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Picture timeline journal of a Myrmecocystus mexicanus colony
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UtahAnts
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Posted July 12 2023 - 9:09 AM
UtahAnts
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A pictured timeline of a Myrmecocystus mexicanus colony, about one year old at the time of posting. Includes Gifs and video links for your enjoyment. Added notes and care tips.
August 2022 - First workers and formicarium
Care tip: I fed the colony sugars as soon as I could to encourage new replete formation and, by effect, encourage the queen to stop storing sugars to focus on egg production. If you have a small colony, feed them sugars daily to boost the chances of success. Additionally make sure you heat these ants! One of the most common mistakes I see from beginners is not having a suitable heating mat or cable on hand. A warm room in the house will also suffice. Temperature should be around 80-90 degrees. Remember to leave a section of the nest for the ants to escape to at a lower temperature if the heating mechanism overheats.
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DIY formicarium made from perfect cast and white beach sand with two viewing sections. I attached a supply of distilled water on the left to give them constant access to drinking water.
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First replete. I noticed most workers can store a limited amount of fluid, but the first real repletes don't arrive until the second or third generation. The colony had about 25 workers.
October 2022 - Growth explosion
After feeding pre-boiled and pre-cut mealworms and crickets every 2-3 days along with a contant supply of sugar, the colony began to quickly grow. By this time the queen had completely stopped acting as a replete for sugars. The colony had around 60 workers.
January 2023 - New Setup
This setup would allow for a lot of new replete space. Made of the same materials as the first - Hobby Lobby perfect cast and white beach sand.
Moved in January 26. The colony had a little more than 100 workers.
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Care tip: Myrmecocystus colonies must be moved manually, as the repletes will not be able relocate. When moving, use featherwight forceps and/or a thin stick to gently move the repletes over to a new location.
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When housing Myrmecocystus colonies, I would highly recommend overhead lighting capabilities. It makes observation much easier.
Gifs, I used the linked website. I like to use a high frame rate for natural transitions - https://ezgif.com/maker
February 2023 - More growth and repletes
The colony slowed growth slightly over February and March - the colony had around 200 workers. Their outworld connection was partially closed at this time, I didn't notice until I moved them out. It may have also possibly been a pseudo-hibernation to give the queen a break. The colony also began trashing the nest a bit more, again possibly due to the outworld connection being smaller. If I could do it over I'd have made the tubing a bit bigger.
March 2023 - New setup
You'll notice in the video below how much trash was in their nest. This was one thing I tried to fix with their Dome nest V3 (see July update) by creating a large and structured tubing port to the outworld for trash removal.
Lot's of new replete space. Also added a simple (but larger) outworld with desert sand, agate pebbles, sandstone, and an olive oil barrier. Nest was made with the same material as the previous two - perfect cast.
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Care tip: These ants need a source of sand for proper pupation. Some formicaria come with sand ingrained in the walls, however the larvae need to be covered in the stuff to pupate. I recommend providing different types of sand in the outworld for the ants to choose from. Don't put sand directly in the nest unless you want to loose sight of your colony because they smeared it everywhere. The ants can move it by themselves, remember many species of the genus live in a sandy environment naturally.
April - May 2023 - More growth
The colony really lost any picky eating habits they had before. I started feeding them larger prey like grasshoppers, wolf spiders, and large flies. They also consumed much more sugar around this time, presumably because of the new repletes that were growing. The colony now had around 300 workers.
The colony was now very active all times of the day, I began feeding them larger protein servings at once while feeding less often - around once a week for convenience. The colony had around 400 workers now.
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Care tip: To diversify protein sources, try feeding bloodworm soup, this brand in particular (Hikari) is accepted by not only Myrmecocystus colonies but many other speces as well. It's a favorite of large colonies especially.
Care tip: No sand was added to the nest, I let the ants do it themselves. This makes sealing the dome much easier, and allows the ants to choose the size of sand grains they prefer. Larger colonies can also regulate humidity much easier than small colonies can. This allows for less external hydration given a source of drinking water is provided.
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Note the difference in size between workers. The largest repletes are obvious but I only recently realized the smallest workers attend the queen and clean while the medium sized workers usually do the hunting, feeding, and general brood care.
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Care tip: At this point the colony has little response to indirect light. That said, I like to cover the formicarium to encourage the ants not to trash their glass (a natural response to light to try and block it). Especially at a young age, these colonies (and most other ants for that matter) should be covered to not give them any more stress then they need.
August 2023 - Many more workers
This colony is nearing a thousand workers and it's a joy to watch them grow. I've included some videos below along with pictures.
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Care tip: When using sealed formicariums, like this dome, be wary of overwatering. A little condensation will not hurt the ants themselves, but it can obscure the glass.
September 2023 - 1k+ Workers
I've been a bit busy lately so I haven't been feeding this colony as much as I should have, but hope to encourage one last growth spurt before they hit their slow phase during the winter. I've been feeding them primarily crickets for the last few weeks. The colony is somewhere above a thousand workers.
I nearly sold the colony, and to make transit easier I shrunk the repletes by limiting their sugar for a few weeks. I finally fed them some more last week, and by mid October I plan to have the replete count up and running again. I know in the more temperate areas of southern Utah this species does not consume many external sugars during the cold months, so I might try something similar. See videos below:
They continue to grow at a steady pace. I've been feeding them about 5 crickets a week, any more and they might outgrow the nest. I haven't been giving the colony a huge supply of nectar, but they do get a refill to their THA liquid feeder every week as well. Repletes and various sizes of workers continue to eclose every day. Next update will hopefully include a full 360 degree video.
Care Tip: When this species grows into the full capacity of their formicarium, I've noticed a slowing of growth. An upgraded formicarium may encourage faster growth. As a general rule, whenever repletes cover the ceiling, and pupae cover the floor, it's time for a new formicarium. A couple years ago before this colony here, I had a colony that never outgrew their THA mini hearth. However I believe they were constrained by the nest itself. Had they been given more space the colony could have expanded by creating new repletes. Just be sure to have a nest upgrade on hand, especially for smaller, growing colonies.
December 2023 - Winter
The colony has slowed, although they are still growing in numbers. They continue to get a new supply of nectar every few weeks, which the workers are quick to store in the resident repletes. I'll upload a full video of the colony eventually.
The colony remained heated throughout winter, but their growth rate definitely slowed. I was keeping the population steady around 1k by feeding about 5 crickets a week. Queen remains healthy and can often be seen around the upper tiers of the nest. Interestingly she has stopped hanging upside down but over the last few months has preferred to be upright on the levels. I was sure to include a few more care tips and videos below.
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Care tip: I believe I've mentioned this but I want to reiterate: the repletes need a rough surface to hang from. Glass and smooth plastic is not optimal for repletes. I would always recommend these colonies be housed in a composite nest. If you have a plastic setup for them, coat the interior to provide grip for the repletes to hang from.
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Care tip: ensure the setup has airflow. When a colony reaches a suitable size, they will consume a considerable amount of air. Luckily, this species is not known to gas themselves with formic acid but they do appreciate airflow. Living in the desert, the air in my house is dry which suites the species just fine. But they will need a water/humidity source to offset the dry air. As with any colony, the larger the humidity gradient the higher the chance the ants can find something they like. So be sure to aerate your setup so that a gradient can form. In my case I used two tubes running through the nest covered with mesh to allow for a convection air current to form from the heating pad below.
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Care tip: Diversity of sugars is important even if it doesn't seem like it. The repletes can hold sugars for months if not longer and the colony cycles and redistributes sugars from repletes, sometimes filling new repletes and retiring the old. This allows the colony to live off of scarce sugar sources for extended periods of time. However I still recommend a rotation of sugars, especially during spring and fall seasons. While this colony loves hummingbird nectar, they really appreciate a fresh nectarine among other sugar water sources, and a change in sugars can often be seen to lead to a boom in eggs.
February 2024 - The End (for now)
Updated the original post.
The colony is still alive and well, I just gave them to a young enthusiast in my area last month. I will be moving out of state sometime this year and I needed to relocate the colony. They were my last colony from this journal, and I'll miss them for sure but they will continue to live on. I'll update again when I get some pictures from their new location.
Overall the month was pretty standard as far as growth went. I heated the colony for most of the winter, and they continued to hover somewhere around 1k. However as I getting ready to move the colony, I happened to notice the queen whose abdomen looked a bit swollen, likely from a large batch of spring eggs. Given a few more years, assuming the colony remained stable, we might have seen alates. Once everything settles a bit I'd love to try again. The species was a joy to keep and this colony lived up to their reputation. This thread will be back eventually - in the mean time enjoy these last few pictures and videos. Thanks for reading.
Notice the severed replete abdomen at the bottom of the image. This is pretty commonplace among honeypots as way to preserve a replete's crop.
Yeah, I really like that tower one, you can see all through their nest and them hanging out in the open, that's what I'd really like, a nice showcase piece like that instead of peering into a dark nest with a flashlight. Do you keep it in a really dark place? I would think that they would freak out with a full glass wall like that? Not sure how you: Maintain the temperature gradient, the humidity (saw one at the very bottom), have them be okay hanging out in the open with glass wall, etc. I'll look through it again later in the evening.
Lovely stuff
You definitely got me thinking like "I want something like that!!" lol
Any comments about each point in the timeline? Would be neat to hear the story behind the progression and what you learned and how you dealt with problems, stuff like that.
1 year for all those workers?
Edited by BleepingBleepers, July 12 2023 - 2:08 PM.
JOURNAL: Camponotus CA02 - First Time At Ant Keeping CLICK HERE
JOURNAL: Ectomomyrmex cf. astutus - Ant Species #2 CLICK HERE
Yeah, I really like that tower one, you can see all through their nest and them hanging out in the open, that's what I'd really like, a nice showcase piece like that instead of peering into a dark nest with a flashlight. Do you keep it in a really dark place? I would think that they would freak out with a full glass wall like that?
Lovely stuff
You definitely got me thinking like "I want something like that!!" lol
Any comments about each point in the timeline? Would be neat to hear the story behind the progression and what you learned and how you dealt with problems, stuff like that.
I do cover it with a towel, but this colony seems to adjust to light relatively well, so it may not be necessary. I may go back through with some more detailed notes and periodic population count in the near future, just wanted to get the pictures down first.
Beautiful! Looks like a thriving colony. I can imagine them on a Christmas tree design for the holidays
If people were more accepting of live ant ornaments I'd give it a go
1. How do you maintain a heat gradient as I would think all the heat rises to the top.
2. I see one water tower only, maybe that's just enough then. Just use to folks having a few in a bigger enclosure like that. (I'm still new to ants so figuring it out)
3. How do you feed them?
4. How the heck did you open the glass top and they don't all go rushing out all over the place is beyond me hahaha
Again, awesome neat stuff, will look through it again later this evening. Thanks for the share!
JOURNAL: Camponotus CA02 - First Time At Ant Keeping CLICK HERE
JOURNAL: Ectomomyrmex cf. astutus - Ant Species #2 CLICK HERE
1. How do you maintain a heat gradient as I would think all the heat rises to the top.
2. I see one water tower only, maybe that's just enough then. Just use to folks having a few in a bigger enclosure like that. (I'm still new to ants so figuring it out)
3. How do you feed them?
4. How the heck did you open the glass top and they don't all go rushing out all over the place is beyond me hahaha
Again, awesome neat stuff, will look through it again later this evening. Thanks for the share!
To answer your questions
1. I use a heating mat underneath to heat half of the base. On top of that, there is indeed some amount of gradient that happens vertically.
2. The top of the dome has condensation, and one water tower is all a large colony needs given they have a source of drinking water. The adobe coating used has excellent water absorption which also helps.
3. Not pictured is an outworld. It is attached through a tubing port in the base - see below. I'll get some complete setup pics eventually.
4. When I moved them I placed the repletes in the nest without the dome, then I closed the dome and dumped the rest of workers and brood in the outworld.
Happy to help!
Edit - Thanks again to @ben for making the base, much appreciated!
This colony is nearing a thousand workers and it's a joy to watch them grow. I've included some videos below along with pictures.
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Care tip: When using sealed formicariums, like this dome, be wary of overwatering. A little condensation will not hurt the ants themselves, but it can obscure the glass.
Edited by UtahAnts, September 26 2023 - 12:50 PM.
dspdrew, Somethinghmm, bmb1bee and 4 others like this
#17
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Gyoza
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Posted September 3 2023 - 5:38 AM
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Very lovely and helpful post! My mexicanus colony is *struggling* (they're picky as heck) and I'm going to give those bloodworms a try... you mentioned "soup" - assuming you're rehydrating the food?
#18
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nurbs
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Posted September 3 2023 - 11:42 AM
nurbs
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This is really excellent work, UtahAnts. Thanks for sharing.
They're not just empty photogenic formicariums, they show a large thriving colony inside. I see majors, which is usually a hallmark of a skilled potkeeper
You're one of the few I've seen with this size mexicanus. There's so much talk on here but very little show. You're showing. Keep it up.
Try a different pot species. Mexicanus (along with placodops and navajos, from my experience) are much easier than other Myrmecocystus, relatively speaking that is. But the genus itself is still harder than the likes of Camponotus. Given proper care and a bit of luck, Mexicanus and Placodops grow quite fast.
I've found many of the smaller pots (like Yuma or Wheeleri) don't thrive as fast as mexicanus after the first 6 months. They don't die off, but growth flatlines. This is just my experience from consistently rearing them year after year after year. I haven't been able to figure out why. It's not consistent. I try to keep at least three personal colonies of each species of pots. The more samples you have, the better in understanding their biology and behavior. Would love to see what you come up with. An exception to this seems to be the all black Mimicus with the dark reddish heads. These appear to grow fast.
One last bit of advice - colonies can collapse as fast as they grow. So try and keep heating, humidity, diet, etc consistent. The heating requirements for Mexicanus, for example, are different than other pot species. Subtle changes can actually make a huge difference. If you're trying out a new nest, new heating element, or new food, test it out on a few workers away from the colony first. This is, again, from my own experience. Success only comes from making mistakes and learning from them, and I've made plenty.
Edited by nurbs, September 3 2023 - 11:49 AM.
ANTdrew, cocdeshijie, UtahAnts and 1 other like this
Thanks for encouragement and tips nurbs, I may consider another species eventually.
Very lovely and helpful post! My mexicanus colony is *struggling* (they're picky as heck) and I'm going to give those bloodworms a try... you mentioned "soup" - assuming you're rehydrating the food?
Thank you for the post and the tips
I've kept a few mexicanus colonies which were all picky at a young age. I always had luck with precut mealworms fed with oats. The soup is indeed just rehydrated bloodworms, take a look at nurbs' guide in his signature.
I've been a bit busy lately so I haven't been feeding this colony as much as I should have, but hope to encourage one last growth spurt before they hit their slow phase during the winter. I've been feeding them primarily crickets for the last few weeks. The colony is somewhere above a thousand workers.
I nearly sold the colony, and to make transit easier I shrunk the repletes by limiting their sugar for a few weeks. I finally fed them some more last week, and by mid October I plan to have the replete count up and running again. The colony seems very resilient when it comes to sugar intake, but I'll try to keep it a bit more consistent. I know in the more temperate areas of southern Utah this species does not consume many external sugars during the cold months. See videos below:
