19 replies to this topic

[Mikezee]

Hey, I'm Mish and this is my journal that will follow Pheidole Anastasii.

I've been ant-keeping for a couple of years now.

I like to keep/post about species I don't see a lot. Check out my other journals!

enjoy!

So I got 6 Pheidole Anastasii queens over the summer as I loved their colour and due to their small size, I can keep large colonies in small setups.
To help keep track of each colony, I have assigned letters to each one A-F. 

So here is COLONY A, she has around 10 workers and a pile of brood. moving slowly but steadily: 

 

 

COLONY B is also doing OK, no majors yet but a lot of eggs:

 

Colony C also has many eggs and even an adorable major:

 

 

Colony D is definitely the best, for now, with multiple majors and lot of brood:

Queens E and F are not doing so well, queen F had workers but lost them and is now back to just eggs, thought I have not seen queen D lay any eggs at all, though I'm sure they will recover with regular feedings and heat.

 

Queen E

 

 

Queen F

Edited by Mikezee, October 4 2023 - 4:41 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Where’re the ants?

[Mikezee]

Where’re the ants?

Will be posting soon just cannot figure out how to upload videos…

[antsriondel]

Yes! I have a Queen of these and she has been doing rough as of late. If you have any advice I would be so grateful.

[Mikezee]

Yes! I have a Queen of these and she has been doing rough as of late. If you have any advice I would be so grateful.

How many workers does she have? All I would say is try to keep their testube clean and feed them tiny meals often and try to heat them! Hope that helps

[antsriondel]

 

Yes! I have a Queen of these and she has been doing rough as of late. If you have any advice I would be so grateful.

How many workers does she have? All I would say is try to keep their testube clean and feed them tiny meals often and try to heat them! Hope that helps

 

She unfortunately lost all five of her workers and is back to ground zero. I was wondering what does their diet consist of? Do I need to feed her protein or will she only need sugars? Thanks.

[Mikezee]

Yes! I have a Queen of these and she has been doing rough as of late. If you have any advice I would be so grateful.

How many workers does she have? All I would say is try to keep their testube clean and feed them tiny meals often and try to heat them! Hope that helps

She unfortunately lost all five of her workers and is back to ground zero. I was wondering what does their diet consist of? Do I need to feed her protein or will she only need sugars? Thanks.

Ah sorry to hear. It consists of sugars, proteins, and apparently I’ve seen them eating seeds too (dandelion seeds). Yes definitly feed her proteins but give her a tiny bit of everything alternating every 3 days ish.

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

 

Where’re the ants?

Will be posting soon just cannot figure out how to upload videos…

 

got to post those to youtube and link to them.

pretty sure the site will recognize a youtube link pasted into a reply and autospank it to an embeed video for you.

but I belvei this site is not configured to provide videostreaming itself, it'll just host uploaded images for us.

Edited by Full_Frontal_Yeti, October 4 2023 - 12:29 PM.

[Mikezee]

 

 

Where’re the ants?

Will be posting soon just cannot figure out how to upload videos…

 

got to post those to youtube and link to them.

pretty sure the site will recognize a youtube link pasted into a reply and autospank it to an embeed video for you.

but I belvei this site is not configured to provide videostreaming itself, it'll just host uploaded images for us.

 

Yep so I actually tried this, but youtube made the videos low quality for some reason. I'm trying other video-link convertors currently!

[ANTdrew]

Just post photos.

[Mikezee]

Where’re the ants?

check now )

[antsriondel]

 

 

 

Yes! I have a Queen of these and she has been doing rough as of late. If you have any advice I would be so grateful.

How many workers does she have? All I would say is try to keep their testube clean and feed them tiny meals often and try to heat them! Hope that helps

She unfortunately lost all five of her workers and is back to ground zero. I was wondering what does their diet consist of? Do I need to feed her protein or will she only need sugars? Thanks.

Ah sorry to hear. It consists of sugars, proteins, and apparently I’ve seen them eating seeds too (dandelion seeds). Yes definitly feed her proteins but give her a tiny bit of everything alternating every 3 days ish.

 

Thanks! I hope to learn something from this journal and that all of your colonies will do well.

[Mikezee]

Hey everyone! I decided to feed the colonies some fruit flies to see how they reacted! It was so fascinating to watch how they surround their prey and strategically pull it apart, most of my other colonies don't even do this. videos are attached!

 

https://screenpal.co...tch/c0610bV5BH9

Edited by Mikezee, October 6 2023 - 3:30 PM.

[ThomasStan]

Wow, i’m excited to see how they all do!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[antsriondel]

Hey everyone! I decided to feed the colonies some fruit flies to see how they reacted! It was so fascinating to watch how they surround their prey and strategically pull it apart, most of my other colonies don't even do this. videos are attached!

 

https://screenpal.co...tch/c0610bV5BH9

Looks awesome!

[100lols]

Fruit flies and pinhead crickets are perfect for tiny Pheidole colonies. Too cool!

[ANTdrew]

Just be careful for grain mites in fruit fly cultures.

[Mikezee]

Just be careful for grain mites in fruit fly cultures.

How visible are they?

[ANTdrew]

Tiny white dots moving around. They can be seen with the naked eye.

[antsriondel]

Update? Have these been pulled out of hibernation yet?