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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 28, 2019 15:14:35 GMT
I recently bought this lovely looking red Pheidole species, which I've never seen for sale before, from Clavata.co.uk. They arrived with one queen, seven workers and a small brood pile. P. obscurithorax is native to the Americas and due to their fast growth rate and aggressive foraging behaviour, they are at times considered a pest. The queen is larger than I expected for the genus. Here they are:   The colony is tiny at the moment but I'm hopeful that they'll soon increase in numbers once they've been fed. As always, feel free to comment.  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 28, 2019 22:12:22 GMT
The colony is settling down nicely. The workers are already quite bold and tried escaping when I opened the test tube to give them a cricket. They immediately began to attack it and slowly pull it towards the queen, who sat waiting. Earlier they also accepted some sugar water.  Queen being fed:  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 7, 2019 21:06:13 GMT
The ball of eggs is now getting bigger. Unfortunately the cotton is just beginning to get mold on it, but hopefully the colony will be alright for a while in this test tube. The seven workers are still excitable and will charge at the open end of the test tube when I feed them. The queen is timid and scares easily so I don't check on the colony that often, but she's already proving to be a productive lady.  On another note, thank you to clavata for putting my photos on your site, I'm genuinely rather flattered! |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 24, 2019 17:52:01 GMT
As of today there are now twelve workers in total. Of the original brood there's just a single pupa and a few larvae left, but there's a nice sized pile of eggs that will hopefully begin to hatch soon.  Sorry about the moldy cotton...  |
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