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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 29, 2016 9:54:56 GMT
They have arrived! About 30-40 workers, several soldiers, loads of eggs/larvae and of course the queen. I thought at first that there were no pupae but there are a few. They're a bit hard to see though. Looks like this colony is getting ready for a population boom already! No clear photos of the queen unfortunately, owing to the old cotton in there.
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Post by Jenny on Jul 29, 2016 10:09:41 GMT
What do you plan on keeping them in? We had several colonies of these but they died out slowly, because of them living in the acrylic nests.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 29, 2016 10:30:19 GMT
What do you plan on keeping them in? We had several colonies of these but they died out slowly, because of them living in the acrylic nests. I do like the look of Eden Formicaria's nests but there's always the soil set up? I'm not sure.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2016 13:37:37 GMT
These are currently my favourite ants - they have absolutely exploded in number since I got them a few months ago. Get ready for a busy, hungry, fast-growing colony. Mine are in an acrylic nest and have absolutely thrived. And if you look on youtube all the largest colonies of P. pallidula are in acrylic nests so I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss them...
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Post by Thebugman on Jul 29, 2016 14:21:17 GMT
Best tip I can give for this species is to just overfeed them slightly. If you don't regularly feed protein the queen just stops laying. My queen also lays her eggs in batches, so all of the brood is roughly the same age which leads to massive population boosts so be prepared for them. I would also recommend that you keep them away from all other colonies because when they escape, which they will, they can quickly kill another colony so keep them isolated. My colony lives in a ytong nest and some live in the soil substrate. They like a damp humid environment so choose a nest that easily offers that. Best of luck with them, they are a fantastic species once they get going.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 29, 2016 16:16:08 GMT
Thanks guys! I've just got back home with a tank for the Silver Messor barbarus colony and one for the Pheidole to live in. And Thebugman, I know what you mean about feeding this species often. My old colony was forever eating. Interesting that you should say they like damp humid environments, mine were kept in almost dry conditions which I was told they would like. I was able to take a nice photo of the queen just now: Here's the tank. Once I've reinforced the lid with gauze or mesh to cover those slits, I think it'll be quite suitable for them.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 30, 2016 12:04:46 GMT
The colony completed their move just now. I guess I was lucky to witness it in time. They have dug several tunnels around the tank during the night, all along the sides but settled on the one in the corner. By the time I decided to inspect the Pheidole they were moving the last of their larvae into the nest: The queen was the last to go. She was very reluctant to leave the safety of her test tube and doubled back a few times to return to her usual spot until the workers came to tell her she had to go. "Do I have to?" She eventually left the test tube and immediately hid under one of the pebbles for a minute before dashing commando-style out of cover and into her new nest. And here they are! The test tube was emptied of the last few workers with a gentle tap and the lid closed. I used lawn topsoil for the substrate mixed in with fine sand.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 1, 2016 10:15:31 GMT
I have read before that Pheidole pallidula can be polygynous. If I were to buy a second queen with just her eggs, I wonder if my existing colony would accept her? Thoughts? I'd only do this if I were sure that neither queen would die as a result.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 1, 2016 10:24:21 GMT
I have read before that Pheidole pallidula can be polygynous. If I were to buy a second queen with just her eggs, I wonder if my existing colony would accept her? Thoughts? I'd only do this if I were sure that neither queen would die as a result. They can be yes, but it could be risky trying to get your colony to accept a second queen unless they came from the same seller and might be related.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 1, 2016 10:32:02 GMT
Ah, I probably won't then. It's not like single queens produce small colonies anyhow.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 6, 2016 21:50:01 GMT
The colony has settled in very well. There's usually only a few workers foraging at a time but as soon as they find something, they alert their colony and soon there's 20+ of them running around. This evening they had a mosquito and right now they're wrangling a dead cricket into the nest entrance. They also love honey. A few of the soldiers eventually turned up to help with the cricket. Judging by their very swollen gasters they've been storing the honey. I don't see the soldiers often unless there's food on the surface.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 11, 2016 11:07:29 GMT
The Pheidole are currently devouring a bluebottle. The egg pile in the brood chamber seems to be growing slightly and I can usually see the queen in there before she runs off to avoid the light. I must say, I've always preferred the smaller species. It must be the added cuteness factor.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 18, 2016 0:34:29 GMT
Right now the Pheidole are cramming a housefly down their nest entrance, which took me at least half an hour to capture by the way. It always seems to take the soldiers at least five minutes to start emerging when there's fresh prey around...and they're always the first to flee at the smallest disturbances. "Soldiers". Walking food storage, more like! They are always full of honey. Earlier I saw a ghostly callow worker slowly wandering around the brood chamber and she attempted to climb up to the main entrance before being turned away by her older sisters. There is no child labour in this nest.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 27, 2016 12:26:47 GMT
The Pheidole were out in force today, taking several fruit flies and a cricket. And a nice drop of honey. Here's the brood chamber. A pair of callows can be seen at the left and below them, some eggs.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 6, 2016 17:10:45 GMT
The brood pile in this colony is getting very big now! Here's the first soldier pupa I've seen, although I've seen a few soldier larvae before. Mm. Honey. There were about thirty workers on the surface when I checked up on them. And here they are dragging a cricket back to the nest. They've had two of them today...honestly I spoil them.
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