150 replies to this topic

[rbarreto]

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

I'm glad these guys are still active, they are super easy to keep! The seeds don't go bad and are easy to clean up, they store so many that I rarely have to feed them, they're super active, and they suck at climbing.

They have reached around 25 workers with a few more on the way, they seem to love dandelions seeds above all others. I have had problems getting them to accept insect protein though, they took in a few fruit flies but have rejected all superworms and mealworms. The one thing they did go crazy over was the unmated Camponotus novaeboracensis alate I gave them, they picked her clean.

They are still in the process of moving into the minihearth, seems nothing can make them fully commit lol (might dump the rest of them in soon).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by rbarreto, November 22 2019 - 11:18 AM.

[RushmoreAnts]

 

I know this is really old, but due to the lighter mesosomas in the workers and the polygynous behavior of the queens, these look strikingly like Tetramorium tsushimae.

[TennesseeAnts]

My Pogonomyrmex take insect protein more often than seeds.... Any idea why? I'm feeding them crickets, chia seeds and wheat grass seeds.

[rbarreto]

I know this is really old, but due to the lighter mesosomas in the workers and the polygynous behavior of the queens, these look strikingly like Tetramorium tsushimae.

Not polygynous, they 95% of the time kill the extra queens as soon as workers arrive. We also don't have T. tsushimae here in Ontario.

My Pogonomyrmex take insect protein more often than seeds.... Any idea why? I'm feeding them crickets, chia seeds and wheat grass seeds.

Maybe try other seeds? Mine love dandelion and Kentucky blue grass seeds.

[RushmoreAnts]

 

Not polygynous, they 95% of the time kill the extra queens as soon as workers arrive. We also don't have T. tsushimae here in Ontario. 

 

 

I meant your colony specifically. I know there is no record and chances slim, but due to their invasive nature (and relatively close proximity to infested states like Illinois), I wouldn't put it past them.

[Canadian anter]

Pretty sur I sold a tsushimae colony earlier this yewr

[Manitobant]

Pretty sur I sold a tsushimae colony earlier this yewr

Yeah and I own that tshushimae colony. They are much more red than what he has here.

Edited by Manitobant, November 28 2019 - 12:51 PM.

[RushmoreAnts]

I know I have two Tetramorium species around, no matter what AntMaps might say. Either one of them's tsushimae, or it's a rare or undiscovered species (presumably the former, though).

[AntsBC]

Small update, the queen I had been labeling as Formica rubicunda is actually another pergandei queen. Contrary to what antwiki would have you believe, Formica rubicunda only accepts subserecia complex hosts. This comes straight from Dr. Trager so I'm inclined to believe it hahaha. I now have four Formica pergandei queens all with Formica incerta hosts. The formerly F. rubicunda will be queen 1, the dual queens will be 2 &3, and the fourth winged queen will be number 4.

 

Formica pergandei

Queen 1

These guys are doing the best by far. They still have one large larvae and have been moved into a minihearth (dirty tube)

 

 

 

Queen 2 & 3

No brood for these two but they get along great and have managed to keep a relatively clean test tube.

 

 

Queen 4

This queen is definitely doing the worst. she's the one who killed like 30 workers before some finally accepted her. That being said even though she fought so much she doesn't seem injured at all. She also had the moldiest test tube by far so I am in the process of moving them.

 

Sorry for calling you out on this, but using the acceptance of hosts inside an artificial environment is not a reliable way to pinpoint identifications.  Inside a culture, parasitic queens may accept species that they would not naturally.  I could go more in depth on the reasoning behind this, but I think you can understand why without me doing so.

 

That being said, I have not spent the time to try to identify the queen in question for you, so I can not comment on whether your assessment was right or wrong.  I am just pointing out that the method you used to classify the queen as F. pergandei is not a reliable one.

Edited by AntsBC, November 30 2019 - 11:46 AM.

[rbarreto]

Small update, the queen I had been labeling as Formica rubicunda is actually another pergandei queen. Contrary to what antwiki would have you believe, Formica rubicunda only accepts subserecia complex hosts. This comes straight from Dr. Trager so I'm inclined to believe it hahaha. I now have four Formica pergandei queens all with Formica incerta hosts. The formerly F. rubicunda will be queen 1, the dual queens will be 2 &3, and the fourth winged queen will be number 4.
 
Formica pergandei
Queen 1
These guys are doing the best by far. They still have one large larvae and have been moved into a minihearth (dirty tube)
 

 

 
Queen 2 & 3
No brood for these two but they get along great and have managed to keep a relatively clean test tube.
 

 
Queen 4
This queen is definitely doing the worst. she's the one who killed like 30 workers before some finally accepted her. That being said even though she fought so much she doesn't seem injured at all. She also had the moldiest test tube by far so I am in the process of moving them.

 
Sorry for calling you out on this, but using the acceptance of hosts inside an artificial environment is not a reliable way to pinpoint identifications.  Inside a culture, parasitic queens may accept species that they would not naturally.  I could go more in depth on the reasoning behind this, but I think you can understand why without me doing so.
 
That being said, I have not spent the time to try to identify the queen in question for you, so I can not comment on whether your assessment was right or wrong.  I am just pointing out that the method you used to classify the queen as F. pergandei is not a reliable one.

Dr. Trager and MILTA are the ones who IDed these queens lol. That's one of the criteria they used.

[rbarreto]

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

These guys had no workers and no brood for about a week. I stopped checking on them for a while and I was on the verge of throwing them in the fridge when suddenly I saw this! I guess I won't hibernate them this year hahaha.

 

 

[rbarreto]

I took all my ants out of hibernation this week. I'm very excited to start year three of my antkeeping journey. I've found that my interest lies mostly with parasitic Formica so I will be trying to find more of them this coming July.



Formica pergandei
Single queen
Unfortunately the pergandei worked died during hibernation, she was quite small so I'm not surprised. She was also covered in a pretty gross white mold so I wasn't able to take pictures. I'm confident this queen will lay again.

Dual queen
Trying to get these guys to move into a bamboo tube (picture).



Formica cf. integra
Only two host workers left. I'm hoping they won't die before things defrost and I can find more or the queen finally lays some eggs.

Camponotus novaeboracensis
Took these guys out about 3 days ago, watching them wake up is always fun. The queen hasn't layed yet but I just gave them a piece of superworm which they quickly started to munch on. I'm predicting some pretty huge growth from this colony this year, hopefully I can keep up!

Edited by rbarreto, January 22 2020 - 9:24 AM.

[Lazarus]

Camponotus novaeboracensis
Took these guys out about 3 days ago, watching them wake up is always fun. The queen hasn't layed yet but I just gave them a piece of superworm which they quickly started to munch on. I'm predicting some pretty huge growth from this colony this year, hopefully I can keep up!
 

 

Yep, they should explode in numbers at this stage. Should go 200-300. I doubt that TH setup will be big enough to contain them and may end up restricting their growth. I'd start looking for a bigger setup soon.

[ANTdrew]

I hope your third year of ant-keeping is the best yet. Formica is a goal for me this year as is finding Pheidole queens. I’m still enjoying hibernation at the moment, but I’m starting to get the itch again.

[rbarreto]

 

Camponotus novaeboracensis
Took these guys out about 3 days ago, watching them wake up is always fun. The queen hasn't layed yet but I just gave them a piece of superworm which they quickly started to munch on. I'm predicting some pretty huge growth from this colony this year, hopefully I can keep up!
 

 

Yep, they should explode in numbers at this stage. Should go 200-300. I doubt that TH setup will be big enough to contain them and may end up restricting their growth. I'd start looking for a bigger setup soon.

 

Yea I've got some tubing and I'm planning on giving them a satellite nest. Just some basic tubs and tubes until next year when I can afford a larger nest. I would make my own but this year of university is killing me, I've got no time.

[NickAnter]

One of my most desired species is also a Formica. And they live only a mile away. I sure hope I can get the timings right.

[rbarreto]

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

So far these guys have been the perfect colony. They can't escape, grow quickly, and rarely need to be fed.

 

 

Formica pergandei
Single queen
These guys like to hide behind the stalactites of the Miniheart. I have managed to catch glimpses of the queen and she's looking about as fat as I've ever seen her. They've also been accepting a lot of protein so I do have my hopes up.

Dual queen

Believe it or not these guys have eggs! It's hard to take pictures of them because I'm trying to get them to move into a bamboo tube so there won't be any until they do. This was really unexpected, I thought they were doing poorly but I guess not. We don't have many polygynous ants here in Canada so this makes me very excited.

 

Formica cf. integra

The queen unfortunately passed away.

 

Camponotus novaeboracensis
Finally have a nice little batch of eggs. I added a heat cable and they all bunched up around it, its pretty cute.

 

 

 

Edited by rbarreto, February 1 2020 - 2:08 PM.

[RushmoreAnts]

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

So far these guys have been the perfect colony. They can't escape, grow quickly, and rarely need to be fed.

I'm hoping TarHeelAnts commences shipping March 1 so I can buy some. 

[rbarreto]

 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

So far these guys have been the perfect colony. They can't escape, grow quickly, and rarely need to be fed.

I'm hoping TarHeelAnts commences shipping March 1 so I can buy some. 

 

You might want to make sure they don't freeze while shipping.

[rbarreto]

Okay big update time!

 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Still growing, I'm not sure if they're ever going to need hibernation. I accidentally over-watered the Minihearth and some condensation built up on the glass. These damn workers proceeded to place seed shells all over the glass which are now stuck there. Its harder to take nice pictures of them.

 

 

 

 

 

Formica pergandei
Single queen
As you guys can see from what I said in the parasitic Formica thread here, A pergandei worker survived hibernation! She must have been hiding behind the stalactites the whole time. This colony has some large larvae and the pergandei worker is actually taking care of the brood pile! This brings my hopes up that this species could grow independently of host workers. I will still steal some host brood for them but its nice to know I may not be dependent on finding random colonies. The larvae in the picture are even larger now! I'm sure they will pupate soon.

 

 

Dual queen

More eggs, they're consuming large amounts of protein and seem to be doing well. I wish they would move out of that moldy tube though.

 

 

 

 

Camponotus novaeboracensis
Holy eggs, the pile grows larger everyday. Seeing how little these guys care about any disturbances at all is the reason they're my favorite colony.

 

 

 

 

 

Lasius claviger

Just took these guys out of hibernation, hopefully my fortunes change with this species.