Best foods for Western Harvesters
Moderator: ooper01
Best foods for Western Harvesters
Received a colony of Pogo Occidentalis ants as a gift, which was lovely and thoughtful. Only problem is, these aren't native ants and all I know about them, I learned from the Squat brothers, Jack and Diddly. So I've done a lot of research online. Seeds are the number one diet staple, so I've given them dandelion and grass seeds, both of which they snapped right up. They've got a test tube of water they've been drinking from, as well as a well-hydrated nest because I read the queen likes very high humidity. What have actual keepers of this species been giving their girls? I recently added some bee pollen in granuals, which I'm offering my Campos as well, and some honey. Is that enough protein for Pogos? I read they're not too into insects and that they can actually cause trouble in their nest by growing mold when they store the insects with their seeds. T/F?
Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditiones habes
Main interest is C. Pennsylvanicus, interested in most native ants to my area.
Main interest is C. Pennsylvanicus, interested in most native ants to my area.
- bugging3out
- Posts: 187
- Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2020 3:53 pm
- Location: New york
Re: Best foods for Western Harvesters
Well what a coincidence I just got two colony
Colonies of the Pogonomyrmex occidentalis just two weeks ago. One ordered from Tar Heel ants with 40+ workers. Two ordered from some place on the internet with 700+ workers. The one I ordered from the internet I ordered after the Tar Heel ant one. I have been keeping them for quite a while now just buy them every once and a while. This is my 10th time of buying these girls and now from keeping them for a while I know a lot of about keeping them, all tho I still ask for info to people who are more experienced keeping these girls. So I give them meat instead of insects. Personally they love turkey and chicken. But have never tried other meat. I give them grass seeds and dandelion seeds. I also give them bird seeds. I pick out all the stuff that is not seeds in the bird seeds. And they tend to like dry places to have a dry place to store their seeds. They also like a some-what moist place to store their larvae and eggs. I have observed they enjoy storing their pupae with their seeds because that place is dry. I love watching the 700+ worker colony carry the entire piece of chicken back to the nest for consumption. I find these ants can be lazy when Carrying garbage to their garbage place. I guess they are disgusted by it. Also I find that meat is much better for these ants since the ants don’t have to carry non-edible exoskeleton to their poop pile.
So good luck!
Colonies of the Pogonomyrmex occidentalis just two weeks ago. One ordered from Tar Heel ants with 40+ workers. Two ordered from some place on the internet with 700+ workers. The one I ordered from the internet I ordered after the Tar Heel ant one. I have been keeping them for quite a while now just buy them every once and a while. This is my 10th time of buying these girls and now from keeping them for a while I know a lot of about keeping them, all tho I still ask for info to people who are more experienced keeping these girls. So I give them meat instead of insects. Personally they love turkey and chicken. But have never tried other meat. I give them grass seeds and dandelion seeds. I also give them bird seeds. I pick out all the stuff that is not seeds in the bird seeds. And they tend to like dry places to have a dry place to store their seeds. They also like a some-what moist place to store their larvae and eggs. I have observed they enjoy storing their pupae with their seeds because that place is dry. I love watching the 700+ worker colony carry the entire piece of chicken back to the nest for consumption. I find these ants can be lazy when Carrying garbage to their garbage place. I guess they are disgusted by it. Also I find that meat is much better for these ants since the ants don’t have to carry non-edible exoskeleton to their poop pile.
So good luck!
Why did I even make a signature if I am just gonna say this.
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