Genus: Pheidole
Species: megacephala
Common Name:
Colony Stage: Established Colony
Caught Date: Sometime in April 2020 I believe.
Eggs: Tons
Larva: Tons
Pupa: Tons
Diet: Prefers fresh insects. Will accept pure honey but doesn't swarm. Occasionally accepts fruits but rarely and is picky.
Special Needs:
Do they Sting or bite?: No, or at least I don't feel it.
Escape Artists?: So far pretty easy to keep contained.
Queen or colony count: 1 Colony
06-05-2020:
Caught this colony wild sometime in April. Got called over by my father who knew about me picking up the hobby, he found them between some old plywood he was going through and was going to bug spray them. I was lucky enough to catch a queen, a little brood, and a small amount of workers both minor and major. Also collected some alates, two females and a batch of males, not realizing this species will inbreed in the nest. I witnessed them breeding amongst each other so I hoped I'd get a three queen colony. So far I've only seen one queen hanging within the chosen brood chamber for a while now. I'm not sure if they killed the other two queens (the alates), or if they are still hiding somewhere in the nest, or if they escaped the enclosure sometime when I wasn't watching (I hope not, woops). Gave them a pretty juicy beetle early in this week which was larger than I normally give them. Seemed within two days since that their brood doubled. Not sure if that was a coincidence or not. Or maybe the bred alates are now laying but I just don't see them? There's a hard to see part of the nest so I figure they could be hiding there.
Things I noticed about these girls is they are more active at night, aren't too interested in climbing things (unless I gave them wingless fruitflies and they're checking the plastic plant or rocks for them) and they most definitely prefer protein over sugars! They'll swarm any insect I give them instantly but I only ever see maybe 1 to 5 (at most) on any sugary thing at any given time. They do drink sugars as I see them slurp up honey from time to time but they don't get exited about it.
They also seem very curious! They will lift their front little legs and stretch up their little antennae anytime I put my hand in and will rush over to see any new thing I put in their outworld the moment it hits the ground. Even if I'm just moving some sand around they'll scurry over to check it out which isn't very helpful when I'm trying to remove their trash. They don't seem aggressive and will avoid actually touching my hand if they can help it but they sure are interested in what it's doing.
Once I thought 3 ants escaped but this was shortly after I had transferred them from one nest/outworld to another back near when I first caught them. They must have been a few I dropped. The enclosure was also moved to the other side of the room so they had to travel to find it! They were trying to find their way inside and sadly one died by falling into the vaseline barrier. The other two I caught in cotton and reunited with the colony. Ever since then I never had any containment issues and they don't even seem to try. Maybe they will try sometime when the colony gets too big for their nest or if I don't feed them enough?
I was watering them with a cap and a cotton ball but it seemed they were drinking more so I set up the bird water trough and put cotton in it so they won't drown. It works great but they don't have an easy time climbing it. Next time I change it I'll try sanding the sides to see if that helps them with climbing it. For now they can climb it but with difficulty and I added a small bit of cotton on the side to help them out until I change/update it.
All in all I very much enjoy these girls. They're easy to make happy and they're fun to watch.
06-29-2020:
So the girls have been eating so much honey I haven't been able to keep up. I've even switched to super worms for protein instead of meal worms, just so they take longer picking at it. So when I switched out their low water I went ahead and boiled me some honey water to add into a second trough. It's a smashing hit! I figure honey water would less likely mold but we'll see how it does. I also used a file tool on the sides so it's rough and they have an easier time climbing it. I'm actually surprised how much they've drank of it so far.
07-19-2020:
Welp, they're trying to escape. They're using the play sand in their outworld to make a path through the barrier. I refreshed their honey water that was starting to mold which they seemed happy about, I cleaned their nest cotton, I gave them a nice yummy super worm and a couple other treats. It all helped for a little while but then they were back at it the next day. I wonder if it is because they need bigger nesting space? Though from everything I've seen online they had their nests more pact than this and said to wait until their fuller. I'll probably order another bigger nest just to be ready and if they don't need it I can always use it for someone.
02-15-2022:
Still doing well but their numbers seem to have dropped. I think maybe I need to feed them more proteins. Either that or they have expanded into their out-world and using the play-sand to make little mounds, so could be a larger number of workers are staying there. Queen still chilling in the main nest.
Edited by BitT, February 15 2022 - 4:10 PM.