39 replies to this topic

[KadinB]

On 2/5/22 I collected a small colony of Pheidole hyatti in Bangor CA. So, I was out looking for colonies under a rock and lifted a rock and found this colony. I got super exited because I have been wanting to get them. The queen was right there but I didn't have my aspirator ready, so she went into a tunnel and was gone. I tried to dig a bit with my hand and couldn't find her. I was than super disappointed that I couldn't find her. I moved on to look for another colony. That colony had about 30-40 workers total when I lifted the rock. I then decided to go back there about 20 minutes later to see if I could find her at all. I got down on my knees and scooped my hand at where I saw her go in and she was right there at the bottom of the hole where the rock was at. I then went for her with a test tube because I broke the last vial to my aspirator when looking for other colonies. I scooped her up and had her in there. Because I left the spot for about 20 minutes most workers were gone.I was only able to find 8 and collected them up. I also didn't see any brood at all.

I then went home and put her into a test tube along with her 8 workers. I woke up the next morning to check on them and all the workers were curled up in a ball "dead". I was very sad that they were all "dead". The queen was still alive. I than had to go to school. When I got back from school, I checked on her and saw 4 workers alive and was very confused to how they were alive after seeing them all clearly dead and curled up into a ball. My hope was up again for them but there were 4 other workers that were dead and never came back to life. I gave them a small amount of sugar water and they didn't seem too interested in it. I than gave them a cricket leg and the queen laid around 20 eggs. I gave them another cricket leg a few days ago from today. Currently they have 4 workers and around 20 eggs. I was also told that the colony is bicolored which is cool. They have very nice colors. Here's a description of them that I put on iNaturalist.

Workers: nearly fully black with tiny bits of orange
Majors: orange head and half of the thorax is orange than the other half of the thorax is black and the gaster is black.
Queens: fully black gaster, dark orange thorax, and a dark red head.

Hyatt's Big-headed Ant (Pheidole hyatti) from La Porte Rd, Bangor, CA, US on February 05, 2022 at 05:24 PM by kadin0721. The worker/majors/queens found at this location have darker colors than normal. They were said to... · iNaturalist

Link to iNaturist observation ^^^^^^^^

I am going to be keeping this colony for quite a while and I will try to keep them updated as much as possible. I have been very busy recently, so I haven't had much time to update journals and stuff like that.

Pictures below.

Edited by KadinB, March 27 2022 - 1:46 AM.

[KadinB]

[antsriondel]

nice!!! pheidole are awesome!!!

[KadinB]

This colony is doing great right now. All four workers are still alive and so is the queen. They have tons of fat larvae right now and a bunch of small larvae and eggs. I love the growth of these guys. I should be getting some majors out of these guys soon. I will probably move them into a mini hearth once they outgrow their test tube. 

 

pictures below 

[ColAnt735]

Awesome ants! I wish I could catch pheidole.

[antsriondel]

Awesome ants! I wish I could catch pheidole.

yeah, agreed.

[KadinB]

Pupae soon!

[NicholasP]

Make sure to constantly offer hyatti sugar water or some form of sugars. If P. hyatti is not given sugar water, they will start dying and eating their brood.

[KadinB]

Make sure to constantly offer hyatti sugar water or some form of sugars. If P. hyatti is not given sugar water, they will start dying and eating their brood.

Yeah I’ve been giving them drops of sugar water.

Edited by KadinB, March 3 2022 - 5:44 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Poor colony. This is why I don’t condone this kind of collecting.

[KadinB]

Poor colony. This is why I don’t condone this kind of collecting.

While I can appreciate the fact that you have an opinion, I did not ask for it please leave your negative comments elsewhere thank you!

[KadinB]

First pupae! I’ll post another pic once they get more pupae over the next few days.

[strawnkayden1]

Poor colony. This is why I don’t condone this kind of collecting.

The colony is most likely going to live past what they would out in the wild. Colonies are known to do a lot better in captivity as long as they're not neglected. Collecting wild colonies depends on the morals and habits of the keeper. A beginner keeper that will most likely just kill the colony would not be a good keeper. Kadin is a good keeper in this aspect and the colony will probably grow big despite the inadequate circumstances. You may say poor colony now but when the colony is big I want you to remember this and take that back.

[ANTdrew]

I’m referring to all the colony that got orphaned. Time will tell if this captive remnant does well. In any case, I urge you to not do this kind of collecting in the future.

[KadinB]

I’m referring to all the colony that got orphaned. Time will tell if this captive remnant does well. In any case, I urge you to not do this kind of collecting in the future.

I urge you to not to go on peoples post and say negative comments that start up problems in the future. If you have an opinion keep it to yourself and don’t post it to start problems please. Thank you.

[Kaelwizard]

 

I’m referring to all the colony that got orphaned. Time will tell if this captive remnant does well. In any case, I urge you to not do this kind of collecting in the future.

I urge you to not to go on peoples post and say negative comments that start up problems in the future. If you have an opinion keep it to yourself and don’t post it to start problems please. Thank you.

This is a forum, so expect to hear lots of opinions and be prepared to have people disagree with you. He was not rude, and what he said is true. That wild colony could have produced more bicolored queens in the future, and other ant keepers could have found them. Instead, you took the queen and a few workers, leaving many more workers to die. I’m guilty of collecting portions of a colony as well, and every time the queen died later. It’s just not worth it.

 

I'd also like to add that ANTdrew has broken no rules posting here, and nothing he said will cause problems in the future. Only your choice to leave most of a colony to die will have any future consequences.

Edited by Kaelwizard, March 4 2022 - 1:39 PM.

[bmb1bee]

I’m referring to all the colony that got orphaned. Time will tell if this captive remnant does well. In any case, I urge you to not do this kind of collecting in the future.

What he caught was one queen out of a polygynous species, so the colony shouldn't be effected too much.

Edit: Unless if this specific colony had only one queen to start with.

Edited by bmb1bee, March 4 2022 - 2:37 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Well, that changes things. Let’s leave it at that and hope for the best for both parts of the colony.

[strawnkayden1]

 

 

I’m referring to all the colony that got orphaned. Time will tell if this captive remnant does well. In any case, I urge you to not do this kind of collecting in the future.

I urge you to not to go on peoples post and say negative comments that start up problems in the future. If you have an opinion keep it to yourself and don’t post it to start problems please. Thank you.

This is a forum, so expect to hear lots of opinions and be prepared to have people disagree with you. He was not rude, and what he said is true. That wild colony could have produced more bicolored queens in the future, and other ant keepers could have found them. Instead, you took the queen and a few workers, leaving many more workers to die. I’m guilty of collecting portions of a colony as well, and every time the queen died later. It’s just not worth it.

 

I'd also like to add that ANTdrew has broken no rules posting here, and nothing he said will cause problems in the future. Only your choice to leave most of a colony to die will have any future consequences.

 

I think you should do more research on the species as bmb1bee pointed out they are poly. Don't flood the forum with your opinion on how Kadin is collecting as it's very controversial and varies from keeper to keeper. I would also like to remind you this is Kadin's journal and if you don't like the way he collects his ants then tell him in dms or go to the forum that discuses this topic.