggs, but I see what looks to be a large larva in the vial with her. There could also be an egg pile too. I hope it is a larva as it would be awesome to have a worker to help her.

[Kaelwizard]

Yep, eggs and a larva.

[RushmoreAnts]

Still waiting for mine to lay.

[Kaelwizard]

I put a new dubia leg in the vial and she started eating it. It looks like she has 1 egg, a tiny larva (basically looks like a bigger egg), and a large larva.

[Kaelwizard]

Deleted

Edited by Kaelwizard, May 26 2020 - 10:14 AM.

[Kaelwizard]

She actually ate quite a bit of that leg.

 

 

I'll have to try to get a side view of the larva.

Edited by Kaelwizard, May 26 2020 - 10:16 AM.

[Kaelwizard]

If it was for sure a larva (and not springtail remains or something), it was completely and utterly neglected. I only saw her even acknowledge it once, and that was shortly after I saw it for the first time.

[ponerinecat]

Its a piece of debris   larvae are c shaped and covered in little hairs. Good luck with her, this species is notoriously hard to raise from a single queen. Feed her some sugars soaked into paper or cotton, and as for now give her dead insect pieces instead of live prey (less energy used simply eating a large piece of food rather than chasing down a tiny thing with little nutrition)I would say to neglect her somewhat, these ants tend to best without any check ups at all. Just feed her and disturb as little as possible. They take a very long time to lay much less advance to larvae (my 5 queen group took a few months to get to 2 eggs, in a naturalistic setup as well) Personally I just think they don't do well in captivity, every single time I've put a "failed" queen into a terrarium a full colony eventually appears.

[Kaelwizard]

It is not just a piece of debris. It probably is springtail remains or something. It was c shaped that’s why I wanted a side view picture but I knocked it away after watering the vial a bit. It was also kind of opalescent.

Edited by Kaelwizard, June 2 2020 - 9:24 AM.