94 replies to this topic

[antsriondel]

update???

[antsriondel]

update???

[CheetoLord02]

Not sure what I can say other than that this colony is getting massive. Easily several thousand workers now. Yet still, I see no signs of the huge supermajors I've seen in the wild. I think they have supermajors, as you saw in the last update, and there have been even more majors like her, and some that are even larger. The colony was underfed while I was vacationing over the holidays, but now that I'm back I'm pumping them full of food, and it's definitely paying off.

 

 

[AntGermany]

Hey CheetoLord02 are u still active?

[Antkeeper01]

yeah they just don't update very often

[CheetoLord02]

Who could have guessed that this journal would be pretty outdated, huh.


Circa... a while ago, I added another nest to this setup. It was a special nest in Tarheel's holiday sale, a "double size" XL labyrinth. If you couldn't figure out by the name, the nest is comically large. Here's it now, attached to the setup, about half full of P. rhea. You can see how it absolutely dwarfs their original XL labyrinth.
 

 

 

The original nest is pretty much completely full now too.

 

I would have to estimate that the colony is well into the 5-digits of workers now, which is pretty exciting.
 

 

 

Interestingly enough, though, this colony is still very clearly juvenile. They're STILL not making mature-sized minor workers (current minors are around 3mm, compared to 4.5mm in a mature colony), and despite my uncertainty before, I can say confidently that they STILL do not have supermajors. If anything, that just goes to show how insanely large these colonies get in the wild. I have been surprised that it's taken this long to produce supermajors, although with how large their regular majors can get I can see why those supermajors are not a huge priority for the colony to produce early on in their life.

That said: I am still not convinced that any of this brood is supermajors, but they are making some insanely fat beans. Just look at the size of these larvae:
 

 

 

I'm also happy to note that my outworld is working fantastically, and while now the colony is active enough that they are already trying to push for more space, they have not been able to get over my upside-down barrier, and it seems to be doing an excellent job containing them. Let's hope that stays true.


And finally, a pic of the queen. She has moved into the newer nest, but at this point there are so many workers that seeing her, and especially imaging her, can be quite the difficult task.
 

[ColAnt735]

These ants look amazing I love Pheidole! I wish I had Pheidole in my area. 

Edited by ColAnt735, April 21 2022 - 12:50 PM.

[Antkeeper014]

I’m surprised they haven’t gone about producing a few super majors at this point, I wonder if they require additional environmental stimuli to make them? Ei, since they have no natural predation from Neivamyrmex and such they don’t feel any pressure to make supers for defense? Or are they still just young and this is typical for the species?

Edited by Antkeeper014, April 21 2022 - 3:05 PM.

[CheetoLord02]

I’m surprised they haven’t gone about producing a few super majors at this point, I wonder if they require additional environmental stimuli to make them? Ei, since they have no natural predation from Neivamyrmex and such they don’t feel any pressure to make supers for defense? Or are they still just young and this is typical for the species?

I wish I knew the answer. I would imagine they have enough "threat", not from Neivamyrmex, but I offer live prey fairly frequently as well as the fact that workers from my large Novomessor albisetosus somehow always seem to find their way into the rhea's tank, so the rhea are fighting other ants pretty commonly. I think it really must just be an age thing. These colonies get well into the 6 digits at a mature size, so 10k workers is still relatively miniscule for them.

[B_rad0806]

What do you plan on doing once they outgrow that nest

[That_one_ant_guy]

I need the summer update...

[DevinTheAntKeeper]

I need the summer update...

i think you too late but yea i do need an update too

[Amatty76]

Cheeto needs to update this journal smh my head

[AntsGodzilla]

Update? It's been two years since the last one lol.

[kiedeerk]

Update? It's been two years since the last one lol.

Pheidole rhea are really a pain once they are hard to contain . They are very nice until their population is out of control then they loose their wow factor and becomes a headache.