8 replies to this topic

[AntsMaryland]

Hi, I need advice on caring generally for Pheidole ants. Are they picky eaters? Will they generally eat mealworms and crickets? Are they a fan of honey? How long until you start seeing majors and super-majors? Any help with these questions or any extra info would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

[Salmon]

I've never kept a colony, but they're supposed to be fast growing and easy to care for, similar to Tetramorium.

Many species, in addition to insects, appreciate lots of seeds in their diet. (In the wild this means grass seed, but they love walnuts and sunflower seeds and such.) I imagine this means they don't need quite as much sugar, since they get a lot of carbohydrates from seeds. Not all Pheidole are seed harvesters though.

[AntsMaryland]

Thanks

[Alex_Ants]

From what I understand, Pheidole Spp. native to maryland don't produce super majors naturally, only majors. Although, I did read somewhere that a lab colony of Pheidole Morrsi (which is native to maryland, and don't produce super majors naturally) did produce super majors when induced with a specific hormone(don't quote me on this, try googling it).

Edited by Alex_Ants, July 22 2017 - 5:35 PM.

[cpman]

Only a handful of Pheidole produce supermajors. Most are just dimorphic.

Generally speaking, if the majors of the species have big, bulky heads, they'll eat a lot of seeds. Those species whose majors have less bulky heads tend not to eat as many seeds -- instead they specialize in disassembling insects and larger food bits.

They're pretty easy, as they are generalists. Give them lots of bugs and sugar (or seeds in the seed eating species), and they'll do well. They can produce majors pretty young -- once, I had a major nanitic.

Colony size and behavior varies a lot by species. Some produce big colonies of pretty aggressive ants that dominate food resources in a big area. Others produce much smaller colonies of pretty timid ants that seem to only go after food right by their nest. Some have lots of majors, others only a few. I've seen some tending aphids and scale, and others I've never seen eating anything sugary.

[AntsMaryland]

Thanks

[Goldsystem]

I have a wild caught colony of pheidole, they are really picky but I have found some things they like. They like humming bird nectar and love sunburst ant nectar, the will eat mealworms but they tend to only eat a litte. They ignored crickets but love cockroaches (tiny ones) probably because they are easy for them to break apart. They have accepted chia seeds before but aside from that I haven't found seeds they readily accept. If the pheidole are 1mm at the smallest then you need to make sure your nest is escape proof, hope that helps! Good luck

[Leo]

from my experience they like sunflower seeds every once in a while, little bits of honey and they like most insects

[AntsMaryland]

Thanks