7 replies to this topic

[MyrmecologyMaven]

I left the ant keeping hobby back in 2023. Now that I have more time for ants, I thought I should get a new colony. I ordered this Pogonomyrmex rugosus colony from Stateside Ants a little less than 2 weeks ago. The bad weather conditions delayed the ants shipping but when they arrived today they were very active and healthy.

 

 

 

I got way more workers than I expected. I ordered a 7-15 worker colony and received a 30+ worker colony. I dumped them out of their tube into a Tarheelants mini hearth with a feeding dish with some of my seed mixture, a sugar water feeder, a nest mate full of water, and a heating cable on one side. I also gave them some white quartz sand. 

 

 

 

The queen made her way into the nest in under 20 minutes. She's hiding in the dark corner so she's incredibly hard to see. I'll show some better photos with some lighting next update once the colony is settled.

 

[Ernteameise]

Nice and healthy looking colony. Good luck!

[MyrmecologyMaven]

I thought the photos I took yesterday really sucked, so I took some better ones. I used good lighting and a clip on macro lens. Sorry for the photos being on their side. Next time, I'll take the photos landscape orientation so they aren't on their side.

 

 

 

 

I also took a video. At around 0:27 you can see a good shot of her cleaning her gaster.

 

https://youtu.be/pG_...kpWcifxyss1rIC4

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

In most image edit apps, like basic MS paint or whatever. There is a rotation/orientation control to set the "right side up" to whatever you want. Rotate the image till it is the way you want and save, it will now always display that way by default. Still, they are nice images and a nice video too.

[MyrmecologyMaven]

I've fed them a mealworm every other day. They take them down to the nest, eat some of it, let it dry out in the warm corner, and then stash it with the seeds. Very weird. Maybe they can eat dry bugs? I also noticed one worker carrying another worker around. It has been carrying it around even though it's alive for over an hour. The worker it's carrying has even picked up seeds and interacted with other workers while being held. Really weird.

 

Edited by MyrmecologyMaven, February 1 2025 - 6:00 PM.

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

I would not give them more "proteins" (insects) than they use up quickly. Seeds can store long term but the bug bits will turn to rot in shorter order.
I provide my pogonomyrmex occidentalis with some protein only about once a week, sometimes twice as two smaller portions spread out.

Just keeping an eye on things and not giving them more till the last is all to mostly gone.
 

Refuse in the nest can bring on mold or mites that can be harmful to the colony. So give them only what insects they can consume fully in a few days to week, to help prevent rot from building up.

more or less the speed at which they eat food is relative to the brood pile size. As that grows you may start to feed them more often. Just be mindful of how much they still have and don't give them so much it starts to go to rot.

They don't need to keep a lot of food on hand as long as you are checking on them regularly. But i do allow mine to keep a small larder of seeds going as they would do in the wild.

I give mine seeds in small amounts 1-3 times a week and protein 1-2 times a week, but never more if they are not close to done with the last they got.
And I stop giving them seeds for a while if their larder grows too big.

 

[MyrmecologyMaven]

I would not give them more "proteins" (insects) than they use up quickly. Seeds can store long term but the bug bits will turn to rot in shorter order.
I provide my pogonomyrmex occidentalis with some protein only about once a week, sometimes twice as two smaller portions spread out.

Just keeping an eye on things and not giving them more till the last is all to mostly gone.
 

Refuse in the nest can bring on mold or mites that can be harmful to the colony. So give them only what insects they can consume fully in a few days to week, to help prevent rot from building up.

more or less the speed at which they eat food is relative to the brood pile size. As that grows you may start to feed them more often. Just be mindful of how much they still have and don't give them so much it starts to go to rot.

They don't need to keep a lot of food on hand as long as you are checking on them regularly. But i do allow mine to keep a small larder of seeds going as they would do in the wild.

I give mine seeds in small amounts 1-3 times a week and protein 1-2 times a week, but never more if they are not close to done with the last they got.
And I stop giving them seeds for a while if their larder grows too big.

 

Thank you for the advice! Their larder is very big right now so I will take away the seeds and give them smaller portions! They have a decent number of larvae and a couple big clumps of eggs. I'll limit protein until more larvae appear.

[MyrmecologyMaven]

When I was adding water to the Tar Heel ants nest mate a few minutes ago a few workers escaped. I thought I caught them all in my pooter but after a minute or so I felt a sharp pain. I then noticed one worker latched onto my sleeve. It managed to crawl up my arm and sting me in the left forearm then latched onto my sleeve. I couldn’t get it off so I had to kill it. I feel a little bad about it. I have a small bump and a sharp stinging pain. This is about 10 minutes after the sting. I will update in the morning. Kinda glad I get to experience the sting already. Stings are very interesting.