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Pheidole Megacephala 50+ Queen Super Colony Ant Keeping Journal!

Started By Ants.co , Sep 28 2020 1:53 AM
pheidole pheidole megacephala supercolony massive tarheel ants fortress formicarium

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#1 Offline Ants.co - Posted September 28 2020 - 1:53 AM

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Hey guys, and welcome to my first ever ant journal! I make tonnes of Youtube videos about all my ant colonies, but I never really had the time to make a journal here. But now it's the school holidays and I finally have a lot of spare time, and so I decided that it would be the best time ever to start a new thread! In this topic I will be updating you all on my Pheidole Megacephala super colony whenever anything major happens, so make sure you keep checking back on this journal! 

 

So I captured this colony around 3 months ago with a friend by flipping a few logs near my house. Literally under every log was a few dozen queens and piles and piles of brood. But most of the queens managed to get away and in the end we had about 50 queens and around a thousand workers, with a few hundred larvae and probably thousands of eggs. To learn more about this colony watch this video I made 3 months ago: youtu.be/c4Cfjle696s

 

Fast forward to present day and this colony has BOOMED. I picked the right queens (out of the thousands that were there), and they have been laying like crazy. They have literally turned the colony into a machine which converts crickets and roaches into tens of thousands of eggs. The Tar Heel Ants Fortress which they once barely filled up in now covered with ants, and in every nook and cranny of the nest you can find at least one queen sitting inside. My most recent video contains updates on them and a ton of other colonies that I own.

 

Note that I am not a noob anymore (unlike what I said in my last journal) and I am up for the challenge of bull ants. The Myrmecia Pilosula colony mentioned in the video was wild caught by a friend (off his ant-hater neighbour's property, the owner of which wanted to poison the colony), and the die-off is happening because they are not used to this captive environment. My nigrocincta were like that at the start but look at them now! Anyways, enjoy the video and please subscribe for more updates! And for those of you who live in Australia and are well-prepared enough to keep bull ants, feel free to enter the giveaway! youtu.be/i4s7ysjFpLo

 

 


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#2 Offline ANTdrew - Posted September 28 2020 - 2:36 AM

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We’ll need good Australian journals now as winter comes to the northern hemisphere.
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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.

#3 Offline Vendayn - Posted September 28 2020 - 6:08 PM

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Don't take this as a OMG INVASIVE ANT BAD TO KEEP

 

But since I believe you're in Australia, they should take it seriously having Pheidole megacephala there. Unless they already know about it. They take that kind of thing vastly more serious than the US do. Though they are probably extremely limited cause of covid.

 

In any case, hope your colony continues success. Pheidole megacephala are probably among the easiest ants as far as that goes, easier than Solenopsis invicta. Before I froze my colony, they started mating in captivity and got a bit much to maintain. The unique thing however, the part that made them pretty easy, is they never actually tried escaping. They are semi-subterranean, and so mostly stayed on the ground and underground. Even when I blew on them or moved their formicarium, they didn't care at all. Like the most laid back ant I ever had lol. I wouldn't keep them again though since they are under quarantine here and I prefer native ants, but doesn't get much easier.


Edited by Vendayn, September 28 2020 - 6:10 PM.

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#4 Offline Ants.co - Posted September 29 2020 - 2:00 AM

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Ha ha yeah. My ones were already very well established here (they were here since my house was built which was over 50 years ago) so they should know by now. By the way I have a few more good shots: 


#5 Offline Ants.co - Posted December 2 2020 - 11:15 PM

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Well they died. They got mites and the entire colony was completely wiped out in 4 days...


#6 Offline Ants_Dakota - Posted December 3 2020 - 7:43 AM

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Well they died. They got mites and the entire colony was completely wiped out in 4 days...

bad for you, but not bad for your budget when they get bigger...


Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. -Proverbs 6: 6-8

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#7 Offline TechAnt - Posted December 3 2020 - 9:28 AM

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RIP.


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

#8 Offline Swirlysnowflake - Posted December 3 2020 - 9:36 AM

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:(


 My YouTube channel :)

 

 

#9 Offline Antkeeper01 - Posted December 3 2020 - 3:21 PM

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noooooooooooooo


1X Pogonomyrmex occidentalis 40-50 Workers

1X Solenopsis molesta 10 Workers (mono)

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

 

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#10 Offline Vendayn - Posted December 3 2020 - 3:43 PM

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Well they died. They got mites and the entire colony was completely wiped out in 4 days...

Yup. This is common with this species in captivity. Very common, more than other (invasive) ants.


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