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[Lemon.Water]

This journal will basically just cover this Pogonomyrmex occidentalis colony I received on march 13th 2023.

(If youre wondering about my other colonies I had to move and could not bring them unfortunately) 

 

This has probably been the most interesting colony I have ever had even though I've only had them for 1 day, they never deprive me of action, while this may be partly do to their larger outworld with sand, I think its just in their nature to constantly move the sand around and constantly explore the outside of their nest. They moved pretty quickly into their THA nest, and only lost 1 during transport. She was crawling around without a gaster for hours it was scary tbh. 

Anyways they've been eating some and have already laid some eggs and eclosed more workers. 

 

I'm still getting accustomed to their feeding habits, so far they take honey water, fish flakes, a select few millet seeds, and the smallest seeds in the THA seed bag. (If anyone is able to tell me which one I'm talking about I would be appreciate it.) 

I am planning on getting some more fruit flies and mealworms to try, but they're very bad at catching them so ill have to cool them off. 

 

And also a few questions to others who keep seed eating species, I believe dspDrew sells seed bags however I'm a little nervous to purchase those because they only accept the smallest of seeds, and then how long should you leave the uneaten, unharvested seeds in the outworld?

Finally I got these raw sunflower seed kernels at target from the good & gather company, I'm wondering if even if it says they're not organic they're still safe because its just the kernel. 

 

Some pictures

 

 

 

Setup

 

 

Edited by Lemon.Water, March 14 2023 - 7:23 PM.

[Katakros8]

I absolutely love your setup and this is my favorite species I've ever kept as well. As for the seeds the small ones fron THA are dandelion seeds, kentucky bluegrass is also a favorite of mine and sesame seeds for a treat every now and then. I also offer mine byformica sunburst nectar although mine don't seem to like it but they do go crazy for raw bee pollen haven't tried honey/water yet, I also offer some sort of feeder insect for protein weekly. Hope that helps some bit and looking forward to more updates!

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

I too have a Pogonomyrmex c. colony, got it as a 20+ colony from THA back on Jan 20th.
https://www.formicul...x-occidentalis/

I like your natural materials out world.

The smaller seeds from THA are dandelion. If you have a mix the larger ones are probably Kentucky blue grass.

I have done a lot of experimenting on seeds with mine so far. And hands down they treat black chia seeds like crack.
They can have several options to choose from, if the chia are out, all else will be ignored until there are zero chia seeds left.

I've not fed them sugar water/honey, but i do keep an organic apple slice out for them that i freshen up about every 3 days.

When it comes to bugs i found they didn't want mealworms or superworms. Both were turned into a trash pile immediately and not taken back to the nest in any meaningful amounts.
But they do like crickets and roaches.
In general i think Pogonomyrmex c. are not as much hunters but more commonly scavenge dead stuff.

Based on advice to help avoid introducing mites from feeder insects, i give them a 3-5 second boil first. A quick al dente cook, and i cut them in half after. When i didn't cut up a cricket they only got a little bit out of it before it dried up. So i cut up the crickets and roaches now, and they get a lot more of it before they start treating it like the trash pile, which is after it dries up enough basically.

I have been considering pollen as that is part of their wild diet. However bee products can't be guaranteed free of any pesticides or whatever. As my only colony and still only about 40 strong now. I'm not feeling like finding out yet. But it is out there on my future considerations for when the colony is big enough they could potentially recover if i got bad pollen.

Edited by Full_Frontal_Yeti, March 15 2023 - 10:34 AM.