188 replies to this topic

[kiedeerk]

Update: Pheidole rhea

It’s a love and hate relationship with these guys. I love how polymorphic they are and being the largest pheidole in the country and possibly the world, they are cool compared to the tiny native pheidole species.
The only problem is that they grow too fast and are very good at climbing and escaping. I have only fed them seeds for months end and they are not heated however my ant room is quite warm probably a constant 75F. They still are managing to grow despite me trying to limit their numbers.

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[OwlThatLikesAnts]

Wow I wish I had an ant species native to my area that has such distinctive super majors!

[kiedeerk]

I am going to have some free time this weekend to update a few more of my colonies:

Novomessor albisetosus:
These guys are fun to keep and grow pretty rapidly with heat like most desert species. They are larger versions of aphaenogaster that native to my region. They are omnivores so they will take seeds/nuts and insects. I rarely or never give them sugar water and they seem to do fine. They can quickly get out of hand if kept in ideal conditions. They have a weird behavior of having the workers carry eggs and small larva clutches in their mandibles.

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[kiedeerk]

Pogonomyrmex badius

These guys are now 2-3 years old. They are otherwise quite easy to care for. They do require high heat and humidity. There are usually water droplets inside the nest. The down side is the glass is usually very blurry because of the humidity and makes taking pictures very difficult. I have only fed them seeds and fish flakes. They do not require sugar source or insect although insect protein will likely boost their growth. But they are growing plenty fast and probably have exceeded 1-2k workers by now.

[kiedeerk]

Pogonomyrmex badius

These guys are now 2-3 years old. They are otherwise quite easy to care for. They do require high heat and humidity. There are usually water droplets inside the nest. The down side is the glass is usually very blurry because of the humidity and makes taking pictures very difficult. I have only fed them seeds and fish flakes. They do not require sugar source or insect although insect protein will likely boost their growth. But they are growing plenty fast and probably have exceeded 1-2k workers by now.

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[OwlThatLikesAnts]

Beautiful pictures!!!

[kiedeerk]

My Camponotus crew

As I have mentioned above. I love the founding stages of ant keeping the most. I am starting over with Camponotus castaneus and pennsylvanicus. I have released my larger castaneus colony. Camponotus nearcticus and subbarbatus are doing well. I have also caught a Camponotus caryae this year and I am very excited to raise this less well known species. I have two Camponotus socius colonies, one is doing much better than the other but the smaller colony is recovering well and has a much larger queen and the workers are also larger. I am not sure why maybe because they were caught in different regions.

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[kiedeerk]

My trachymyrmex have grown so much since I came back from vacation.
Their nest is pretty full of fungus so the only way to grow is up. Close up view of the fungus and its intricate design and honeycomb shape

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Edited by kiedeerk, August 10 2024 - 2:15 AM.

[ANTdrew]

That’s truly incredible.

[kiedeerk]

This is my smaller M placadops 01 colony. They have about 100+ workers and they are doing well. They are housed inside my diy glow in dark nest. I cleaned their glass today so it makes taking pictures much clearer. The crystals are charged using sunlight and will glow brightly in the dark for a while.

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[Ernteameise]

Beautiful pictures and what a wonderful colony.

I think this is probably my number 1 dream ant species.

[cooIboyJ]

Looking at this journal makes me want to have a lot of big colonies like you. Though right now my biggest colony still has nanitics.

[Ants_Dakota]

One thing i noticed as I browsed through your journal is how clean your nests are. The ants seem to create very little mold or store trash anywhere. Is this because of your efforts through cleaning, your DIY nest designs, or are these ants just super clean?

Edited by Ants_Dakota, August 17 2024 - 2:52 PM.

[kiedeerk]

One thing i noticed as I browsed through your journal is how clean your nests are. The ants seem to create very little mold or store trash anywhere. Is this because of your efforts through cleaning, your DIY nest designs, or are these ants just super clean?

Ants are really clean naturally. They don’t like trash or mold in their nest. The key is having the appropriate sized nest for the colony. Too many colonies are housed in nest way too big for them.

[kiedeerk]

I went to the beach yesterday. I found some nice and interesting flat rocks. I already had an idea and design for a new expansion nest for my larger placadops 01 colony. The concept is for maximum viewing on 3 sides. The nice flat natural rocks are suitable to make the shelves the repletes will hang from. The color of the rocks also fit the desert theme

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[cooIboyJ]

That looks really cool.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

I went to the beach yesterday. I found some nice and interesting flat rocks. I already had an idea and design for a new expansion nest for my larger placadops 01 colony. The concept is for maximum viewing on 3 sides. The nice flat natural rocks are suitable to make the shelves the repletes will hang from. The color of the rocks also fit the desert theme

Very natural... I love it!

[ANTdrew]

Super cool!

[AntBoi3030]

That’s sick

[kiedeerk]

Moved in my smaller colony of M placadops 01 into my new nest. Was a fairly easy move. They have a very healthy brood pile. They are using the natural shelves to their advantage. They are even putting the brood onto the shelves. The downside is the formulicarium is made from acrylic which does not come close to glass in terms of clarity. Overall still quite happy with the results

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