30 replies to this topic

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Antvault sent me an awesome colony of Pogonomyrmex Californicus And they arrived with a queen three eggs and one worker. 

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Sadly hours after arrival the queen and worker ate the eggs. But just after I gave them a drop of honey and they drank right away.

 

 

I will post pics soon

Edited by GOCAMPONOTUS, February 12 2024 - 3:04 PM.

[JesseTheAntKid]

Uh that's concerning. Give them a safe space with no vibrations

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

yea i put them in a closet shelf that does not vibrate. They probably felt really stressed out.

[dspdrew]

A 9-month-old colony with 1 worker and 3 eggs?

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

A 9-month-old colony with 1 worker and 3 eggs?

Yea, but they the queen might have been a late flier?

[kiedeerk]

Not to burst your bubble but these are all terrible colonies. Pogonomyrmex californicus flew last summer like 8 months ago. This queen has only one worker and no brood at all? these are probably all dud queens or they are colonies that weren’t taken care of at all.

Pogonomyrmex are harvesters they mainly eat seeds and insects. I raised multiple Pogonomyrmex colonies without sugar water at all and they do fine. They don’t have social stomachs so they can’t store the sugar water and bring back to other members of the colony.

[JesseTheAntKid]

yea i put them in a closet shelf that does not vibrate. They probably felt really stressed out.

Stressed out that they flew 9 months ago.

stop buying from crap sellers dude...

[BerkeleyAnts]

Hey @kiedeerk, @gocamponotus. This is the founder of the Ant Vault. This queen was caught in a batch of 7 and was a late flyer caught in Texas in the middle of November. Weirdly around this time, there were also some Camponotus flying that we received aswell. 

She is definitely still a slow grower, I can agree with that (but usually californicus are the slowest growers i've had out of all my harvesters), but not at all a dud as you stated. 

 

Edited by BerkeleyAnts, February 12 2024 - 5:24 PM.

[JesseTheAntKid]

Hey @kiedeerk, @gocamponotus. This is the founder of the Ant Vault. This queen was caught in a batch of 7 and was a late flyer caught in Texas in the middle of November. Weirdly around this time, there were also some Camponotus flying that we received aswell. 

She is definitely still a slow grower, I can agree with that (but usually californicus are the slowest growers i've had out of all my harvesters), but not at all a dud as you stated. 

 

If she eats her eggs and can't get more than one worker, she's a dud

[ReignofRage]

Hey @kiedeerk, @gocamponotus. This is the founder of the Ant Vault. This queen was caught in a batch of 7 and was a late flyer caught in Texas in the middle of November. Weirdly around this time, there were also some Camponotus flying that we received aswell. 

She is definitely still a slow grower, I can agree with that (but usually californicus are the slowest growers i've had out of all my harvesters), but not at all a dud as you stated. 

 

 

P. californicus barely exists in Texas first off. That, in addition to a Novemeber flight time, and your indubitable ineptness to identify common species and provide healthy colonies just makes all of this sound like more excuses. Pogonomyrmex of the P. californicus-group are NOT slow-growing at all with them sometimes getting workers as soon as 27 days from when they first lay eggs. For it to take a Pogonomyrmex queen close to three months to only produce a few eggs and a singular worker means this colony was severley neglected.

[BerkeleyAnts]

@reignofRage, thanks for your comment. I am not too familiar about ant locations, however, this shipment did come from Texas. We leave a bed of various seeds in the tube and they sustain themselves off of that. Is that not the right way to take care of them? Would this be considered as severely neglected? 

 

However, at the end of the day, we want to provide a good experience to our customers. We can provide another replacement for free once harvesters/camponotus are flying again. 

 

[ReignofRage]

Kushal, I have no idea what you are doing wrong. 

 

And this is what you call a good experience; having people pay for colonies in terrible condition? This is a replaacement for a different colony of terrible quality and this one is just as bad.

[BerkeleyAnts]

What temperatures do you keep your P.cali's at @reignofrage? 

Also again, I don't think this colony is severely neglected or of terrible quality to my knowledge. I wouldn't ship out an ant colony and spend more money on shipping, and then again reship another colony later where I will have to spend even more money on shipping. 

Since I want to provide a good experience, I am willing to reship another colony on us. Hope this makes sense. 

 

Also, is there any tips you have on keeping harvesters to make sure that colonies aren,t considered neglected? 

[ReignofRage]

I keep practically all of my ants at an ambient temperature of 85°F. For Pogonomyrmex a temperature closer to 100°F is a bit more appropriate. Unless you are keeping them in a low range around 70°F, I can't possibly see how you are getting such feeble growth. Keeping ants at proper temperature ranges and feeding them would make them considered not neglected. It should be noted, too, that despite being known by their common name of "harvester ants," Pogonomyrmex consume large quantities of insects and proteins both in the wild and in captivity.

[JesseTheAntKid]

@reignofRage, thanks for your comment. I am not too familiar about ant locations, however, this shipment did come from Texas. We leave a bed of various seeds in the tube and they sustain themselves off of that. Is that not the right way to take care of them? Would this be considered as severely neglected? 

 

However, at the end of the day, we want to provide a good experience to our customers. We can provide another replacement for free once harvesters/camponotus are flying again. 

 

Holy hell, you take your shipments from people you DON'T KNOW? And might not be experienced in ant keeping? Not what i call a good business practice.

[JesseTheAntKid]

 

Hey @kiedeerk, @gocamponotus. This is the founder of the Ant Vault. This queen was caught in a batch of 7 and was a late flyer caught in Texas in the middle of November. Weirdly around this time, there were also some Camponotus flying that we received aswell. 

She is definitely still a slow grower, I can agree with that (but usually californicus are the slowest growers i've had out of all my harvesters), but not at all a dud as you stated. 

 

 

P. californicus barely exists in Texas first off. That, in addition to a Novemeber flight time, and your indubitable ineptness to identify common species and provide healthy colonies just makes all of this sound like more excuses. Pogonomyrmex of the P. californicus-group are NOT slow-growing at all with them sometimes getting workers as soon as 27 days from when they first lay eggs. For it to take a Pogonomyrmex queen close to three months to only produce a few eggs and a singular worker means this colony was severley neglected.

 

Mid-to-coastal texas here. not seeing any P. californicus. Unless that person who gave the californicus lives in El paso, i'm not sure where the hell a P. californicus queen is coming from.

[ReignofRage]

Here's a distibution map from an in-depth study.

 

Edited by ReignofRage, February 12 2024 - 11:10 PM.

[JesseTheAntKid]

Yeah, El paso. Basically.

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

Sadly hours after arrival the queen and worker ate the eggs. But just after I gave them a drop of honey and they drank right away.

 

 

I will post pics soon

Here's my advice/info. I read the thread, gonna ignore it and just go from your post here.

 

Ants eating their own eggs is a fairly normal stress reaction.

If your world was turning upside down like that, new young would be a burden to try and keep. So the eggs become food when times are harsh/stress is high.

 

The only thing you can do is try to give them the most perfect environment for them that you can and hope for the best. If conditions are ideal and the queen is healthy, then the colony might be fine. There's not a lot you can do though past providing as ideal an environment as possible.

 

1: keep their nest space well warmed, but not hot. Something in the 75-80 zone, they won't mind if temps dip at night a bit.

 

2: keep their nest well humidified, but not wet(condensation). The key to this not applying heat too directly to any water sources, while making sure any glass is kept warm enough. Condensation occurs when there is a great enough temperature difference between the warm humid nest air and the cold glass surface. BUT if heat is applied too close/direct to a water source, it will evaporate too fast and reach saturation level which forms condensation on everything no matter what.
In early stage test tube/tiny setups it's more common to place it in a box, and apply the heat source to the box, instead of direct to the test tube/too small a nest.

 

3: give them enough outworld space they can  move trash awawy from their nest space. Ideally they will keep a trash pile about as far from their nest entrance/exit as they can get it.
While i like a tarheel ants mini-hearth, i find the attached out world means cleaning is always disturbance > X for the Ants, a stand alone out world attached by tube is far less disturbance to the nest to keep clean.

 

4: while the colony is so small, they are scared and well aware of how vulnerable they are. This colony might benefit a lot form being setup with food and water, then placed in a well out of the way darkened location like a closet, and being left alone for 5-7 days straight. And then keep them there, and just check on them every 3-4 days at most for 2-3 months. Or until you notice an obviously growing brood pile. Once they get to around 20+ and steady brood production they will be a lot less stressed and easier to care for. But while they are so few in numbers, and were just shipped(imagine being shipped like they were), they are going to be stressed the hell out. They need some down time to be left alone to chill for a little bit.

 

 

5: organic apple(fruit) slices for the adults, seeds for the brood, fish flakes for protein boost. not sure what your setup allows for here so adjust a needed for yourself on this.
If you have an outworld space you can leave a slice of any sweet fruit ,the adults will lick the sugar juices off it.
The brood are mainly fed seeds, with whatever scavenged proteins they also find(dead insects/carrion). With no brood pile going they will not need much of this up front.
Insects/fish flakes can also be used as brood feed, though seeds are the ant's mainstay, such added protein may encourage the queen to lay eggs/grow the brood faster.
Insects will create rotting trash parts, while fish flakes leave nothing behind after being eaten, i'm a fan.
And only organic fruits to ensure no pesticides.

Again though from having just been shipped, my main concern would be to give them a low stress location and leave them alone for a while. Set them up with some food and water as part of that move, so you don't have to go back to them again for a good number of days while they chill out.

That's about all you can do. You just hope for the best, while you let them rest.