47 replies to this topic

[sgheaton]

Which....Now stay with me on this...might be WHAT I AM after. 

[XZero38]

Those don't look like they have any thought for hydration or feeding besides through the top might as well be uncle Milton's.

He said he was looking for something like an uncle milton. I'm sure with a little bit of modifying you can add a hydration system to it.

[XZero38]

So i changed up the test tubes with my Pogonomyrmex queens.

I put them in glass test tubes and wrapped the tubes in tin foil so i can leave their little setups out of the closet.

They seem to be enjoying them well enough. Ill randomly see a queen or two just roaming around. (top left and bottom middle are out roaming around)

They all seem to like sunflower seeds which is what the crushed up piles are in their outworlds.

I did end up finding 2 more queens yesterday bringing my P. Occ. queens up to 8. The other two are just in test tubes sitting in the closet, I need to go buy a couple more boxes for them.

Edited by XZero38, July 12 2016 - 6:20 AM.

[XZero38]

So out of the 8 queens from the last post only one of them isn't laying any eggs but they are all doing well. A few of them have actually collected all the seeds from their outworld and are using the ones they don't like as substrate to block the straw entrance into the tubes.

So last night there was a bit of rain here in denver and after i got to work there were Pogonomyrmex queens everywhere! This was roughly 9-10 am I ended up collecting 6 more queens! i would have caught more but i ran out of snap cap vials and test tubes at least what i had in my car as just in case containers. i have a test tube setup with 2 queens in it and they are getting along for now. Ill update on them in the future cause I'm curious how they will do as a pair, so its for science!

Its really interesting to watch them cause one of them is really submissive to the other. Like she will lay on her side and the other will clean her, its really crazy to watch. Ill have to try and get some pictures of that behavior.

Edited by XZero38, July 20 2016 - 12:48 PM.

[Mdrogun]

You should buy some red cellophane and put it in place of the Aluminum foil this way you can see what the queens are doing without disturbing them.

[XZero38]

You should buy some red cellophane and put it in place of the Aluminum foil this way you can see what the queens are doing without disturbing them.

I've thought about going out to find some, ill have to check the hobby lobby down the street from my house see if they sell it.

[XZero38]

So quick update on what's going on with my Pogonomyrmex.

I have 18 Pogonomyrmex queens as of now.

All of them are in test tube setups.

6 have their test tubes in small plastic containers to give a small outworld the rest are in a basic test tube setup.

3 setups have 2 queens in them which they havent killed each other yet.

At this point it looks like all the queens have laid eggs. Not sure of the status of the ones in the containers but last i saw they had their brood in the tubes, not sure what stage they are in though.

[sgheaton]

Being as you have your "pairs" in easier to monitor containers ... Are you been able to report on the solo queen vs those in pairs? 

[XZero38]

So out of the 3 pairs that i have only one pair remains

the other two killed their tube mate but they were getting along just fine.

The remaining pair don't seem to mind each other that much but we will see how long till one kills the other.

[XZero38]

So after getting home from work i checked on my garage Pogonomyrmex queens and one of them has her first worker!

Soon it will be time to consolidate the brood to her.

I didn't think the workers would be quite this small but I'm still happy that one of my Pogonomyrmex queens finally is getting workers.

[Air]

What type of box are the test tubes in?

[XZero38]

they are from the container store.

 

http://www.container...ductId=10032168

 

these ones, they have various sizes of these.

[XZero38]

So I no longer have 19 Pogonomyrmex queens, I ended up consolidating all the brood to one queen and got rid of the other 18 queens.

This colony has been doing very well and they can be pretty picky when it comes to food choices.

So far they seem to take to sunflower seeds and hemp hearts as well as crickets and fruit flies.

I was in the process of trying to get them to move tubes cause some how they managed to stick a larva inside their original tube where they couldn't reach it anymore and it ended up dying and molding over so i figured i should try and get them to move which they were less then excited about.

[sgheaton]

Alright buddy...go find me another Pogonomyrmex queen for next year. I'll trade for her if you don't scare me off with your my little pony collection. 

[XZero38]

This colony is currently in hibernation and i will post pictures when i bring them out of it.

 

This colony has done pretty well and have been growing at a slower rate then my other colonies but seem to be healthy.

[XZero38]

Unfortunately i have bad news with this colony. i brought them out of hibernation earlier this week and one of the test tubes had flooded killing roughly a third of the workers and i don't think the queen made it through the winter. The surviving workers are moving around, but the queen even after multiple days in warmer temps hasnt moved at all. The workers keep moving her around but to no avail. I will continue to care for what workers are left until they reach the end of their lifespan. So for now this journal will be put on hiatus until i am able to gather new queens. This will also give me time to plan and build a proper formicarium for this species. 

[Canadian anter]

This is why you keep several colonies

[XZero38]

This is why you keep several colonies

I do have several colonies, just all of different species.

[sgheaton]

Your Pogonomyrmex never got a "real" formicarium, did they? They were always in the tube+boxbox set up, right?

[XZero38]

yeah they were in that since there wasnt enough of them to see the need to move them into a larger setup