Hello guys,
I started with my colonies last year when I received 2 beautiful Pogonomyrmex queens. 1 was Pogonomyrmex occidentalis and 1 was Pogonomyrmex rugosus. The Pogonomyrmex occidentalis came already with first 2 workers while the Pogonomyrmex rugosus queen did not even have brood. I was really worried about the Pogonomyrmex rugosus queen since it took her nearly 1 week to lay eggs and I feared if she is going to make it because her brood kept disappearing. Soon the 2nd generation of my Pogonomyrmex occidentalis was about to hatch and then I decided to do a little experiement because my Pogonomyrmex rugosus queen seemed to be failing not having any first workers yet and constantly just eggs and small larvae even though over 2 months passed already. The experiement was adding 2 pupae of Pogonomyrmex occidentalis to my rugosus queen and she actually accepted those 2 and they soon hatched and some weeks later I added another 4 pupae now the colony was 6 workers big and had pupae and bigger larvae. I was suprised to see how another Pogonomyrmex species can be accepted like that and be treated like their own.
My both colonies are now about this size:
Pogonomyrmex occidentalis : 500+ workers (near 600)
Pogonomyrmex rugosus : 42 workers (the next days they should be around 46-48), it actually took them nearly 1/2 year to get their own first workers that is why the colony is behind. But they are doing great now and brood is in all stages available and plenty of it.
They both reached already a very stable level of growth without any noticeable losses in workers or brood nothing out of the ordinary.
I am at a point now where I start to prepare something way bigger than what both are in for their future as well as a nice spot at home to observe them and show them to guests.
And here comes the problem now that I am having from not having observed both species in nature nor finding enough information online apart from a little bit of behavior, identification, pictures.
How big do colonies of Pogonomyrmex rugosus get in comparison to Pogonomyrmex occidentalis?
I am having currently 2 setups that I prepared for both colonies 1 is already used and still has space enough for a while, the other one is really huge with a aerated concrete stone nest(11.8 x 7.8 inches) and an arena measuring (23.6 x 11.8 inch in size) while the other setup is with a 3D nest with the size of around (9 x 7.8 inches) and a arena at least half the size of the other one mentioned((11.8 x 7.8)/2).
Now I can't decide which colony to move in where since I do not know the size of mature colonies of both species in comparison and which colony will overpopulate which in 1 year. From my past experience with Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, they really exploded once they reached around 70 workers and went to 200 in almost no time and now beeing nearly 600 workers. Maybe the same will happen to Pogonomyrmex rugosus in a few months? Anyone ever watched both species in nature? Which of the 2 needs the most space while keeping them, highest foraging distance, population?
I always like to prepare well for the future since I have a lot of older colonies that I have for 4+ years and some even older that worked out because I prepared and planned well.
Greetings,
Marcel
