3 replies to this topic

[Ants_Texas]

Hello and welcome to the new and improved Pogonomyrmex barbatus journal!  This journal will start out by following three Pogonomyrmex barbatus queens. For now, I will refer to them as A, B, and C (very creative I know). Originally I had four, but I decided to give queen D to Spamdy. Eventually, this journal may only follow the biggest colony, but for now we will follow all three queen's adventures. Enjoy! 

 

Update 6/28/18

 

This is the day the journal was started. Here's each queen, with their estimated egg count. I will be doing just a few updates along their founding process, and then updates should be more abundant once they get nanitics. 

 

 

Queen A (~10 Eggs):

 

 

 

Queen B (~11 Eggs):

 

 

 

Queen C (~7 Eggs): 

 

 

 

 

I suppose we could turn this into some sort of race. Whoever fills a Mini-Hearth the fastest gets a Fortress, perhaps? 

 

WARNING: I am an amature photographer with my EOS Rebel SL2, but these pictures are definitely a major step up from my last journal! Who knows, maybe one day I'll be Aaron 2.0. 

Edited by Ants_Texas, June 28 2018 - 6:58 PM.

[Ants_Texas]

Update 7/13/18

 

 

Today I moved them all into Mini-Hearth formicariums. Now they have some substrate to use whenever they want. Queen B and Queen C have both decided that they will become ostriches, but Queen A was less shy. Better pictures will be coming later in their founding process, as I want to disturb them as little as possible while founding. I got the actual egg numbers while moving them as well. 

 

 

Queen A (20 Eggs):

 

 

Queen B (11 Eggs):

 

 

Queen C (35 Eggs): 

 

 

(Yes, the above picture does in fact showcase the most successful queen.) 

[Ants_Texas]

Update 8/10/18

 

All three queens have at least one pupa now. More pictures coming when they get workers. Here's their statuses.

 

Queen A: 1 pupa, ~15 eggs

 

Queen B: 1 pupa, 1 larva, ~10 eggs

 

Queen C: 3 pupae, ~15 eggs

[sirjordanncurtis]

Update?