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ANTdrew's Pheidole bicarinata Journal - The Phatheads

Started By ANTdrew , Jun 24 2020 11:17 AM
pheidole bicarinata

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311 replies to this topic

#1 Offline ANTdrew - Posted June 24 2020 - 11:17 AM

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Beginning 6-24-2020

I have an obsessive side to my personality. Since finding a Pheidole major in my yard last September, I had become quite obsessed with the idea of finding a queen and raising a colony of this species. Through my research, I learned that these are night flyers that like to fly on warm humid nights usually after a good rain. Other members on here recommended using the black light method, so I ordered a 25watt bulb off of Amazon and experimented with several configurations to attract queens.

On Friday, 6/19, I tried a new approach using a lamp from my living room and an old white sheet we had laying around. It looked like this:

C94D2DA3 05B7 49CE 8D7E DB4F4130AE17


Literally within minutes of turning the thing on, right after nightfall, a reddish little queen showed up on the sheet! It looked just like a little red Tetramorium queen, and I knew this had to be Pheidole. Within the next hour, two more had shown up. I put all of these first three queens in test tube set ups and called it a night.

On Father's Day, 6/21, I set up my spooky blacklight again, and two more of these girls showed up. What a great Father's Day gift!

Currently, all five of these are in standard test tube set ups. Three of them have shed their wings, and I'm seeing a few egg piles starting to form. I'm super excited to raise this species and document the journey here. Stay tuned!

 

IMG 7408

If you are a PheidolePhenom, please share advice because these ants seem to be kind of shrouded in mystery on this forum for whatever reason.


Edited by ANTdrew, February 11 2021 - 8:57 AM.

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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#2 Offline Antkid12 - Posted June 24 2020 - 11:22 AM

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Love the name! good luck on these gals!  :)


Ants I have: Tapinoma sessile(2 queen colony). RED MORPH Camponotus neacticus(now has pupae!), Tetramorium immigrans (x3), Aphaenogaster sp, Temnothorax sp, Brachymyrmex sp.   possibly infertile   :(,  Ponera pennsylvanica, and Pheidole morrisi!  :yahoo: 

 

Other insects: Polistes sp. Queen

                    

Ants I need: Pheidole sp., Trachymyrmex sp., Crematogaster cerasi , Dorymyrmex sp. Most wanted: Pheidole morrisii

 

                    

                   

 

 

#3 Offline Mdrogun - Posted June 24 2020 - 11:43 AM

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Fun little ants, for sure. They will grow quite fast, and since the colonies don't get particularly huge, they will reach maturity very quickly.

 

Here was my colony right before I sold them:


The queen got her first workers sometime in mid or late July. As long as you keep them warm, and keep them fed, they'll take off and do real well. Good luck! :)


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Currently Keeping:
Trachymyrmex septentrionalis

Pheidole pilifera

Forelius sp. (Monogynous, bicolored) "Midwestern Forelius"
Crematogaster cerasi

Pheidole bicarinata

Aphaenogaster rudis

Camponotus chromaiodes

Formica sp. (microgena species)

Nylanderia cf. arenivega

#4 Offline ANTdrew - Posted June 24 2020 - 12:46 PM

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Fun little ants, for sure. They will grow quite fast, and since the colonies don't get particularly huge, they will reach maturity very quickly.

Here was my colony right before I sold them:


The queen got her first workers sometime in mid or late July. As long as you keep them warm, and keep them fed, they'll take off and do real well. Good luck! :)

Awesome! What kind of humidity range? Any favorite foods?
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#5 Offline ANTdrew - Posted June 24 2020 - 4:14 PM

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Another question? How sensitive are these during founding?
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#6 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted June 24 2020 - 4:26 PM

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Another question? How sensitive are these during founding?

Not at all in my experience.


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My Main Journal | My Neivamyrmex Journal | My Ant Adoption | My YouTube

Join the TennesseeAnts Discord Server! https://discord.gg/JbKwPgs

#7 Offline ANTdrew - Posted June 24 2020 - 4:29 PM

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Excellent! Yeah, they seem like some of the calmest queens I’ve seen.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#8 Offline TechAnt - Posted June 24 2020 - 5:26 PM

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My P. Californica definitely are not calm. They freak out when I move them a little. Also, you should try and feed them seeds, like Chia or Flax.
My Ants:
(x1) Campontous semitstaceus ~20 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Camponotus vicinus ~10 workers, 1 Queen (all black variety)
(x1) Tetramorium immigrans ~100 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Myrmercocystus mexicanus -1 Queen
(x2) Mymercocystus mimcus -1 Queen
(x1) Mymercocystus testaceus ~45 workers, 1 Queen

#9 Offline AntsMaryland - Posted June 25 2020 - 4:37 AM

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Now I am VERY excited about following this journal. I hope your Pheidole queen does well!!


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Aphaenogaster cf. rudis 

Tetramorium immigrans 

Tapinoma sessile

Formica subsericea

Pheidole sp.

Camponotus nearcticus

#10 Offline ANTdrew - Posted June 25 2020 - 4:39 AM

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Now I am VERY excited about following this journal. I hope your Pheidole queen does well!!

I will do my best not to disappoint. Look out for a BIG Crematogaster update later today.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#11 Offline CatsnAnts - Posted June 25 2020 - 6:44 AM

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Now I am VERY excited about following this journal. I hope your Pheidole queen does well!!

I will do my best not to disappoint. Look out for a BIG Crematogaster update later today.

I hope yours do well! Mine last year all laid eggs, but none ever developed into larvae.

Spoiler

#12 Offline ANTdrew - Posted June 25 2020 - 6:58 AM

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Now I am VERY excited about following this journal. I hope your Pheidole queen does well!!

I will do my best not to disappoint. Look out for a BIG Crematogaster update later today.
I hope yours do well! Mine last year all laid eggs, but none ever developed into larvae.
Ugh. Well, that takes my mood down a notch...
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#13 Offline TKD102 - Posted June 26 2020 - 7:19 PM

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Good Luck !  :D

Pheidole have always looked like a cool species to me


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Currently Keeping:

Tetramorium Immigrans

#14 Offline ANTdrew - Posted June 27 2020 - 2:26 AM

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Good Luck ! :D
Pheidole have always looked like a cool species to me

Thanks! Neat eggs piles forming now.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#15 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 3 2020 - 9:52 AM

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Update 7-3-2020

It's been two weeks since I found the first three of these queens, and I have good news to report. I looked in their shoebox incubator this morning, and at least one of them has larvae now. :yahoo:
My home's main breaker crapped out last Sunday, so we've been without AC all week. Temperatures where these queens were kept got as high as 95F, so I think that certainly helped them along. The two queens I found on Father's Day both have big egg piles now, while one of the winged queens appears to have nothing yet. I'm remaining cautiously optimistic for my Phatheads!

Edited by ANTdrew, July 3 2020 - 10:03 AM.

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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#16 Offline Antkid12 - Posted July 3 2020 - 11:51 AM

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(y)


Ants I have: Tapinoma sessile(2 queen colony). RED MORPH Camponotus neacticus(now has pupae!), Tetramorium immigrans (x3), Aphaenogaster sp, Temnothorax sp, Brachymyrmex sp.   possibly infertile   :(,  Ponera pennsylvanica, and Pheidole morrisi!  :yahoo: 

 

Other insects: Polistes sp. Queen

                    

Ants I need: Pheidole sp., Trachymyrmex sp., Crematogaster cerasi , Dorymyrmex sp. Most wanted: Pheidole morrisii

 

                    

                   

 

 

#17 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted July 3 2020 - 12:11 PM

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 Neat eggs piles 

 

Is this a grammar error?! Did you mean 'egg piles'?  :whistle:


"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#18 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 3 2020 - 12:16 PM

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Woopsie daisy! I was just trying to keep you on your toes to see if you’d catch that...
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#19 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 5 2020 - 3:42 AM

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Mini-update 7-5-2020

So far, at least three of the Phatheads have larvae. They’re hard to see because they’re absolutely tiny and stuck up on the cotton.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#20 Offline Antkid12 - Posted July 5 2020 - 3:43 AM

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Can't wait until they get workers!  :)


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Ants I have: Tapinoma sessile(2 queen colony). RED MORPH Camponotus neacticus(now has pupae!), Tetramorium immigrans (x3), Aphaenogaster sp, Temnothorax sp, Brachymyrmex sp.   possibly infertile   :(,  Ponera pennsylvanica, and Pheidole morrisi!  :yahoo: 

 

Other insects: Polistes sp. Queen

                    

Ants I need: Pheidole sp., Trachymyrmex sp., Crematogaster cerasi , Dorymyrmex sp. Most wanted: Pheidole morrisii

 

                    

                   

 

 

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