28 replies to this topic

[UtahAnts]

I'm starting this journal to focus solely on my granivorous colonies. Here's the original journal. At the moment I have two Pogonomyrmex colonies, otherwise known as harvester ants, native to Utah: P. occidentalis and P. rugosus. The timelines of their growth can be found below. I will also be featuring a colony of Messor structor, or reaper ants, which I obtained in a trade from a local keeper.

 

 

Messor Structor -  Reaper Ants

I got this colony a couple of weeks ago in an AC test tube portal with around 60 workers. I attached a small dirt box for them to use as they liked. Of course a few days later they quickly moved into it, and created several large chambers. Currently, the test tube portal is used as the only outworld, and the two water tubes which I left attached are being used as granaries. The colony also stores their famous ant bread in a drier portion of one of the tubes. 

 

A couple quick notes on the species for those not familiar with Messor sp:

• The colony needs a high humidity zone around 90% humidity to store brood
• A drier zone around 40% humidity is used for seeds and ant bread
• Sometimes the ants will allow the seeds to germinate before consumption
• Workers are polymorphic, with the smallest workers being shorter then the heads of the largest workers
• Colonies (especially large ones) are very good at chewing through plastic and being destructive in general
• Max population size of a couple thousand in captivity
• Messor in general are photophobic, they hate any source of light.
• Messor have some difficulty climbing, similar to harvester ants in that regard

 

The colony before I got them:

 

 

 

The dirt box.

 

 

 

Current setup:

 

 

 

 

 

The bread can be seen to the left of the seeds. 

 

Edited by UtahAnts, July 14 2024 - 11:17 AM.

[UtahAnts]

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis - Western Harvester Ants

 

A quick timeline of their growth over the last two seasons.

 

August 1, 2021

Nuptial flight

 

 

September 20, 2021

6 workers and brood

 

 

 

Post-Hibernation

April 5, 2022

7 workers and brood, housed in a THA Genesis test tube insert.

 

 

 

May 2 

15 workers

 

 

 

June 12

25 workers

 

 

 

August 5

40 workers 

 

 

 

October 9

75 workers - moved to new nest

 

 

 

January 2023 - Current

200 workers, in need of new setup

 

Edited by UtahAnts, January 23 2023 - 5:18 PM.

[UtahAnts]

Pogonomyrmex rugosus - Rough Harvester Ants

 

Their growth over the last couple months:

 

July 2022

Nuptial flights

 

 

 

December 15, 2022

8 workers and brood

 

 

 

December 27, 2022

12 workers - new formicarium

 

 

January 2023 - Current

30 workers

 

[antsriondel]

I wish that I had Rugosus in my area. 

[ANTdrew]

Excellent start to this journal.

[UtahAnts]

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis - Western Harvester Ants

 

Currently at 225 workers, with a hundred or so brood items and another hundred eggs.

 

I added another DIY section to their setup. They quickly filled it with seeds and brood. Their former nest is currently being used as a seed store and designated hangout area. They've started taking non-seed protein sources as readily as seeds - mainly fish flakes, roaches, and bloodworms. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ANTdrew]

Awesome colony!

[UtahAnts]

Pogonomyrmex rugosus - Rough Harvester Ants

 

Now at 45 workers with some more on the way. Some of the newer workers are getting large, but I'm hoping they are not at the maximum size yet.

 

I tried making a couple GIFs to capture the behavior of the ants, something an image can't quite do. You may need to click on the GIFs (last two images below) to view all the frames.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[UtahAnts]

Messor Structor -  Reaper Ants

 

The colony is doing well in their dirt box. It's hard to see the colony at times, but I estimate they have around 70 workers with plenty of brood. The dirt box they are housed in does seem to leak easily, prompting mass evacuations every time I fill the water reservoir by even the smallest amount. They have made a large chamber that circles then entire box where they store all the brood, pictured below. The colony still stores their seeds in the test tubes in the attached AC test tube portal. They take very small amounts of roaches and have no interest in any sugars or fish flakes, however they take nearly any seeds I offer. The largest worker I've seen so far was about 12mm, while the smallest was around 3mm, a pretty intense size difference.

 

 

 

 

[UtahAnts]

Pogonomyrmex rugosus - Rough Harvester Ants

 

This colony now has 60 workers along with a queen alate. The largest workers are now around the size usually seen foraging in the wild, and the new queen alate is a bit smaller comapared to the current queen. I added another outworld to their setup, and the colony has just about outgrown their current setup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ANTdrew]

Incredible!

[UtahAnts]

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis - Western Harvester Ants

 

The colony is currently at around 300 workers. The initial spring boom has slowed, and I suspect the queen may be taking a break until summer. The majority of the colony has begun to congregate in their outworld, and I'll be replacing their current outworld with a new setup in the near future to try and limit this issue.

 

 

[UtahAnts]

Triple udpate

 

Messor Structor -  Reaper Ants

 

160 workers. The colony had some larvae hidden somewhere becuase since last update they have more than doubled in size. I've only fed them dandelion and chia seeds. Rarely do they ever willingly take insects and sugar. They've also cleared out the bottom layer of their dirt setup, perhaps trying to take full advantage of the humidity there.

 

 

 

 

Pogonomyrmex rugosus - Rough Harvester Ants

 

This colony is doing well with about 90 workers, they had a couple more alates eclose and the largest workers now have a head size greater than the queen's.

 

 

 

 

 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis - Western Harvester Ants

 

350 workers. and female 3 alates! All three recently eclosed several days ago. I'll attatch their new outworld in a week or two after I finish up some other projects.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ernteameise]

Beautiful colonies

[UtahAnts]

Messor Structor -  Reaper Ants - SOLD

170 workers. I sold this colony recently to a friend who had some issues with their own founding messor colony. Overall this species of harvester was very polymorphic and very low maintence. I can see why this is such a popular genus for European keepers. A bit slower growing but given an adequate formicarium (such as a dirt setup) this species can be encouraged to grow faster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis - Western Harvester Ants

 

375 workers. I moved them into a new setup as pictured. I replaced their old horizontal chambered formicarium for another red sand-cast nest today. After I moved them by dumping the old nest's inhabitants into the outworld, the outworld has been full of ants digging in the base layer of desert sand. They should all eventually find their way back to the main nest on the left with the queen (as seen in the gif below).

 

 

 

 

[ANTdrew]

Awesome!

[UtahAnts]

Pogonomyrmex rugosus - Rough Harvester Ants

 

They are at around 100 workers now with at least 2 female alates. I filmed a few videos of the colony with a new macro lens.

 

Link 1

Link 2

[AntPerson76]

Your colonies are really cool! I've always been fond of harvester ants, I was lucky to collect pheidole, which also collects seeds.

Edited by AntPerson76, May 29 2023 - 4:11 PM.

[UtahAnts]

Thanks, I'll have P. occidentalis to sell in a few months if you'd be interested in your own colony. I'm happy to take discounted pre-orders over PMs.

[AntPerson76]

Thanks, I'll have P. occidentalis to sell in a few months if you'd be interested in your own colony. I'm happy to take discounted pre-orders over PMs.

I'll think about it, thanks for the offer! Right now I'm expecting to find a lot of ants this summer though, and I've limited myself to seven colonies at max. 

Edited by AntPerson76, May 30 2023 - 10:26 AM.