Bay Area Ants

In my previous post, I wrote a detailed care sheet for the species of red harvester ant known as Pogonomyrmex subdentatus . This care sheet noted that these ants do best at high temperatures, preferably 90-95F. Where I live in California, it is quite cool in the winter months, and the room temperature is usually around 65-67F. Because of this, I must keep my colonies of this species warm to ensure colony health. Many other species I keep, especially those from desert regions, also need to be warmed. Using a variety of methods, I am able to provide suitable temperatures for all my colonies, ranging from the heat-loving ants of the Southern Californian deserts, to the hibernating ants of the Sierra Nevada mountains. One such heating method is using my homemade incubator, which I put all of my Pogonomyrmex in, as well as a few other species. Exterior: As you can probably tell, from the outside it doesn't look like much. It's a torn up leather ottoman that my family has ...

     In the last few days of October as well as the first weeks of  November, a friend and I caught multiple queens of the species Pogonomyrmex subdentatus.  I managed to get 3 successful colonies going out of the four queens I got, as well as one queen that is alive but worker-less. I will make a post about my colonies in the near future. Since a 75% is a relatively good rate of success for this species, I decided to make a detailed care sheet about how I did it. Enjoy! Scientific Name:  Pognomyrmex subdentatus Common Name: Red Havester Ant, California Harvester Ant Distribution:   Found in areas Northern California Queen size:   6-9mm (queen size can vary greatly) Worker size:   4-7mm (nanitics can be much smaller than a mature colony's workers). Only one worker caste but workers can vary in size due to factors such as colony age and it's nutrition in the larval stages. Natural Habitat: Chaparral environments, ofte...

A while back, my cousin and I went on a road trip to Southern California. While we were there, we purchased some ant colonies. One of them is this Myrmecocystus navaio colony, with upwards of 10 workers. These ants are honeypot ants (more on those here ) When we got this colony, they were in a simple test tube and outworld setup. I moved them into a custom made formicarium, which they liked. Unfortunately, while I was on vacation they ran out of water and workers started to die. Eggs were not being laid and brood (young) within the colony was running out. I decided then to move this colony into a dirt setup, as most of the colonies I put in them recover and/or flourish in them. I had an old dirt box formicarium that I purchased a while back, so I decided to clean it out and replace the substrate with some fresh dirt I collected while out looking for ant queens. Within a few days they had dug their nest, and both repletes had gotten inside without any injuries. Unfortunately, one of...

     This spring, I caught a large number of Camponotus queens. Most of the varieties that I caught were numerous, except this one. This color morph of Camponotus hyatti  is one that I have been wanting ever since I started to keep ants. I was lucky enough to catch one of them during their nuptial flights.      All was going well, and the queen was one of the first out of all the Camponotus  I caught to get her first workers, or nanitics. Right after the first one eclosed (hatched out of it's cocoon), disaster struck. A feral colony of Tapinoma sessile  (also called the odorous house ant), invaded my ant room. They killed another colony of mine completely, and nearly killed this queen. Her worker was dead and her brood was being carried away by the feral ants to be used as food.      All I managed to recover from this tragedy was the queen, crippled and barely alive. Her legs were mangled by some sort of web like substance ...

       A few weeks ago, my cousin and I went to Southern California. While there, we purchased a few ant colonies. I got for myself some honeypot ants from the genus Myrmecocystus , and two species of desert Camponotus . I am in the process of taking HD macro footage of all of the colonies we both got, and this is the first of the batch. Enjoy!

      Camponotus are some of the largest ants on the planet. They are infamous in the pest control industry because they oftentimes chew their nest into houses using their large soldiers, which is where they get their name "carpenter ants". This genus is surprisingly diverse however, and most of the species in the genus Camponotus  aren't actually household pests.      For example, one of my favorite species in my collection, Camponotus quercicola ,  will only nest in live trees belonging to a species of oak indigenous to California. Some other species, such as Camponotus clarithorax , will only nest in soil.      These ants' diversity, size, and polymorphism (ability to produce minor, media, and major workers), make them a very attractive species to keep as pets. In this post, I will cover how to successfully raise Camponotus  queens and colonies found in the Bay Area, and other similar climates. The Basics   ...

     Recently, I wrote up a care sheet for one of my favorite ants in my collection, Camponotus quercicola.  This is useful for providing information to friends, people who purchase a colony from me, and people I might trade them with. I thought I would post it in case anyone would like to see what it is like to care for a colony of ants. Scientific Name:  Camponotus quercicola Common Name: None Distribution:  Endemic to California Queen size:  16-19mm Worker size:  7-16mm Natural Habitat:  Oak trees native to CA Circadian Activity:  Primarily nocturnal Mating Flight:  First heatwave of spring, typically in March or April. Can be found later on in less abundance. All queens collected at night on live oak trees, in areas where nests have been found. There is a complete list of all species in the Ant Mating Chart:  http://www.formicult...t-mating-chart/ Queen Founding Method:  Fully Claustr...