24 replies to this topic

[Posidius]

We're new to this forum but NOT to keeping ants. My brother and I have been keeping ants for over 40 years now.  Our set-ups have reached EPIC scale.  The latest POGONO nest is 3'x3' square with an out world that's 4'x6'. We'll be catching up with forum posts for quite a while but if anyone has any questions feel free...

Edited by Posidius, May 17 2023 - 6:24 PM.

[Zeiss]

Welcome to the forum!  I'll be waiting to see your set-ups and colonies.  

[FeedTheAnts]

Wow! Forty years! Ya, what Zeiss said, I can't wait to see your setups.

[CamponotusLover]

40 years, wow. Can we get a peak at some of your colonies? That'd be great! Also welcome to formiculture!

[DaveJay]

Welcome!
Pictures would be great! They can be uploaded to the forum then used in threads but not uploaded into the thread itself. You need to make albums in the gallery section, upload them then select "my media" in the toolbar when you want to use them in a post. There is a how to video.

[nurbs]

Holy cow 40 years?! The "antkeeping" hobby didn't really start until the 90s in Europe and their antkeeping "pro" shops along with the Internet boom which allowed enthusiasts to connect with one another around the world and share their knowledge, so I definitely want to see pictures of your setup!

[DaveJay]

Holy cow 40 years?! The "antkeeping" hobby didn't really start until the 90s in Europe and their antkeeping "pro" shops along with the Internet boom which allowed enthusiasts to connect with one another around the world and share their knowledge, so I definitely want to see pictures of your setup!

Forty years ago I was 8 and the little plastic ant farms were all the rage, unfortunately the fact that you need a queen was omitted when advertising those ant farms. I've thought that perhaps they dissuaded more people from ant keeping than they enticed, we were set up to fail in a lot of respects.

[Posidius]

 

Holy cow 40 years?! The "antkeeping" hobby didn't really start until the 90s in Europe and their antkeeping "pro" shops along with the Internet boom which allowed enthusiasts to connect with one another around the world and share their knowledge, so I definitely want to see pictures of your setup!

Forty years ago I was 8 and the little plastic ant farms were all the rage, unfortunately the fact that you need a queen was omitted when advertising those ant farms. I've thought that perhaps they dissuaded more people from ant keeping than they enticed, we were set up to fail in a lot of respect.

My very first try at keeping ants was a gift from my Mom.  An Uncle Miltons Ant farm.   Epic failure insued.  I didn't understand what happened.  I followed the instructions to the letter.  My mom said that I needed to go to the library and research how to keep ants if I wanted better success, since she couldn't help me.  The rest is history...

[Canadian anter]

What even. 40 years ago, my mom wasn't even born yet!

[Rstheant]

Any pictures of your colonies?

[Posidius]

Any pictures of your colonies?

I'll get pics posted as soon as they come out of hibernation.  Nothing to see now... lol

[FSTP]

Oh come on surely living in LA you're keeping some species that don't hibernate. Show us. LOL

 

 

If you've truly have been keeping ants for 40 years that puts you among the most experienced keeper here on the forums.  What was ant keeping like in 1977 ?

[Solenoqueen]

I'm also rather intrigued. Where are your desert species setups?

[Posidius]

Oh come on surely living in LA you're keeping some species that don't hibernate. Show us. LOL

 

 

If you've truly have been keeping ants for 40 years that puts you among the most experienced keeper here on the forums.  What was ant keeping like in 1977 ?

I was born in 1965.  Back in the day my twin brother and I started off with an Uncle Milton ant farm as a gift. From there we graduated to using a Folgers Coffee can then a wash tub, 20 gal aquarium, 100 gal aquarium even a coffin box we built in the back yard.  We then graduated to making nests were we could see what was going on underground.  We bought a few commercial nests but just didn't like the unnatural look of those set ups.  We started experimenting with our own, more natural setups.  I have a few reels film of us as kids showing off our ant farm.  We only keep 1 colony at a time and devote all our attention to helping it grow.  It's almost always pogonomyrmex californicus;  LOVE THEM!!!  Over time...as we learned more and more, our setups grew more and more sophisticated.  Upon becoming adults, moving into our own places and making my own money, Craziness ensued.

 

I was able to figure out how to upload a video to Youtube...https://youtu.be/lOsLVahGlhs

Edited by Posidius, February 25 2019 - 6:13 PM.

[Rstheant]

Oh come on surely living in LA you're keeping some species that don't hibernate. Show us. LOL
 
 
If you've truly have been keeping ants for 40 years that puts you among the most experienced keeper here on the forums.  What was ant keeping like in 1977 ?

[Posidius]

I know it's been forever since we visited this site. Our current Pogonomyrmex californicus colony is HUGE. 1000's of ants now. We have just brought them out of hibernation and they are going strong.  We will be starting a new album WITH PICS soon!!!!!!!

[Ernteameise]

Hello there!

I hope you will share some pictures of your setups!

You certainly made me curious!

[ANTdrew]

I know it's been forever since we visited this site. Our current Pogonomyrmex californicus colony is HUGE. 1000's of ants now. We have just brought them out of hibernation and they are going strong. We will be starting a new album WITH PICS soon!!!!!!!

You MUST! And welcome back.

[AntsCali098]

What an amazing colony! Waiting for pics!

[Posidius]

We have posted some pics of our set-up and the colony. We only maintain one colony at a time.  When you see the setup, you'll understand why. I posted some videos on Youtube also.

 

Activity on a warm day:

https://youtube.com/shorts/3TKG-ePEzP8

 

Feeding time:

https://youtube.com/shorts/0rAkchZJ42o

 

Nice close-up:

 

Seed Gathering:

 

Album: Mature Pogonomyrmex californicus Colony

23 images

2 comments