Pogonomyrmex subdentatus: Test Tube Founding (9/11/2020)

     For the past few years, I have been experimenting with different methods of starting colonies of Pogonomyrmex subdentatus, a red harvester ant, and one of the few species that is found in the Bay Area. This spring, I put some of the queens I caught into a test tube setup with an out world. In the past, I have not had much success with test tubes for this species. However, I decided to try making the entrance to the tube-nest smaller by plugging it with cotton, and using a straw as an entrance tunnel.

    In addition to this setup, I provided the queens in test tubes with abundant seeds and crushed freeze-dried meal worms, as food for their larvae. Like all my other Pogonomyrmex subdentatus colonies, I kept them at 88-92F, which helped them grow and develop at a healthy pace.

    Six months later, and I have a thriving colony in one of these setups. This colony is about 6 months old, and although growth was slow at first, it is now growing at a steady rate. Here is a video I took of them recently using some extension tubes on a Canon Rebel T6. This is one of my first attempts at using them, and the video came out quite well when the cloudiness on the test tube is taken into account.

   

    Overall, I think that this setup is a great way to start this species. In the past I did not have much success with it, however the addition of an entrance straw proved to be a worthwhile strategy. I think this increased the ambient humidity, which allowed the brood to develop better. In the future, I will be sure to do more tests with this and similar setups, to figure out how to best raise this species. 

Thanks for reading!