8 replies to this topic

[kenonical]

DAY -XX to DAY -8

i caught this p. californicus queen in June. i put some seeds in her syringe, and left it there for a long while. no pics available for that btw. and still, nothing. i knew she was eating the seeds, because she was still alive. so i assumed that p. californicus needed a lot more space. so i taped another syringe to the old syringe and kept the set up for a few months. until i found eggs. and mold.

so i decided to rip off the extension syringe, and attempt to move her into a test tube with substrate. but i noticed a weird odor from the substrate. and considering that the queen wasn’t interested in the substrate setup. so i put her into a different tube with no substrate, and this time i would force her to move. so i dumped her and all her eggs into the new tube and waited. until i accidentally shook her tube. the next time i checked on her, all the eggs were gone. and i haven’t checked on her since. the next time i check on her will be eight days from now.

but i also heard that p. californicus is tough at the founding stage, so ima find out how hard it is.

[kiedeerk]

Pogonomyrmex don’t need substrate for their larva to pupate. The substrate is mainly used to help them grip because they don’t walk on smooth surface very well. They need heat and some seeds like dandelion and a quiet place. If you caught the queen in June and it’s now October the likely chance this queen will found is very small. She is either infertile or just bad genes or the conditions you have provided are not ideal.

[kenonical]

Pogonomyrmex don’t need substrate for their larva to pupate. The substrate is mainly used to help them grip because they don’t walk on smooth surface very well. They need heat and some seeds like dandelion and a quiet place. If you caught the queen in June and it’s now October the likely chance this queen will found is very small. She is either infertile or just bad genes or the conditions you have provided are not ideal.

ye i heard about the grip thing lol. but i think the reason she hasn’t founded yet is because i checked on her too often, and i didn't have heat or an appropriate set up. not my first time having a Pogonomyrmex queen tho i honestly should know better lol.

[kiedeerk]

Pogonomyrmex don’t need substrate for their larva to pupate. The substrate is mainly used to help them grip because they don’t walk on smooth surface very well. They need heat and some seeds like dandelion and a quiet place. If you caught the queen in June and it’s now October the likely chance this queen will found is very small. She is either infertile or just bad genes or the conditions you have provided are not ideal.

ye i heard about the grip thing lol. but i think the reason she hasn’t founded yet is because i checked on her too often, and i didn't have heat or an appropriate set up. not my first time having a Pogonomyrmex queen tho i honestly should know better lol.

I know people always mention of checking your queen and causing stress etc… but unless you are checking her every few minutes every day which is impossible it is in my opinion a bit of a myth. I check my queens quite often but I have great success in founding a huge variety of species without issue. So likely that isn’t the reason but maybe heat, humidity and likely infertility

[bmb1bee]

The problem is likely with heating. Pogonomyrmex require temperatures of around 85 degrees or so to found properly. If you happen to be keeping them at room temperature, that could very likely be the reason she’s failing. And about the syringe you mentioned, is that supposed to be something like a makeshift test tube that has water and is properly plugged with cotton?

[kenonical]

The problem is likely with heating. Pogonomyrmex require temperatures of around 85 degrees or so to found properly. If you happen to be keeping them at room temperature, that could very likely be the reason she’s failing. And about the syringe you mentioned, is that supposed to be something like a makeshift test tube that has water and is properly plugged with cotton?

about the syringe, yea its like a normal syringe and the water seems to be in place

[kenonical]

so she died a week ago, she had no eggs, and looked like it had accepted its fate. next year, i won't make the same mistake. I’ll probably try multiple queen colonies, get a heat cable instead of a tube, try Kentucky Blue Grass as a diet for the queens, maybe give them an outworld at the start, and maybe it all might work out.

[Dan4562]

I caught and one of these in June. I put her in a small "bamboo" test tube with grout substrate and a small outworld attached. I then put a heating cable under the end near the outworld. This tube has a port on top to add water into a chamber with sand in it. I added water every day. I gave her dandelion seeds and crushed sunflower seeds which I placed in the outworld. She laid eggs right away. The brood developed shockingly fast and within a month I had 6 workers and a growing brood pile. I did give a few freshly killed crickets and a piece of dog kibble (which the queen would come out to nibble on). Soon I had 25+ workers and added a small flat nest which also had a grout substrate. By the 3rd month (September) I had about 60 workers and I started to panic because the brood pile was prolific. I bought a large flat nest similar to the "Fallen Fortress" and connected it. I moved the heating cables there and filled the 3 water towers. They soon moved in.

 

Things looked good until after 2 weeks I noticed the workers carrying other workers around and trying to put them in the trash pile. Then they started putting pupae in the trash pile. Then a few dead workers. I noticed very few callow workers eclosing. I thought they might need water so I introduced one of those water feeders and placed it in the outworld. As far as I can tell Pogonomyrmex Californicus do not like open water sources. They just ignored it. Then I could not find the queen, but I saw a huge mass of workers in a "ball". I got a sick feeling and managed to get the ball of workers to the outworld where I discovered the dead queen.

 

I felt ill. I was so tickled at what I achieved, and now it was all over.

 

What I learned:

 

My first reaction was to just feed the colony to my horned lizards. I thought they killed the queen. But I figured maybe I can learn something by trying to keep the colony alive for a while. There was still a ton of brood. I saw no evidence of mold or mites. I was concerned about the hydration in there. The water towers were all at 60% full. I decided to try filling the towers to the point water started to come out of the screen (not flooded). The ants seemed to rush to it. They took the brood off while it was wet for a few minutes, but put it back after. So I continued this way and after a few days I saw new callow workers appearing again. No more brood in the trash. The bodies stopped increasing, and I did not see any more worker carrying sick workers out of the nest.

 

Bottom Line:

 

HYDRATION. The smaller tighter nests keep humidity inside much better. The larger nests lose it very quickly, so you must compensate daily. If Pogonomyrmex Californicus do not have high humidity at all times they will get sick and die very quickly. If this species does not normally drink water directly then they depend on the humidity for their water needs.

 

That is my Newbie observation. I am going to try again.

[kenonical]

I caught and one of these in June. I put her in a small "bamboo" test tube with grout substrate and a small outworld attached. I then put a heating cable under the end near the outworld. This tube has a port on top to add water into a chamber with sand in it. I added water every day. I gave her dandelion seeds and crushed sunflower seeds which I placed in the outworld. She laid eggs right away. The brood developed shockingly fast and within a month I had 6 workers and a growing brood pile. I did give a few freshly killed crickets and a piece of dog kibble (which the queen would come out to nibble on). Soon I had 25+ workers and added a small flat nest which also had a grout substrate. By the 3rd month (September) I had about 60 workers and I started to panic because the brood pile was prolific. I bought a large flat nest similar to the "Fallen Fortress" and connected it. I moved the heating cables there and filled the 3 water towers. They soon moved in.

 

Things looked good until after 2 weeks I noticed the workers carrying other workers around and trying to put them in the trash pile. Then they started putting pupae in the trash pile. Then a few dead workers. I noticed very few callow workers eclosing. I thought they might need water so I introduced one of those water feeders and placed it in the outworld. As far as I can tell Pogonomyrmex Californicus do not like open water sources. They just ignored it. Then I could not find the queen, but I saw a huge mass of workers in a "ball". I got a sick feeling and managed to get the ball of workers to the outworld where I discovered the dead queen.

 

I felt ill. I was so tickled at what I achieved, and now it was all over.

 

What I learned:

 

My first reaction was to just feed the colony to my horned lizards. I thought they killed the queen. But I figured maybe I can learn something by trying to keep the colony alive for a while. There was still a ton of brood. I saw no evidence of mold or mites. I was concerned about the hydration in there. The water towers were all at 60% full. I decided to try filling the towers to the point water started to come out of the screen (not flooded). The ants seemed to rush to it. They took the brood off while it was wet for a few minutes, but put it back after. So I continued this way and after a few days I saw new callow workers appearing again. No more brood in the trash. The bodies stopped increasing, and I did not see any more worker carrying sick workers out of the nest.

 

Bottom Line:

 

HYDRATION. The smaller tighter nests keep humidity inside much better. The larger nests lose it very quickly, so you must compensate daily. If Pogonomyrmex Californicus do not have high humidity at all times they will get sick and die very quickly. If this species does not normally drink water directly then they depend on the humidity for their water needs.

 

That is my Newbie observation. I am going to try again.

Thanks for the advice, i previously didn't think humidity had much impact on a harvester ant colony. I'll revive this journal next anting season.