52 replies to this topic

[Antcatcherpro3]

I have been keeping these ants since october and am very happy to have them. Pheidole are my favorite speices of ants, and I like tysoni because of their goldish color. But there are 2 things wrong, mine don't do much. They never come out of their tube to do anything. My colony has 3 queens and has about 60 to 70 workers. Also mine isn't moving into the ant farm that their tube is placed in. I wuld not want to rush them because the workers I do see go inside the ant farm always die. But they must be eating the food I give them because if they weren't then they would be dead. Post pics soon.

[Antcatcherpro3]

my colony doesn't have any majors as far as I can tell, but 

i think they will soon.

[KitsAntVa]

An ant farm? I hope your not putting them in a small two glass pane little thing. If your looking for a good pheidole nest get a mini hearth or a mini hearth bifurcated that is ready to ship because they are cheaper.  https://tarheelants....ts/mini-hearth 

Also I believe you have a different species, you should post a identification on here.

[Antcatcherpro3]

I do have that... they are just not moving in.

[KitsAntVa]

I think for now its better to go to walmart and get a small container that is a little longer than your test tubes and place your test tubes they are in in that so that you can add more test tubes for living space and move them. Smaller ant species don't like bigger spaces even though I have seen a bicarinata colony with 20 workers move in a mini hearth before.

[Kaelwizard]

You will want to get an actual formicarium instead of an ant farm. Tar Heel Ants is a really good seller in the US, but his nests are really expensive. You could also just stick to having a bunch of test tubes in an outworld, but that doesn't look very nice normally. Making your own nest is also an option. There are a lot of YouTube videos that explain how to make them.

[KitsAntVa]

You will want to get an actual formicarium instead of an ant farm. Tar Heel Ants is a really good seller in the US, but his nests are really expensive. You could also just stick to having a bunch of test tubes in an outworld, but that doesn't look very nice normally. Making your own nest is also an option. There are a lot of YouTube videos that explain how to make them.

They are saying they have the mini hearth but the ants won't move in. 

[Antcatcherpro3]

Yeah. They should have enough workers to be able to move in now but they are so attched to their test tube.

[Kaelwizard]

You will want to get an actual formicarium instead of an ant farm. Tar Heel Ants is a really good seller in the US, but his nests are really expensive. You could also just stick to having a bunch of test tubes in an outworld, but that doesn't look very nice normally. Making your own nest is also an option. There are a lot of YouTube videos that explain how to make them.

They are saying they have the mini hearth but the ants won't move in.

Oh I missed that part of your post lol.

[KitsAntVa]

Still, get an ant id posted with some good pics of your ants because those are not tysoni. But since they are a yellow color it would be cool if one of your first colonies was not commonly kept.

[Antcatcherpro3]

lol I will try to post pics soon.

um I am sure they are.

100% sure. What makes you think they are not?

I will try to get pics.

[KitsAntVa]

Pheidole tysoni are not polygynous, you said you had a 3 queen colony which would rule out tysoni because the queens would kill each other immediately during founding and if not the workers would.

[Kaelwizard]

Pheidole tysoni are not polygynous, you said you had a 3 queen colony which would rule out tysoni because the queens would kill each other immediately during founding and if not the workers would.

Yeah that rules them out, but I'm not sure what they could be. Antmaps only has Ph. pilifera listed for Massachusetts, but the color throws me off... 

 

A more knowledgeable member could be of more help with the ID. For now I would just list them as "Pheidole species"

Edited by Kaelwizard, March 9 2021 - 9:10 AM.

[KitsAntVa]

He could have found a new record for billmeki or anastasii.

[Kaelwizard]

He could have found a new record for billmeki or anastasii.

I'm not going to make any assumptions, but on Antmaps Ph. billmeki is listed as dubious (so unlikely to actually be there) and Ph. anastasii are indoor introduced, but the all the records are from museum collections.

[Antcatcherpro3]

Well they are small. But you could be right because they would've had majors by now. But I am sure that they are pheidole because they match the pheidole that are living in my yard.

Here are pics.

sorry didn't turn out good.

I don't have any special camera but I ordered one.

So that pic isn't very usefull.

[Kaelwizard]

Well they are small. But you could be right because they would've had majors by now. But I am sure that they are pheidole because they match the pheidole that are living in my yard.

Here are pics.

Yes they are most likely Pheidole, but not Ph. tysoni.

[KitsAntVa]

Try zooming in about 75% on your phone and keeping it about 2-4 inches away from the tube and then you can get it to focus.

[KitsAntVa]

 

He could have found a new record for billmeki or anastasii.

I'm not going to make any assumptions, but on Antmaps Ph. billmeki is listed as dubious (so unlikely to actually be there) and Ph. anastasii are indoor introduced, but the all the records are from museum collections.

 

Well there certainly not pilifera so it will be interesting identifying these.

[Antcatcherpro3]

should i make a forum for identifying the ant?

Even if I'm still sure they are tysoni.