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Cheeto's Pheidole rhea (Updated 4/21)

Started By CheetoLord02 , Jul 21 2021 1:38 PM

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#1 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted July 21 2021 - 1:38 PM

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I've done it. I can finally rest.

On July 20th, 2021, I finally caught a Pheidole rhea queen on Mt. Lemmon in Tucson, AZ. 

Normally I would never start a journal this early, I typically wait until I'm sure the queen will live and rear a successful colony. Hell, making this journal this early might be bad luck, but I'm gonna take my chances... let's hope I don't regret it.
 

IMG 20210720 053928480
 
 

This picture might not show her true size super well, so here's something else to show a sense of scale.
 

IMG 20210720 102218697

 

 

That's a Camponotus ocreatus queen, the largest Camponotus in AZ. Yeah. When they said "largest Pheidole in the world", they weren't kidding.

Now, I've heard horror stories about these queens, specifically them being pretty terrible at founding. Needless to say this was, and really still is, kinda terrifying. So almost immediately I gave her some Pheidole pilifera brood to see if she would accept it. Well, so far at least, all seems mostly well, and one P. pilifera worker has eclosed and neither party seems fussed about it. If I can get this queen a kickstart of 10-15 workers early, that'll be a huge advantage.
 

IMG 20210721 140259932
 
 

As for now that's basically all I have. A piece of good news is that the queen is already laying and caring for her eggs, so if there's anything to go off, it seems like a good sign for what's to come.
 

IMG 20210721 140507302

Edited by CheetoLord02, April 21 2022 - 12:44 PM.

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#2 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 21 2021 - 2:28 PM

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GTFO!!!
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
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#3 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted July 21 2021 - 2:37 PM

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GTFO!!!

SERIOUSLY!!!


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#4 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted July 21 2021 - 2:39 PM

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So jealous! Don't let her die!


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#5 Offline NicholasP - Posted July 21 2021 - 3:15 PM

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WOAH! I DID NOT THINK THEY WERE THAT BIG! Your quest I don't believe is done yet Cheeto until you find Sturmigenys.  :wink:


Edited by NicholasP, July 21 2021 - 3:15 PM.

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#6 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted July 21 2021 - 3:22 PM

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WOAH! I DID NOT THINK THEY WERE THAT BIG! Your quest I don't believe is done yet Cheeto until you find Sturmigenys.  :wink:

Well, I've found Strumigenys quite a few times, just never in AZ. The native western species are always tough to get a hold of...


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#7 Offline eea - Posted July 21 2021 - 3:22 PM

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wow they really meant big


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#8 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 21 2021 - 3:36 PM

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I’m low key triggered right now.
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#9 Offline ReignofRage - Posted July 21 2021 - 3:38 PM

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The P. pilifera worker is so cute next to the queen, really gives a nice size reference. Can't wait to see this as a big colony.


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#10 Offline NicholasP - Posted July 21 2021 - 3:40 PM

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I’m low key triggered right now.

Same. 


Edited by NicholasP, July 21 2021 - 3:52 PM.

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#11 Offline Daniel - Posted July 21 2021 - 4:03 PM

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Holy crap, that's awesome.
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#12 Offline Antkeeper01 - Posted July 21 2021 - 4:14 PM

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WOAH! I DID NOT THINK THEY WERE THAT BIG! Your quest I don't believe is done yet Cheeto until you find Sturmigenys.  :wink:

Well, I've found Strumigenys quite a few times, just never in AZ. The native western species are always tough to get a hold of...

 

 

 

WOAH! I DID NOT THINK THEY WERE THAT BIG! Your quest I don't believe is done yet Cheeto until you find Sturmigenys.  :wink:

Well, I've found Strumigenys quite a few times, just never in AZ. The native western species are always tough to get a hold of...

 

weird I'm a noob and in my first 3 months of antkeeping i found a queen but then my sister lost her and a few months ago i found a worker under a rock all within 50 miles of my house and i found the queen on my front porch :lol:


Edited by Antkeeper01, July 21 2021 - 4:16 PM.

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#13 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted July 21 2021 - 4:14 PM

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Well quick update, the pilifera brood was a no-go. Checked to find the worker mangled. Removed as much of the brood as I could, I think there's still like 2 pupae and a larva or so in there. Guess you shouldn't boost P. rhea queens.

From here I think the best bet is to not check on her for at least a few weeks. I considered trying boosting with a different species, like P. obtusospinosa, but I'll only go down that route if she fails to raise her own workers. If I manage to somehow get my hands on P. rhea brood then I'll offer that, but unless things go poorly I won't try other species' brood for now.


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#14 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted July 21 2021 - 4:20 PM

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Why not go back to the spot you caught her and raid a colony of Ph. rhea? Surely they can spare some brood.


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#15 Offline NicholasP - Posted July 21 2021 - 5:26 PM

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Well quick update, the pilifera brood was a no-go. Checked to find the worker mangled. Removed as much of the brood as I could, I think there's still like 2 pupae and a larva or so in there. Guess you shouldn't boost P. rhea queens.

From here I think the best bet is to not check on her for at least a few weeks. I considered trying boosting with a different species, like P. obtusospinosa, but I'll only go down that route if she fails to raise her own workers. If I manage to somehow get my hands on P. rhea brood then I'll offer that, but unless things go poorly I won't try other species' brood for now.

My idea of what might have happened is that since the worker is so small compared to the queen that the queen tried cleaning the worker and accidently chomped the head off. My best idea is if you can find a pheidole obtuspinosa colony and us the brood if possible.


gallery_5979_2399_15405.png

#16 Offline NicholasP - Posted July 21 2021 - 5:27 PM

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Why not go back to the spot you caught her and raid a colony of Ph. rhea? Surely they can spare some brood.

Rhea get massive 100,000 worker colonies and nest pretty deep so the likeliness that he'd find rhea brood in a colony is slim. But then again I should never doubt Cheeto.


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#17 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted July 21 2021 - 6:50 PM

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Why not go back to the spot you caught her and raid a colony of Ph. rhea? Surely they can spare some brood.

Rhea get massive 100,000 worker colonies and nest pretty deep so the likeliness that he'd find rhea brood in a colony is slim. But then again I should never doubt Cheeto.

 

I mean, it shouldn't be that hard to locate a single brood chamber. A single chamber of pupae should contain hundreds, or even thousands of pupae.


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#18 Offline ANTS_KL - Posted July 22 2021 - 12:04 AM

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The queen looks like a C. diversa queen tbh. Good luck!! I have only found 1 of the many Pheidole in Malaysia.

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The queen looks like a C. diversa queen tbh. Good luck!! I have only found 1 of the many Pheidole in Malaysia.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk
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Young ant keeper with a decent amount of knowledge on local ant species.

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Currently kept ant species, favorites have a star in front of their names (NOT in alphabetical order, also may be outdated sometimes): ★ Camponotus irritans inferior, ★ Ooceraea biroi, Pheidole parva, ★ Nylanderia sp., ★ Paraparatrechina tapinomoides, Platythyrea sp., Anochetus sp., Colobopsis sp. (cylindrica group), ★ Crematogaster ferrarii, Polyrhachis (Myrma) cf. pruinosa, Polyrhachis (Cyrtomyrma) laevissima, Tapinoma sp. (formerly Zatapinoma)

Death count: Probably over a hundred individual queens and colonies by now. I cannot recall whatsoever.

#19 Offline DIACAMMAWORLDCOOL - Posted July 22 2021 - 1:58 AM

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The queen looks like a C. diversa queen tbh. Good luck!! I have only found 1 of the many Pheidole in Malaysia.

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The queen looks like a C. diversa queen tbh. Good luck!! I have only found 1 of the many Pheidole in Malaysia.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

Idts, Carebara Diversa queens' are larger and the petiole looks much different.Its much more thin for C.Diversa.


Edited by DIACAMMAWORLDCOOL, July 22 2021 - 1:59 AM.

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#20 Offline ANTS_KL - Posted July 22 2021 - 2:01 AM

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The queen looks like a C. diversa queen tbh. Good luck!! I have only found 1 of the many Pheidole in Malaysia.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk
The queen looks like a C. diversa queen tbh. Good luck!! I have only found 1 of the many Pheidole in Malaysia.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

Idts, Carebara Diversa queens' are larger and the petiole looks much different.Its much more thin for C.Diversa.
I meant like it looks similar.

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Young ant keeper with a decent amount of knowledge on local ant species.

YouTube: https://m.youtube.co...uKsahGliSH7EqOQ (It's pretty dead. Might upload again soon, don't expect my voice to sound the same though.)

Currently kept ant species, favorites have a star in front of their names (NOT in alphabetical order, also may be outdated sometimes): ★ Camponotus irritans inferior, ★ Ooceraea biroi, Pheidole parva, ★ Nylanderia sp., ★ Paraparatrechina tapinomoides, Platythyrea sp., Anochetus sp., Colobopsis sp. (cylindrica group), ★ Crematogaster ferrarii, Polyrhachis (Myrma) cf. pruinosa, Polyrhachis (Cyrtomyrma) laevissima, Tapinoma sp. (formerly Zatapinoma)

Death count: Probably over a hundred individual queens and colonies by now. I cannot recall whatsoever.
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