41 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

5-19-2013
 
I caught this Pheidole queen in Southern California, May 12th 2013, shortly after dark on a very hot day.
Original ID thread: http://antfarm.yuku....82#.UZxodfWL6IA



She started laying eggs two days later, and now has a nice little pile of very tiny little eggs.

[dspdrew]

Update 6-7-2013

Yesterday the first four little workers eclosed. I can't believe how tiny these things are, they look about 1.5 mm or so. I'm also surprised how fast they developed.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-8-2013

 

The colony is still growing at a steady pace, with about 20 workers, and yesterday their first Major eclosed.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-12-2013
 
The colony has about 25 workers, including two majors now. There's also a large amount of brood.

Here's some pictures from yesterday, when the second major hadn't eclosed yet.

[dspdrew]

Update 8-21-2013
 
This is one of my healthiest colonies so far, it's probably grown the most out of all of them. It looks like it's got maybe around 12 majors now.
 

 

 

[dspdrew]

Update 9-8-2013

 

This colony is doing better than any other ant colony of mine. At this point they have around 100 workers. At any given moment there were at least 20 or more all trying to dig through the cotton, so because of that, I moved them into a container to make it possible to feed them. I couldn't get any decent pictures, but here is a video; it's not great, but you can kind of get an idea of the size of the colony now.

 

[Crystals]

I can't believe how fast this colony grew.

How big do their colonies usually get?

[dspdrew]

I can't believe how fast this colony grew.

How big do their colonies usually get?

I'm not sure, but I think they get pretty big. This colony is already up to probably about 150 workers now.

[dspdrew]

Update 11-15-2013
 
This colony is doing great. It has been eating entire crickets, turning them into nothing but powder after a while. I would estimate the colony has around 400 workers now.
 

 

 

 

 

[Crystals]

Another formicarium for you to plan. 

By the time you get around to building it, you had better make it an 8x10 or larger!  

[dspdrew]

Update 2-17-2014
 
This colony probably has about 600 workers now. Their old  test tube just recently dried out, so they moved the entire colony into a new, much larger test tube.
 

 

 

[Anthony]

Wow I hope my solenopsis molesta csn do that its amazing congratulations

[dspdrew]

I actually have a colony of S. molesta that I'm hoping will move to their new test tube soon.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-12-2014

 

For the past few months this colony seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. Finally last week I noticed the queen is nowhere to be found. She obviously died months ago, and no new brood was being produced.

[Gregory2455]

I want a Pheidole species, or some polymorphic species with cool majors. Very jealous, even though it only lasted like a year. 

[dspdrew]

I want one too haha.

[Gregory2455]

Update 7-12-2014

Looking at this, this date is incorrect, right?

[dspdrew]

Yeah.

[dspdrew]

5-27-2015
 
I found this Pheidole sp. queen on my black light in Trabuco Canyon, California, around 9:00 PM April 27th 2015.
 
ID Thread: https://www.formicul...n-ca-5-27-2015/
 
1. Location of collection: Trabuco Canyon, California.
2. Date of collection:  4-27-2015.
3. Habitat of collection:  Chaparral, oak forest.
4. Length (from head to gaster):  5 mm.
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture:  Brownish red with a dark brown gaster.
 

 

 

 
 
At first I thought she was infertile because it took so long for her eggs to develop into larvae, but it's now been one month, and she has brood in all stages of development.
 

 

 

[dspdrew]

Update 6-4-2015
 
This queen got her first worker yesterday.