I have a Desert short horned lizard (Phyrnosoma douglassi) that was given to me by someone who had captured it in our area of SE Idaho, near Craters of the Moon. I intended to release it, but in the meantime kept and fed it with the local mound ants (as well as some meal worms, etc. that it would take.) These particular mound ants are native to our area and I have been collecting them in my dry pasture and along a sagebrush area next to a canal. The horned lizard will not take any other type of ant. I've tried the red ants, so called "pavement ants," and carpenter ants, but the local mound ants appear to be what he prefers to the exclusion of all others. They are probably his normal fare in his nearby habitat.
I began collecting ants for him from a nice active nest. I did not disturb it except to put down a bait of an apple slice or orange on top of the mound until it collected some ants, then carried back the day's catch in a deli-cup. One day, there were very few ants to be seen in what had been an active mound. The next day there were none. The entire mound was empty. It had been totally deserted! I found another. After a couple of weeks, the same thing happened with this mound. A third mound has lasted most of the summer, but today, there were very few ants. I'd bet my boots it will be empty tomorrow. Since it is unlikely that this lizard will accept the southern harvester ants one can buy, I'm trying to establish an ant farm of local mound ants to feed him through winter, along with some of the other food he will take, since he won't be hibernating.
I have over 250 acres of land, a lot of it dry pasture. The ant mounds are on the high bank of a canal among sage brush, and not tramped upon by the horses. I do not use chemical sprays-- insecticides or fertilizers on anything. So whatever is happening to these ants is not my doing. These are mounds of deritrus, perhaps 2 to 3 feet wide and a foot tall. I approach carefully, from the side, because otherwise the ants climb my legs and can certainly bite and sting. I just flip the bait and perhaps 20 collected ants into a deli cup with a bamboo skewer, slap on the lid and and split.
Today, I got really curious and went to the first ant mound I'd been collecting from in May, and dug it up. I wondered if they were down there estivating or something. There wasn't an ant to be found.
If you guys can't help me, maybe one of you knows some sort of entomology forum I can make some inquiries on. I've read a lot about ant stuff, but have never come across entire ant colonies deserting a mound over-night before. (Most of the searches are all about getting rid of ants, not keeping them around.)
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho
4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis (new froglets)
