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[UtahAnts]

Update #21

 

Species featured:

Aphaenogaster occidentalis  Sold all colonies

Lasius americanus

Pogonomymex occidentalis

Tapinoma sessile Died out

Temnothorax nevadensis

 

 

Lasius americanus (5-80)

The two colonies have slowed growth a bit, typical of Lasius during their first year. I boosted one of the colonies with 80 pupae, to help them become a large donor colony for future Parasitic queens.

 

Pogonomymex occidentalis (40 workers)

The colony just keep growing, as long as they have heat and seeds they thrive.

 

 

Temnothorax nevadensis (300 workers)

The colony seems to be devoting most of the incoming protien to continued alate production, meaning these acorn ants may have reached their max population. Bonsai ants indeed

 

 

 

 

Upcoming species: Solenopsis molesta, Pogonomyrmex rugosus, Pheidole sp.

[UtahAnts]

Update #22- Desert Species

 

 

Species featured on journal:

 

Lasius americanus

Pogonomymex occidentalis

Pogonomyyrmex rugosus

Pheidole sp.

Myrmecocystus mexicanus

Temnothorax nevadensis

 

Pogonomymex occidentalis (75 workers)

This colony continues to grow at a rapid pace in their formicarium. They don't need hibernation, so they will be growing all winter, along with the pots and maybe the pheidole species. They have worked up an appetite for dried insects, beyond the usual dandelion seeds and fish flakes.

 

 

 

 

Pheidole species (25 workers)

This is a desert dwelling species with large colonies. The first major pupae are visible, so expect some nice majors by next update. This colony is housed in a custom personal formicarium, see my formicarium thread for images.

 

 

 

 

Pogonomyrmex rugosus

I've got a couple small colonies in custom micro dirt boxes. I'm not taking any pictures until more workers arrive, but the coloration of this species is pretty nice.

 

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus

I've had 2 colonies for a while, but I thought I'd finally start an entry for them. For now they will be on this main journal, but they may deserve their own thread as the colonies grow. One colony is housed in a THA mini hearth, the other in a custom dual view formicarium. Both are doing well, but the mini hearth makes it difficult to get a good angle when taking pictures, so the colony in the custom formicarium will be featured in the images. Both colonies have around 25-35 workers and some repletes.

 

 

[UtahAnts]

Quick update - #23

 

Most of the species featured are in diapuase, except for the native desert species. 

 

The Pheidole species in need of an ID is growing rapidly in their formicarium. They have a couple majors now, which are decently sized for a first generation. I estimate they are at around 25 workers and 4 majors now.

 

 

The Myrmecocystus mexicanus colony has now overtaken the THA colony in size. They have brood all over the floor of their formicarium. You may also notice I added some loose red sand to aid in pupae development.

 

Edited by UtahAnts, November 4 2022 - 5:47 PM.

[UtahAnts]

Update 24

 

None of the desert species have signs of slowing down, so I'll probably be keeping them on the heat (at around 78-85 degrees) throughout the winter. Updated species:

• Myrmecocystus mexicanus dual-view and mini-hearth colonies.
• Desert Pheidole sp.

 

 

Pheidole Species - around 50 workers and 10 majors. Good sized pile of brood.

 

 

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus - mini hearth

20 workers and 8 repletes. Lots of growing larvae. They've made their glass hazy so it is difficult to take images. This colony is growing slowly but its workers are generally larger and more likely to become repletes compared to the other pot colony.  

 

 

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus - dual view

35 workers and 4 repletes. A couple dozen pupae as well. Growing extremely quickly, I'll be moving them into the dome formicarium and outworld soon.

 

 

[ANTdrew]

Amazing!

[UtahAnts]

Update 25

Updated species:

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus mini-hearth colony

Desert Pheidole sp.

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus mini-hearth colony - 35 workers 9 repletes, more on the way. The blurry image below shows the stretched membranes of the repletes.

 

 

 

Desert Pheidole sp. - 80 workers, 20 majors. If you've been following this colony's growth, you'll notice it seems to be exponential. They double in size about every 2 weeks. It's also interesting to see the proportion of majors to total workers hovering at around 20%.

 

 

 

You'll notice this colony places the larvae on the textured surface of their formicarium. It's also easy to spot the size difference of larvae between future major workers and standard workers.

 

 

 

 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis - Around 120 workers. Lots of growth and continued brood production. I gave the colony a new outworld which can be seen in the images below. They've been taking crickets, fish flakes and dandelion seeds, along with some nectar. You may also notice how this colony has begun to form a cone around the entrance to their nest with a mixture agate pebbles and other debris, a common behavior of large colonies. These ants also carry fish flakes like leafcutters carry leaves. In the second image, a worker carrying a flake got lost on it's way to the entrance and instead ran into the water tube.

 

 

The pupae pile:

 

A newly eclosed worker with a batch of eggs below.

 

 

[Locness]

Those aerial views coming in clutch 

[UtahAnts]

Update 26

Updated species:

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus mini-hearth and dome colony

Desert Pheidole sp.

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

New - Pogonomyrmex rugosus

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus mini-hearth colony - 12 repletes and 35 workers

This colony is doing great with lots of brood.

 

 

 

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus tiered colony - 55 workers 8 repletes

Moved them into a new formicarium a few weeks ago: the tiered dome nest as seen below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pheidole sp. - 120 workers, 30 majors.

I've been purposefully underfeeding protein to this colony and yet they still continue to grow quickly, I'm thinking of moving them into a natural setup. The last image shows a small colony of the same species.

 

 

 

 

A smudged image but it shows the size difference between castes.

 

 

 

 

Small new colony.

 

 

 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis - 140 workers

Lots of new brood and I'm looking into buying chia seeds. Any brand suggestions?

 

 

 

Pogonomyrmex rugosus

I have two small colonies and two founding queens of these bi-colored harvester ants. Right now the largest colony has 8 workers and brood. All of these are being founded in dirt setups - link to guide here.

 

 

 

 

Edit - Image formatting

Edited by UtahAnts, December 16 2022 - 6:49 PM.

[antsriondel]

Phantastic!

[UtahAnts]

Update 27

Sold some colonies during the Christmas rush this year. The colonies in this journal which were sold will be discontinued.

 

Updated colonies:

SOLD - Myrmecocystus mexicanus mini-hearth colony

SOLD - 1 of the Pogonomyrmex rugosus colonies

SOLD - Desert Pheidole sp. (Large colony)

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus dome colony 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pogonomyrmex rugosus

 

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus dome colony - 65 workers

Lots on new larvae. I've switched from feeding protein once a week to twice a week. Hopefully this will spur growth in the colony. I've also noticed some repletes seem to now be filled with blood-worm soup, a protein source.

 

 

 

 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis - 150 workers

I bought a large bag of chia seeds which the harvesters seem to enjoy. I've been feeding them half a cricket every week in addition to any seeds and fish flakes which increases egg production.

 

 

 

 

Pogonomyrmex rugosus - 12 workers

I moved the largest colony into the dual view fomicarium which was the former home of the honeypots. This colony is growing quickly and the third generation workers are already larger than most occidentalis.

 

 

[UtahAnts]

Update 27

 

Updated colonies:

Temnothorax nevadensis

Myrmecocystus mexicanus

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pogonomyrmex rugosus

 

Temnothorax nevadensis - 300 workers

This colony will be coming out of hibernation in a few weeks. During the colder months this species will pile over the brood, creating multiple bivouac structures.

 

 

 

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus - 75 workers

Still growing, I'm hoping to get some roaches to freeze and feed which will diversify their protein sources and hopefully increase brood production.

 

 

 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis - 180 workers

They've started accepting a lot of protein, along with the usual fish flakes and seeds.

 

 

 

 

 

Pogonomyrmex rugosus - 20 workers

This colony is growing quickly - the larvae seem to be constantly chewing on seeds and they really appreciate heat.

 

[UtahAnts]

Update 28

 

Updated colonies:

Myrmecocystus mexicanus

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pogonomyrmex rugosus

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus - 80 workers

This colony accepted some roaches, although they weren't as enthusiastic about it as the harvesters. I'm a little confused why the colony seems to have slowed in growth a bit. Hopefully it's just a seasonal semi-diapause or something. The repletes look alien when lit from above by the LEDs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis - 190 workers

This colony loved the new Dubia roaches. I've never seen them lick clean an exoskeleton faster. They took some new sesame seeds but did not really take any poppy seeds in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pogonomyrmex rugosus - 30 workers

They also loved the roaches, this colony is still growing the fastest now that the desert Pheidole are gone. I cleaned their glass off and got some decent images below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flu1d]

Great update! I really love those P. rugosus, and the repletes really do have an alien vibe!

Edited by Flu1d, January 15 2023 - 7:41 PM.

[UtahAnts]

Update 29 - February

 

Updated colonies:

Myrmecocystus mexicanus

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis*

Pogonomyrmex rugosus*

 

*All of the Pogonomyrmex colonies along with a Messor colony are now featured on a separate journal for only harvester species. Link to new journal here.

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus - 125 workers

Below is an image of their current dome setup. The colony had about 40 puape eclose and then proceeded to trash up the plastic of their formicarium with bits of sand and pupae casings. I currently heat the dome with a heat pad below, and so as soon as I take the setup off the heat, condensation quickly forms on most of the dome. I plan to move them to the larger setup in a few months or so. Check out the GIFs below - the bottom of the nest often has the least amount of condensation, and so I get the best images there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ANTdrew]

So cool!

[T.C.]

I'd be afraid of the ants drowning in the condensation

[UtahAnts]

Valid concern, the workers are pretty nimble for their large size and generally don't walk on the plastic so they haven't had any problems so far. 

[T.C.]

Fair enough. I know I've lost a few colonies to condensation accidents. That was usually in test tubes or acyrilic setups.

[UtahAnts]

Update 30 - March

 

Updated colonies:

Myrmecocystus mexicanus

Temnothorax nevadensis*

 

 

Myrmecocystus mexicanus - 175 workers

 

This colony is quickly outgrowing their dome setup. They have around 20 large repletes and plenty of brood. The queen recently laid well over a hundred eggs, which should hatch within the next week or two. Besides mealworms, they've really taken a liking to earwig eggs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Temnothorax nevadensis - 300 workers

 

I sold this colony last week. I started this journal with this colony, and thirty updates later it only seems right I finish with them. The colony was well on its way to raising their newest generation from overwintered larvae, and I'm sure they will continue to flourish under their new owner. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Katla]

I wish my mexicanus where growing that much !