60 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

This species seems to be. The coastal variety of P. californicus can be too. I think they are both the only Pogonomyrmex we have around here from the californicus group.

[dspdrew]

Update 8-11-2015
 
The first worker finally eclosed yesterday. Just like what happened to Retroman, it looks like almost all the rest of the brood is developing into nanitic female alates. It's pretty strange how this has now happened to each one of these queens that made it this far. Since we both boosted ours with P. californicus workers, I wonder if that might have something to do with it. Retroman also told me that just recently one of his colonies just executed every single one of their P. californicus workers, and that they didn't even put up a fight while being dismembered. We'll see what happens here.
 

[dspdrew]

Update 10-16-2015
 
The colony is doing great. I just moved them from the small dirt box to the larger one that my P. rugosus colony was in before. I just realized while writing this that I completely forgot to give them the sand substrate I collected from where they reside in the wild. This shouldn't be that big of a deal, but it sure would have been nice if I had remembered to do that.
 
While moving them I was able to get a rough count on their colony population. They are now up to about 12 workers, two of which are the P. californicus workers I boosted them with in the beginning. The rest of the P. californicus workers have died off. They still have three alates who take on a worker role most of the time, but it looks like they are only producing workers now. They have a good amount of brood in all stages, and like I said, it looks like it's all worker brood now, so that's a good thing.
 
Here's a picture of how I moved them. It only took about a day.
 

 
 
It was pretty funny watching these tiny little Pogonomyrmex try to carry the queen. Eventually one of the much larger P. californicus workers had to took over.
 
Here are some pictures of them and their newly excavated nest.
 

 

 

 

 
 
The P. californicus workers often carry around the alates for some reason. I even saw them carry one of the P. magnacanthus workers around too.
 

 

[NightsWebs]

Drew that's looks like a huge dirt box.  did you move the P. Rugosus or did they die off?

[dspdrew]

I moved the P. rugosus to the 10 gallon tank.

[dspdrew]

Update 11-10-2015
 
This colony is producing like crazy. I counted about ten pupae, and 35 larvae, along with another clump of freshly laid eggs. They have completely dug out the bottom all the way around the big dirt box I'm keeping them in. All the P. californicus workers have died off now.
 
Here's the best pictures I could get showing some of their brood.
 

 

[antmaniac]

The smaller size worker, although small, still would try to take heavy loads like the big size workers. Even if they fall down due to the weight of the heavy load.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-28-2016
 
This colony is still alive. They haven't grown much though. For a while they shrunk a bit, but lately they've been growing a little bigger. They hardly ever would come out to forage, and seem to be pretty picky eaters, but lately I've been seeing them out more.

[kellakk]

Wow, I forgot you still had a colony of these. Glad to see they're doing well!

[dspdrew]

Update 9-17-2016
 
I just got one of the colonies I gave to Retroman back from him since the other colony I gave him is doing really well. I put this colony in one of my small founding formicarium setups with extra outworld space to see how well it will do being kept that way. Half of the colony is still made up of alates and dealates. I don't know if the colony is still producing them, or if they just haven't died off yet like they did in my other colony. There's still one P. californicus worker in there too I see.
 

 

 
 
As for the colony in the large "dirt box", it's doing great. The colony is growing like crazy, and is a lot more active than before. I estimate around 80 workers now.

[sgheaton]

I really like the "glued sand/dirt outworld" in conjecture with the other containers. Gave it a more "natural" feel while keeping the crisp & clean lab plastic look. 

[kellakk]

I'm glad your colonies are doing well, I'm jealous! I still need to find some Pogonomyrmex around me.

 

I think youv'e mentioned this to me before, but what do you use to cut the holes in your lids? I want to do it for some of my boxbox containers, but I'm afraid I'll crack/shatter them.

[Foogoo]

I'm glad your colonies are doing well, I'm jealous! I still need to find some Pogonomyrmex around me.

 

I think youv'e mentioned this to me before, but what do you use to cut the holes in your lids? I want to do it for some of my boxbox containers, but I'm afraid I'll crack/shatter them.

Ditto. As far as I can tell, I'm doing everything right but still have trouble getting Pogonomyrmex beyond the first few workers.

 

I've used step drill bits for round holes with zero problems. I can't speak for Drew but I'm sure a dremel can cut square holes fine (but drill is quicker). I've never cracked a boxbox, even when I was really rough. The only boxes I've cracked are the very thin walled acrylic boxes, sold at dollar stores.

[dspdrew]

I cut the holes with a micro table saw, and then file the corners with a round file.

[dspdrew]

Update 12-10-2015
 
The big colony is getting bigger and bigger. They're now up to about 150 workers, almost doubling in size since the last update just a month ago.
 
The smaller colony given to me by Retroman isn't doing that great. It's actually had quite a few worker and alate deaths. I think they're now down to about ten workers and ten alates. They had a lot of brood, but I'm not sure where it all went.
 
Here's some pictures of the large colony and their setup.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Californian Anter]

Kinda reminds me of Minecraft for some reason.

[Alabama Anter]

Kinda reminds me of Minecraft for some reason.

XD

[dspdrew]

Update 4-5-2017
 
I just counted and the large colony has over 200 workers now, and tons of brood.

 

The small colony still isn't doing much. It has five workers, including one P. californicus worker, and four alates. I'm pretty sure one of the alates is the queen, because they have a little pile of eggs and small larvae.

[sgheaton]

When will you consider/have to move them out of that boxbox? what's a good number/size that you'd typically begin to freak out about what you're going to do next?

 

Edit:
Assuming perfect world scenario. Not a "Well if there is mold I'd move them quicker" blah blah blah... 
 

Edited by sgheaton, April 5 2017 - 5:37 AM.

[dspdrew]

Once they look overcrowded and out of space.