Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
Powered by phpBB Social Network © phpBB SN Group
Deutsche Übersetzung durch phpBB.de
Time : 0.020s | 44 Queries | GZIP : On
heya guys
On wednesday i shall be taking delivery of a Pheidole r hea Queen from Arizona. now Pheidole rhea are North Americas Biggest Specie of Pheidole.
the queen is rather big, same size as a Messor Queen I think
Now im wondering does anyone have experience with this specie ?
cheers !!
Ryan :)
Nice :) same size as Messor? are you sure? that seems very big for Pheidole, sounds interestin tho, can ya give me a link to where ya got em :D
Pheidole are much the same depending on where they come from, I would expect them to need the same kind of set up and care as southern european species, except with hotter tempretures, and the possibility of flash floods
Antweb.org might help with some info to get you started :)
i tried antweb not much info on them, just pics of dead ones.
the queen im told is about 12mm so close to a messor queen
and chunky.
theyl need to be hot from march right through to october. as their from arizona, and i have been there and my gosh its hot, it got to 37 degrees at 7am and midday is unbearable, went to 40 degrees.
remeber that sand is a very good insulator, the tempreture will drop 10-20 degrees @ just 10cm below, also at night although its very cold in the desert, the sand holds some heat, so the tempreture will stay very steady, if you keep the nest at a steady 26C, they should do fine
Yes, you don't need to raise the temperature to 37°c. :) Like miszt said, sand is a good isolator.
12mm, hmmm seems very big...
As you can see on antweb, the majors are about 6mm.
http://www.antweb.org/description.do?rank=species&genus=pheidole&name=rhea
But you could be right, on this pictures the queen is about 12mm.
http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0103488&shot=p1&project=
Good luck with them, don't forget the post pictures. ;)
Kashmir
I have been looking into this species as well. Some of the stuff I've read online suggests that they forage actively at night (when temperatures would be cooler) so perhaps you don't need to simulate the really high temperatures you experienced in Arizona. As has been pointed out the temperature below the surface of the ground will be much more moderate, so as long as you provide some heating for the nest area, they should be ok.
Personally I love Pheidole and these look like some of the nicest I've seen.
Hey, just wondering if these ants DO need extra heating?
I am a little confused! I have ants from England, Spain and Germany in the same room, at (Roughly) the same temperature, and they all seem to do really well at room temperature!
So would the P. Rhea NEED extra heating?
I am getting a P. Rhea queen (I suspect from the same place as kashmir79 ;-) ).
I was planning on keeping her in her test tube until she had a good few workers. No extra heating or anything...
Any help would be appreciated! Thanks
:D
I wouldn't have thought you need extra heating but it usualy helps growth rate. And since they are from Arizona they might like that much more heat than southan European species. You could always just stick the queen in an airing cupboard till she has workers, then put the colony in a heated setup.
I wouldn't have thought you need extra heating but it usualy helps growth rate. And since they are from Arizona they might like that much more heat than southan European species. You could always just stick the queen in an airing cupboard till she has workers, then put the colony in a heated setup. I do not have an airing cupboard. =(
But as far as I know they should do okay at room temperature....
They would do fine in room temperature but the brood will develop much slower than it should be. It is always best to try to keep the ants at the same temperature and humidity as where they come from.