6-17-2017
 
I obtained five of these Veromessor andrei queens in a trade. They were found May 29th 2017 in Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, located in Agua Dulce, California.
 
I moved all five of them into five of my new "dirt box" formicariums.
 

 
 
I used an applicator bottle and water to carve out a little chamber at the bottoms since they all had a small pile of eggs already that I didn't want them to lose while digging their nests. They all ended up digging tunnels from their chambers to the surface, which isn't surprising given the fact that they are semi-claustral. This will definitely make feeding them easier.
 

 

 

 
 
A couple of them have noticeable larvae now.
 

That white sandbox is lookin great. Is this the new design?

Yes, those are the new ones.

Love it already.

Update 7-9-2017

 

Two of these queens died, but the others are doing great. The remaining queens got their first workers last week. Two of them have about 10 workers now, and the last one I'm not really sure; It's very hard to see them.

Update 10-5-2017

 

These colonies are doing really well. Two of them are up to about 80 workers now, with the third one at about 40.

Update 10-5-2017

 

These colonies are doing really well. Two of them are up to about 80 workers now, with the third one at about 40.

 

Same! Mine doing incredible as well. Do you have both red and black versions?

 

I'm keeping a few of the reds for myself and selling the rest.

 

Update 10-5-2017

 

These colonies are doing really well. Two of them are up to about 80 workers now, with the third one at about 40.

 

Same! Mine doing incredible as well. Do you have both red and black versions?

 

I'm keeping a few of the reds for myself and selling the rest.

 

 

Just dark maroon.

Man the queens look a lot like pogonomyrmex...I thought it was P. Californicus!

Also, are you selling any of your formicariums, drew?

Man the queens look a lot like pogonomyrmex...I thought it was P. Californicus!

 

They look very similar to Pogonomyrmex. The easy way to tell the difference is the double-humped thorax.  Pogonomyrmex have only one hump.

 

 

Also, are you selling any of your formicariums, drew?

 

Yes. I sell my Dirt Boxes, my starter formicariums, and fungus-grower formicariums.

Also, are you selling any of your formicariums, drew?

 

 

Update 10-5-2017

 

These colonies are doing really well. Two of them are up to about 80 workers now, with the third one at about 40.

 

Same! Mine doing incredible as well. Do you have both red and black versions?

 

I'm keeping a few of the reds for myself and selling the rest.

 

 

Just dark maroon.

 

 

Yeah, have a dark maroon but also a red "bicolor" version.

 

 

Update 10-29-2017
 
All three colonies are still doing great. The two largest are up to about 120 and 190 workers now. These things just dig non-stop. They have pretty much destroyed the small Dirt Boxes they were in. They dug out all the dirt and started tunneling in that dirt. I finally had to move the largest into a large Dirt Box. The second largest I will be moving into one of my small starter formicariums.
 
Here is the largest colony after I dumped them all into the new large Dirt Box.
 

 

 

 
 
A day later they had their whole nest dug.
 
This is what it looks like now after about a week. They've pretty much dug up about as much dirt as they can.
 

Are these polymorphic like veromessor pergandei? I read somewhere that the whole genus of veromessor was, but couldn't find much info on this particular species.

Edited by YsTheAnt, November 1 2017 - 8:38 PM.

Are these polymorphic like veromessor pergandei? I read somewhere that the whole genus of veromessor was, but couldn't find much info on this particular species.

 

 

They don't appear to be, no. But unlike V. pergandei whose workers start out relatively small, V. andrei workers come out large right from the start. They do well in captivity!

 

I don't think they are known to be polymorphic.

Yeah, they are the same size. Used to see colonies of these down in San Diego, and all the workers were pretty much exactly the same.

Thanks! These look fun to keep.

They are. This is our first year keeping these for SoCal. They are common up north. I stumbled on their flight this summer near Vazquez Rocks, and grabbed a few. Their coloration is also distinctively different from the ones up north, which are all black.

 

Unlike some Pogonomyrmex, these are super easy to rear. Of the 16 queens collected, only one or two died. All of them now have at least 30 workers now, and some are nearing 100.