69 replies to this topic

[Huch]

That is so cool. I wonder what cued them to swarm. Do you know if other colonies outside are having nuptial flights right now?

[Bardusquus]

These don't live outside my house.

Put them outside during a stormy/warm/humid/windy day and pull the top off.

[dspdrew]

That is so cool. I wonder what cued them to swarm. Do you know if other colonies outside are having nuptial flights right now?

 

No idea.

[William. T]

Maybe put them inside one of those giant butterfly houses, which are basically giant rectangular prisms of netting, install a fan underneath it and then dump the alates in.

Edited by William. T, August 14 2015 - 4:35 AM.

[dspdrew]

I probably will just put them outside so some of these alates will hopefully fly away.

[dspdrew]

Update 9-8-2015
 
Back on 7-7-2015, I found a few more of these alates in Goffs, California. At first I thought they were P. desertorum, but have now realized they're actually P. hyatti. All but one turned out to be infertile. I'm still keeping three of the seemingly infertile alates I have housed together in one test tube. The fertile queen has three workers and a little bit of brood right now.

 

My large colony still looks good, but they are not producing much. They don't have a whole lot of brood now.

[dspdrew]

Update 10-20-2015
 
The large colony is still not producing anything, and is rapidly dying off.

 

I had one more of what I thought was P. desertorum but turned out to be P. hyatti, and I gave it to my friend.

[Foogoo]

Do you think space is a factor? Mine is completely overrunning their nest and outworld, and I noticed they have a lot less brood compared to before.

[dspdrew]

Nope. They have more than enough space.

[dspdrew]

Update 4-7-2016
 
Something is continuing to kill off this colony. Almost every worker in the colony is dead now. All of the queens still look okay. None of them are laying any eggs though.

[Vendayn]

Wonder why this species does incredibly well at first, but then rapidly dies off/stops producing brood. I know you probably give them plenty of food, and I doubt humidity/temperature is an issue.

 

Maybe they are like Argentine ants and Tapinoma sessile. Which do really well very early on, but then after a month or whatever, just die off and actually do bad for whatever reason. It could be the variety of food, since Crystal (I believe that is her) keeps Tapinoma sessile and she said one of the tricks is they need a large variety. But, not sure if you already do that.

[Mdrogun]

i would imagine it is some sort of bacteria or nutrient they are lacking that they can obtain in the wild. You should let them forage outside if you can drew.

[dspdrew]

Wonder why this species does incredibly well at first, but then rapidly dies off/stops producing brood. I know you probably give them plenty of food, and I doubt humidity/temperature is an issue.

 

Maybe they are like Argentine ants and Tapinoma sessile. Which do really well very early on, but then after a month or whatever, just die off and actually do bad for whatever reason. It could be the variety of food, since Crystal (I believe that is her) keeps Tapinoma sessile and she said one of the tricks is they need a large variety. But, not sure if you already do that.

 

This colony was found mature living under a rock. The majority of the colony died a while back when the nest dried out. I suspect the egg-laying queen might have died as well, or the whole event just ruined the colony in some other way.

[Vendayn]

i would imagine it is some sort of bacteria or nutrient they are lacking that they can obtain in the wild. You should let them forage outside if you can drew.

@Drew Ah yeah, that is how I found my two colonies I had. They were both nesting under rocks.

 

But as for the quoted post. Yeah, that is only thing I can think of as well is there is something lacking. They must rely on something in the wild that they aren't getting in the formicarium. And letting them forage outside still may not help, since I don't think Drew lives where they are naturally found. They'd likely just be killed by Argentine ants.

 

I'd also probably try and see what they bring back to their nests as food. When I saw them, they mostly brought back various insects, and some seed things. That bush that gets tons of red flowers, and then dries out in the Summer. Not sure what its called, but I see it all around. Pogonomyrmex really love them as well. But, I gave my old colony the same seeds that the wild ones were getting and they ignored them.

 

I also noticed the two times I dug up a nest, that they had...what looked to be some type of pillbug-like thing living in them. Maybe Silverfish, but it looked more round/oval shaped if I recall. But it was a long time ago, don't remember exact details now. They also had some type of small black beetle living with them. Not sure if there is some co-existence reliance with that, but both nests had both the beetles and Silverfish (guess that is what they were) things in it.

Edited by Vendayn, April 7 2016 - 6:49 PM.

[dspdrew]

Update 4-23-2016
 
The entire colony is dead now.

[Vendayn]

Had a feeling this was gonna happen. Too bad they died. Seems to be a common experience people have with this species.

[LC3]

Pheidole hyatti

RIP

2015 - 2016

[dspdrew]

Had a feeling this was gonna happen. Too bad they died. Seems to be a common experience people have with this species.

 

Well, my problems all started after I almost killed the whole colony by desiccation.

[Foogoo]

Weird, I wonder if it's some pathogen. Other than a small die off before winter, my colony has and still is exploding with growth.

[Leo]

what happened with the others?