Vendayn's Various Ant Species Journal (updated Aug-17-10)

Vendayn

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
5
Here is my journal for my various ant species. No pictures currently, but I do plan to take some when I get time.

Vendayn's ant species (Updated Aug-17-10)

Colony One:
Forelius pruinosus/mccooki (large differences among the workers. Some are different sizes, others have an orange/yellowish body and a black abdomen, others are just orange/yellowish with the same colored abdomen. Found in Salton Sea, California. I got the colony on July-09-10)
-Number of queens: I have at least 5 queens, give or take a few.
-Number of workers: At least a couple hundred
-Number of containers/ant farms - 2 current containers hooked hooked up together through tubing. A large polycarbonate cookie jar, and a small mayonnaise jar.

Queen One:
Messor andrei
-Found on July 17th and then put in a small dirt container on July-22-10

Queen Two:
Pogonomyrmex rugosus
-Found on July 31st and then put in a dirt container on July 31st

Queen Three:
Pogonomyrmex californicus
-Found on Aug 16th 2010, put in dirt container on Aug 17th.

Food the Forelius colony eat:
Honey soaked in paper napkins (love it)
Chicken (love it, and one of their favorites)
Insects (they are somewhat interested in them.)
Seeds (occasionally)
Sugar (though I only give them honey now)
Cooked shrimp (like it)
Crushed cashews (love it, and one of their favorites)
Crushed Macedonia nuts (love it, and one of their favorites)
Crushed cat food (their most favorite currently)

Pictures:
None for now

Aug-17-10:
First, most updates will come in the form of a new reply. Makes it a bit easier for me to find posts, and what time I posted and what not. Otherwise I'll be looking over one huge long post and unable to find certain entries. I had that happen before with a journal, I had a hard time finding anything since it was all in one post.

So onto the ants.

-I've had my Forelius colony for a little over a month now and they are doing extremely good. Found them out in the Salton Sea, Southern California. Once I got a heat lamp sort of focused on them, they exploded in population and activity. This is one of the easiest ants to keep, don't need much water...extremely active (if its sunny/hot)...and do really good in captivity. I always have success with this species.

-My Messor andrei queen should have workers in the next week to three weeks, I imagine it takes about a month to two months for workers to hatch in this species. Though I haven't seen her in two weeks, so not sure if she is still alive. I don't see why she wouldn't be, though.

-The Pogonomyrmex rugosus queen I found out in Arizona. I imagine she will definitely have workers...very tough species. Even the queen managed to get a good sting into my finger. Usually queens don't hurt...so I imagine the workers of this species would hurt like heck. Not even the Pogonomyrmex californicus queens have a painful sting, and the workers hurt a lot. She should have workers not too long after the Messor andrei queen, maybe even about the same time.

- And lastly...my Pogonomyrmex californicus queen. I found this queen in Southern California, in Pine Valley. Which is kind of close to Julian. A mountain area mostly...sage brush and other low lying plants around. Not really too different than Julian, but a bit more dry in areas. I've never actually had success with this particular variety of Pogonomyrmex californicus (which there is I think three or four different varieties of this species)...but my room is really hot, which seems to be key with them. I'm hoping my queen makes it to worker stage, but I'll see. They are one of my favorite ants...really, the seed eating ants rank in my top favorite of ants I like to keep.

Hope you like my journal. :)
 

Vendayn

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
5
Hmm, for some reason I can't edit my original post...

Vendayn's ant species (Updated Aug-18-10)

Colony One (released as of Aug-18-10):
Forelius pruinosus/mccooki (large differences among the workers. Some are different sizes, others have an orange/yellowish body and a black abdomen, others are just orange/yellowish with the same colored abdomen. Found in Salton Sea, California. I got the colony on July-09-10)
-Number of queens: I have at least 5 queens, give or take a few.
-Number of workers: At least a couple hundred
-Number of containers/ant farms - 2 current containers hooked hooked up together through tubing. A large polycarbonate cookie jar, and a small mayonnaise jar.

Queen One (dead as of Aug-18-10):
Messor andrei
-Found on July 17th and then put in a small dirt container on July-22-10

Queen Two:
Pogonomyrmex rugosus
-Found on July 31st and then put in a dirt container on July 31st

Queen Three:
Pogonomyrmex californicus
-Found on Aug 16th 2010, put in dirt container on Aug 17th.

Queen Four:
Unidentified
-Found on Aug 19th, 2010. Put in a test tube on Aug 19th.

Aug-19-10:
Well, my Messor andrei queen didn't make it. She never laid eggs or anything, so not sure what went wrong. Maybe she wasn't fertile.

My Forelius pruinosus/mcooki colony I released by my apartments. They had a huge population explosion and I had hundreds escaping all over my cabinet. The area I released them is a few steps across the road from my apartment area, and its surrounded by a road on two sides, dumpsters on one and garages on the other side (not attached to anything). I've released some of my ant colonies here before and its been a success. Forelius are native anyway, and maybe will drive back the Argentine ants to an extent. Since Forelius are a very aggressive competitor. This worked for the Tapinoma sessile I released in another similar area a few years back. They managed to secure a nice area against the Argentine ants. I'll have a separate journal for the wild ant colonies.

That leaves three queens.

Pogonomyrmex rugosus, which I'm hoping is still alive...because this is an awesome ant.

Pogonomyrmex californicus queen is doing good, she has made a small little chamber on the bottom of the container.

And last night I found a new queen that I haven't seen before.I haven't identified her yet. I'll give another update on her when I find out her species.

10:17 PM:
And tonight I found a Solenopsis xyloni queen! The Native fire ant. Found her in the valley by where I live, down in San Diego, California.
 
Last edited:

HepCatMoe

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 3, 2007
Messages
134
pretty neat buddy. in what enclosures do you keep your ants? i wouldnt dare keep ants in my house if i thought they could escape.
 

Vendayn

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
5
Well, I tend to use jars (various sizes) with lids. Then I connect up an air pump through the lid, so they get air.Though, small ants like Forelius tend to escape a bit easier, like what happened a couple days ago.

Bigger ants on the other hand, like Pogonomyrmex californicus (Red harvester ant) or Pogonomyrmex rugosus (Rough harvester ants)...as some examples...are a lot easier. They don't escape (which is usually the biggest problem), and are horrible climbers (not sure about P.rugosus). Plus they don't really require a lot of care. I prefer the Pogonomyrmex species (and desert species in general), because I have problems with ants that require water/humidity. Desert species I can just forget about them to an extent. All I really do is give them tubing with water in it (or bottle caps with cotton in them), so if they do want water, they at least have a source.

Though, I haven't had too much luck with ants this year. I have been finding a lot of queens, but nothing successful yet. I'm really hoping one or both of the Pogonomyrmex queens I have get workers, because they are awesome ants in captivity.
 

Bennyboy5153

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 31, 2008
Messages
2
Hello Vendayn, this is b53, I've been on this forum for a while, I love my tarantulas as well as my ants.
 
Top