22 replies to this topic

[Mdrogun]

So far they are doing great. The queen has laid about 20-30 eggs. This is pretty good since I got her on 10/25/2015. I would estimate this colony has 40 or 50 workers somewhere around there. The brood that got sent to me was mostly destroyed. They chopped about 95% of it up and put it in a garbage pile.

 

I made this video on the 11/4/2015

update: I just dumped the colony out into the outworld of the haven. I hope that they will soon move into the haven. I noticed a much larger amount of eggs too about 50.

 

They finally moved in!

Edited by Mdrogun, March 25 2016 - 6:38 AM.

[Mdrogun]

The colony has stockpiled tons of food in the nest. They have seeds,cricket parts and blue 100. It appears the bottom part of the nest is probably about 90-95 maybe even 100 and is pretty moist. They keep the queen and all the brood down there. The only problem is I can't see much due to condensation. I will update this journal in one month from the time of this post.

Edited by Mdrogun, November 6 2015 - 2:01 PM.

[Mdrogun]

Sorry I am a bit late on the update. Not much has happend. There is no growth only enough new workers being born to replace the dying ones. I think it was my fault. I was trying to feed them everything but crickets. I fed them cat food,blue 100,sunburst and red meat. They just don't seem to be a fan of those. Anyway, I went out last night and bought 50 crickets. I have already fed them 7. They have been munching on crickets for about 14 hours straight know. It is really hard to see how the brood is coming along unless it is large. Especially because their eggs blend in with the sand. I did see a worker carrying a massive clutch of eggs. I'm guessing there was between 100 and 120 eggs. I will see if I can upload pictures or a video later. 

[Mdrogun]

After the massive amount of protein I have given them it looks like they have tons and tons of first instar larvae.

 

Here is a video:

 

Edited by Mdrogun, December 16 2015 - 8:13 PM.

[Mdrogun]

I am the biggest idiot in the world. I have finally realized why the colony was acting like they wanted to hibernate. I was not giving them water. To be honest I have no idea how they survived. It also explains why they were not eating seeds. I found out they actually love seeds. It looks like the colony actually completely stopped producing too. This is not good. They are eating protein again and I think I see a clutch of eggs.

 

Edited by Mdrogun, January 15 2016 - 3:59 PM.

[drtrmiller]

Ants act strangely when they don't have access to water.

 

When ants are dehydrated, brood production and foraging will stall, and ants will clump together in the nest with little activity.

[dspdrew]

My Veromessor pergandei leave the nest and start streaming up the walls of the out world by the hundreds, obviously trying to find water.

[Mdrogun]

My Veromessor pergandei leave the nest and start streaming up the walls of the out world by the hundreds, obviously trying to find water.

My colony seemed to just sit in the nest.

[Mdrogun]

Great news! The queen has layed eggs.

[drtrmiller]

Why did you move them out of the other formicarium?  Or is this a different colony?

[Mdrogun]

Why did you move them out of the other formicarium?  Or is this a different colony?

I wanted to try this one out. So far I like it a lot more. The other one was cheaper though and can probably hold at least twice the amount of ants.

[dspdrew]

Great news! The queen has layed eggs.

 

Pogonomyrmex always seem to do that around this time of year. I'm starting to see new piles of eggs in some of mine now too.

[Mdrogun]

This colony is doing really well. I thought for a while they were going to die off as i didn't see any eggs or brood at all. Today I opened the formicarium to see two clutches of 20-30 eggs and some larvae.

Edited by Mdrogun, February 20 2016 - 10:09 PM.

[Mdrogun]

I know I just updated this post but, it appears the queen laid a ton of eggs and I thought that was worthy of an update.

[drtrmiller]

Make sure you keep at least one of their reservoirs filled with water, and maybe snake a heat cable on top for them to choose the best temperature, and they should be very hungry to feed the developing brood within a few weeks.

[Ants4fun]

maybe snake a heat cable on top for them to choose the best temperature

There is a heat cable, as shown in the video.

[drtrmiller]

Excellent!

[Ants4fun]

And nice video by the way! Pogonomyrmex are my favorite sp.

Edited by Ants4fun, February 22 2016 - 8:32 PM.

[Mdrogun]

Make sure you keep at least one of their reservoirs filled with water, and maybe snake a heat cable on top for them to choose the best temperature, and they should be very hungry to feed the developing brood within a few weeks.

I keep a heat gradient from almost 100 to 75 and a moisture gradient from almost dry to wet. I also keep crickets, water and seeds in the outworld at all times. They are loving the nest and are growing really fast.

[Mdrogun]

The colony is doing really good. I am really confused on the number of brood because I'm not sure if they are eating it or are really good at hiding it. I am also planning on giving them a much larger outworld which will be nice. Anyways, it appears there is brood growing, hopefully I will get pupae soon.

Edited by Mdrogun, March 1 2016 - 7:15 PM.