Jump to content

  • Chat
  •  
  •  

Welcome to Formiculture.com!

This is a website for anyone interested in Myrmecology and all aspects of finding, keeping, and studying ants. The site and forum are free to use. Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to create topics, post replies to existing threads, give reputation points to your fellow members, get your own private messenger, post status updates, manage your profile and so much more. If you already have an account, login here - otherwise create an account for free today!

Photo

Cheeto's Phantastic Pheidole (Updated 5/8)


  • Please log in to reply
76 replies to this topic

#61 Offline ANTdrew - Posted March 21 2021 - 3:36 PM

ANTdrew

    Advanced Member

  • Moderators
  • PipPipPip
  • 9,937 posts
  • LocationAlexandria, VA
Congrats on the alates! I’m hoping for alates from my P. bicarinata this year. I’m starting to feed them two dinners a night to that end. Pheidole are so cool.
  • Antkeeper014 likes this
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#62 Offline gs5248 - Posted March 21 2021 - 5:28 PM

gs5248

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 473 posts
  • LocationSacramento California

That pheidole bilimeki  colony looks incredible! Never seen anything like it. However it is very strange. I read somewhere that ants tend to have a ratio of majors to minors. So that is really strange!


Edited by gs5248, March 21 2021 - 5:30 PM.


#63 Offline MsTesaAnt - Posted April 8 2021 - 5:51 AM

MsTesaAnt

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 35 posts
  • LocationCalifornia

Beautiful pictures!  Good luck with your colony.



#64 Offline Antkeeper01 - Posted April 8 2021 - 9:38 AM

Antkeeper01

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 1,392 posts
  • LocationA random state in the US

Pheidole micula

Nothing new with these guys. Still a ton of workers and no alates.


Pheidole pilifera

We've got alates, and a ton of them at that! Not sure if anybody else has gotten a captive colony to alates, but needless to say I'm very proud of myself and this colony. It looks like I'll be getting around 200+ males and 2 queen alates. Quite the ratio if you ask me.

Male alates
 




Queen alate
 



2nd queen alate pupa
 


and a video

Pheidole bicarinata

Out of hibernation they've gotten a good amount of brood, but nothing too special to see.


Pheidole bilimeki

This colony has decided to make a population of about 85% majors for some reason. Not sure why they decided that they don't need minors but hey, it looks neat.
 

 
 

 

Pheidole xerophila

This colony unfortunately died. All of the workers randomly died one day, and I'm not sure why. I tried using vinegar to introduce the queen to some P. pilifera workers, and after about an hour of it seemingly working and the queen being groomed, they just killed her. Not sure why that happened, but it's quite sad. I'll have to try this species again this year.


Pheidole hyatti

Just yesterday I collected this colony on Mt. Lemmon. I was able to get 8 majors, 20 minors, and 2 larvae, and the queen has already laid new eggs overnight. Pretty excited to keep these guys again.

 

The bilimeki is just competing with the pilfera :lol:


  • TacticalHandleGaming likes this

1X Pogonomyrmex occidentalis 40-50 Workers

1X Solenopsis molesta 10 Workers (mono)

Ants I Want: Crematogaster sp, Camponotus Sp., Ponera Pennsylvanica, Mymercocystus sp.

 

My Youtube channel: https://www.youtube....kUjx-dPFMyVqOLw

 

 Join Our Fledgling Discord Server https://discord.com/...089056687423489


#65 Offline Canadant - Posted April 8 2021 - 3:13 PM

Canadant

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 461 posts
  • LocationNova Scotia, Canada
"This colony would seriously eat me if they were any larger."

Love it. Ha!
"You don't get what you want. You get what you deserve".

#66 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted May 8 2021 - 11:47 AM

CheetoLord02

    Vendor

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 784 posts
  • LocationMesa, AZ

Pheidole micula

FINALLY!! I was so happy to peek in their nest and see piles upon piles of queen alate pupae! I also saw at least one male, but they're definitely producing far more queens. It's gonna be so awesome to see those cute little queen alates running around!
 

IMG 20210508 121503926 HDR
IMG 20210508 121509622 HDR

 

 

Pheidole pilifera

This colony's worker numbers totally tanked after making alates. They've now stopped alate production and pretty much all of them have died off, and they have a decent pile of worker brood again, but they're definitely nowhere near their previous peak in numbers.

 

Pheidole bicarinata

Despite me caring about this colony so little I almost forgot to include them in this update, they're actually doing ok. Definitely steadily growing with a solid brood pile.

 

Pheidole obtusospinosa

This is what I've really been excited to show you guys. Around 2 weeks ago I was flipping rocks with some friends at Madera Canyon and was lucky enough to find a P. obtusospinosa colony with their queen right on the surface! I quickly scooped the queen into a tube and grabbed as many workers as I could.
 

IMG 20210424 133504460 HDR (1)
IMG 20210505 224922826 HDR
IMG 20210507 190859909
IMG 20210507 190850227

 

Just in case you're out of the loop on why this species is so cool, as you can see in the picture they have supermajors! This colony only has two right now, but their queen has been putting in a ton of work to get their worker numbers back up. I have no doubts that this colony will do awesome in the future.
 

IMG 20210507 190838296

 

Here's a few videos on them too! I just can't get enough of them to say the least.






When they hunt they also pull apart their prey kinda like Oecophylla! It's soooooooo cool.
 

IMG 20210505 232213628

 

 

Pheidole sp.

Another new addition to the Pheidole Phamily, found while I was flipping rocks in Payson, AZ. It was definitely surprising to see that well, they had 3 queens! Polygynous Pheidole are not common by any means in the US, so this was a super awesome find to me!
 

IMG 20210501 180858335
IMG 20210501 210035077

 

 

I dumped them in a Mini Hearth and they moved in really quick! They have a TON of brood as expected of 3 queens, so I think they're gonna be a lot of fun in the future.
 

IMG 20210502 163705083

  • ANTdrew, Fatatoille, Antkeeper01 and 1 other like this

#67 Offline Lillyrose - Posted May 8 2021 - 3:26 PM

Lillyrose

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 424 posts
  • LocationNorthern Virginia
Wow! The super majors are massive ... that is amazing. Are super majors warriors?

#68 Offline gs5248 - Posted May 8 2021 - 6:49 PM

gs5248

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 473 posts
  • LocationSacramento California

Awesome! My pheidole californica also got alates! Pretty strange for me though. Because they still are a very small colony and are under 100 at about 300 workers.



#69 Offline gs5248 - Posted May 8 2021 - 6:50 PM

gs5248

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 473 posts
  • LocationSacramento California

Wow! The super majors are massive ... that is amazing. Are super majors warriors?

What do you mean by warriors? I have never heard that term for ants before. If you mean they protect the colony, yes they do. But of course the minor workers mainly do that job. They just swarm the enemy. Majors are mostly used for the breaking down of foods like other insects, seeds, and nuts.


Edited by gs5248, May 9 2021 - 12:13 PM.


#70 Offline Lillyrose - Posted May 8 2021 - 6:59 PM

Lillyrose

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 424 posts
  • LocationNorthern Virginia


Wow! The super majors are massive ... that is amazing. Are super majors warriors?

What do you mean by warriors? I have never heard that term for ants before. If you mean they protect the colony, yes they do. But of course the minor workers mainly do that job. They just swarm the energy. Majors are mostly used for the breaking down of foods like other insects, seeds, and nuts.

Oh nice :-)

I thought maybe they were made to fight .. like when a colony gets big and wants to take on new territory lol ... I'm rather new and jumped to a conclusion..

Thanks for explaining:-)

#71 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted May 8 2021 - 7:45 PM

CheetoLord02

    Vendor

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 784 posts
  • LocationMesa, AZ

P. obtusopsinosa supermajors are actually designed for battle, specifically against army ants. You can read about their defensive behavior on antwiki, it's really interesting to read about.


  • TylrsAnts and TacticalHandleGaming like this

#72 Offline NoveltyAntsYT - Posted May 8 2021 - 10:39 PM

NoveltyAntsYT

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 105 posts

always wanted pheidole, live in California but can't seem to find any. :(



#73 Offline antsriondel - Posted January 14 2022 - 8:41 AM

antsriondel

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 928 posts
  • LocationRiondel British Columbia Canada.

update??? these pheidole are awesome!!!!



#74 Offline antsriondel - Posted January 14 2022 - 10:09 AM

antsriondel

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 928 posts
  • LocationRiondel British Columbia Canada.

Awesome! My pheidole californica also got alates! Pretty strange for me though. Because they still are a very small colony and are under 100 at about 300 workers.

do you have any information you could share with me about californica??? I am looking into keeping them this next season.



#75 Offline antsriondel - Posted June 21 2023 - 4:19 PM

antsriondel

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 928 posts
  • LocationRiondel British Columbia Canada.

What happened to the micula? 



#76 Offline gs5248 - Posted June 27 2023 - 2:53 PM

gs5248

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 473 posts
  • LocationSacramento California

 

Awesome! My pheidole californica also got alates! Pretty strange for me though. Because they still are a very small colony and are under 100 at about 300 workers.

do you have any information you could share with me about californica??? I am looking into keeping them this next season.

 

Overall its pretty easy to keep. Just feed them a lot and heat them and they will do great. They also love nuts as food, so be sure to give them those. Another interesting thing is that they mate within the nests. The Queen Alates I was talking about two years ago are still around! So I guess they mated within the nests and are now fertile egg producing queens for the colony.



#77 Offline Major - Posted September 24 2023 - 1:47 PM

Major

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 588 posts
  • LocationRochester, New York

Update?






2 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 2 guests, 0 anonymous users