7 replies to this topic

[JimmyBruin]

Hey y'all
I have a p. Pilifera colony I got roughly 10 weeks ago. I had them in the test tube and they were doing pretty well for about a month with about 15 nanitics and a pile of brood. After about a month there was tons of black furry mold all over the inside of the tube and I could barely see inside. What I could see though was the brood pile was gone and there were about 10 dead workers. All I had on hand was a TH bifurcated mini hearth and had to forcefully move them into that. Since then my queen has laid a pile of eggs twice but they never ever seem to hatch (is eclose the right term?). I have seen puapa but I think my queen might be eating them. There's always water, sunburst ant nectar, a wide variety of seeds and feeder insects available at all times. I have a heat lamp on the non-water tower side. The outside of the mini hearth is reading 84° where the heat lamp is hitting it. Ladies and gentlemen, I need some help here. I bought these ants because I thought they would be booming in population. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. Thank you so much for your help!

Edited by JimmyBruin, February 26 2025 - 10:25 AM.

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

84 sounds like it could be too hot maybe? That's a good temp for some ants like pogonomyrmex, but others ants won't do as well in that.
Also generally speaking the IR temp probe only sees the nest wall's external temp.
Odds are it is hotter inside the nest.

I use a thermostat with a temp probe i can place inside the nest(using a tube port) like this:

 

I use this one specifically:

https://www.digiten....om-fermentation

 

with two temp probes you can control outworld and nest temps separately, or later when expanding add a probe to a second nest for a large gradient of heat for them to choose from.

A bit of normal port tube fits over the temp probe to hold it in the port perfectly.

 

in this image the heat is applied mostly to the side where it is taped(away from the water towers), and barely makes any contact wiht the glass over the top, that's just to keep the glass warm enough to not get condensation. But is not the primary heat for the nest.

A heat lamp/incandescent bulb is going to more generally apply heat in a wider zone all over the nest, than a heat cable which can keep it concentrated in smaller areas, for a wider temperature gradient, even in a small nest like a hearth.

again i don't know your ants specifically, but the 85-89f zone is for sure temps for pogonomyrmex and could possibly be a bit too hot for your ants.
 

[JimmyBruin]

Thanks yeti! That's an awesome setup you got there. Where did you buy the tube ports?

[jaysocal]

I wouldn’t use a heat lamp. They dry out the air quite a bit (which might be part of the problem for the brood), and it’s probably not providing much of a heat gradient. Heat cables are much better. I personally think a thermostat is overkill though. Just heat part of the formicarium and let the ants choose what temperature they want. If they’re not using the heated portion for brood then it’s probably too hot. If they’re only using the heated portion it’s probably too cold.

[JimmyBruin]

Thanks Jay! I've been meaning to pick up a heating cable for some time now, I guess these gals are forcing my hand lol. I'll give your method a try first before investing in a thermostat.

[bmb1bee]

Hey y'all
I have a p. Pilifera colony I got roughly 10 weeks ago. I had them in the test tube and they were doing pretty well for about a month with about 15 nanitics and a pile of brood. After about a month there was tons of black furry mold all over the inside of the tube and I could barely see inside. What I could see though was the brood pile was gone and there were about 10 dead workers. All I had on hand was a TH bifurcated mini hearth and had to forcefully move them into that. Since then my queen has laid a pile of eggs twice but they never ever seem to hatch (is eclose the right term?). I have seen puapa but I think my queen might be eating them. There's always water, sunburst ant nectar, a wide variety of seeds and feeder insects available at all times. I have a heat lamp on the non-water tower side. The outside of the mini hearth is reading 84° where the heat lamp is hitting it. Ladies and gentlemen, I need some help here. I bought these ants because I thought they would be booming in population. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. Thank you so much for your help!

I think the best thing to do would be to move them into another test tube (since you moved them out of one, you could clean it out and use it) and put it in an incubator setup. Works pretty well, since the tube has consistent high temps and is a smaller space than a mini hearth, which is probably too big for them at this point. For an incubator, all you need is a styrofoam or cardboard box; just poke a hole in it and stick a heating cable through. Place the tube in a place where it won't touch the cable or roll around and you're all set. Remember to feed every couple days, pilifera-group Pheidole like bits of crushed seeds and small insects. A higher ratio of protein than sugars would be better, since they get their carbohydrates from seeds anyway. Just clean out the trash after a while, or else it molds again.

 

Sorry if this is a whole dump of info, but I thought it'd help. Good luck!

[JimmyBruin]

I appreciate the info dump, Bee, I'm always trying to learn more and more. I have no earthly idea how to get them back into a test tube lol. I had bought some crushed seeds with the ants, but they have only had a passing interest in them...to be fair I have tried breaking them up into smaller pieces. I put in some organic quinoa, hemp, and sesame seeds but they were not crushed. The gals took em down below and have just seemingly ignored them, I'm guessing because they weren't crushed? That's something I never even considered 🤦🤦🤦. I cut up the mealworms into small (to me) pieces. I figured they won't be able to drag them down, but still get into the meat of the worm.
I like the incubator idea, I'm going to look more into that

[bmb1bee]

Yeah, moving them back out of a mini hearth is probably going to be tough. If I were you I'd drain the water from the reservoir and attach a test tube to the side so that they can move into it. For the seeds, I think crushed bits of sunflower should do the trick, most of my seed-eating ants love those. As for protein, you should consider small, soft-bodied insects like fruit flies and termites. They should definitely take those.