21 replies to this topic

[Ferox_Formicae]

I think it's about time I make journals for all of my other colonies. I currently own a small colony of Camponotus nearcticus, about 20 or so workers strong with a large pile of around 30 eggs. I also have a single queen I caught yesterday who was wandering across my driveway. The colony is doing pretty well, although they don't emerge into their outworld too much. They are fairly calm ants and they don't mind light at all. They always keep their queen tucked back and hidden from view. I found this colony inside of a rotting tree branch at my park and it contained many more workers than it does now, but several of them escaped. The colony is most likely on its third year of development, and I'm super excited for the eggs to hatch. As far as the other queen goes, she is currently inside of a small holding container until I can get a proper set up for her. She is doing pretty well at the moment and should lay eggs soon. I'm excited to see how raising this queen goes as I've tried in the past but my mom made me get rid of them as she didn't allow me to keep ants at that time. Now I have my own little ant room in my garage where I can keep all the ants I want, so that's nice. I wish my Camponotus nearcticus the best of luck and I hope the colonies prosper and eventually become large like my new colony of Camponotus chromaiodes.

Edited by Ferox_Formicae, June 8 2019 - 4:34 PM.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Okay, so I have captured another Camponotus nearcticus queen who was attracted to my porch light. After a few minutes, she died. Any ideas why?

[Karma]

I have heard Camponotus nearticus do not do well in captivity for some reason, but if she died that fast it was most likely something wrong with whatever you were keeping her in or just unlucky and got a bad queen.

[Ferox_Formicae]

I have heard Camponotus nearticus do not do well in captivity for some reason, but if she died that fast it was most likely something wrong with whatever you were keeping her in or just unlucky and got a bad queen.

I had a male in the same container she was in, so it was probably a bad queen.

[Karma]

 

I have heard Camponotus nearticus do not do well in captivity for some reason, but if she died that fast it was most likely something wrong with whatever you were keeping her in or just unlucky and got a bad queen.

I had a male in the same container she was in, so it was probably a bad queen.

 

Ya that's always unfortunate

 

I wish you good luck with your other colonies.

[Ferox_Formicae]

 

 

I have heard Camponotus nearticus do not do well in captivity for some reason, but if she died that fast it was most likely something wrong with whatever you were keeping her in or just unlucky and got a bad queen.

I had a male in the same container she was in, so it was probably a bad queen.

 

Ya that's always unfortunate

 

I wish you good luck with your other colonies.

 

Thanks. I just caught another queen last night, so hopefully she does better.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Caught another queen today under the bark of a fallen tree.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Forgot to update, but I found an even larger colony inside of a dead stick, still on the tree. It has around 45 workers, and lots of eggs. The queens is very lean, and very fast, in fact, the fastest ant in the colony! Their setup is quite different than the one I have for my smaller colony. While the smaller colony has a terrestrial nest design, they have an arboreal one, similar to the design of the nest I have for my colony of Camponotus snellingi, but with a bigger base stick, as I've noticed that these ants forage far and wide. I had to leave my house before I saw of they moved in or not, but I will see tonight.

[VoidElecent]

Some pictures would definitely do this thread some justice.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Some pictures would definitely do this thread some justice.

I'll try and get some soon. I should be able to get some up on Sunday night.

[Ferox_Formicae]

I was able to induce the colony to move into the hollow twig by placing the queen and a few workers into the twig. I came back about an hour later to see the colony all moved in, with the workers drilling out some nest entrances! They're doing pretty good so far, and they even have repletes! Also, the batch of eggs that the queen of my first colony laid have hatched, or at least most of them have. That took a really long time, and it actually took my Camponotus chromaiodes eggs less time to hatch! In more news, my two queens, who are living communally at the moment, currently have a nice little batch of four eggs. They should lay more in the coming days and weeks.

[Ferox_Formicae]

My two queens have laid six eggs so far, going off of what I saw on Monday when I last checked on them. My largest colony's queen has begun to lay eggs, although much more slowly than my other colony's queen, who laid about 40 eggs in a single night the night I got them in their formicarium!

[Ferox_Formicae]

Caught another queen at my porch light tonight. She is very skidish and still has her wings attached, but I'll see how this goes.

[Ferox_Formicae]

A bunch of workers from my larger colony have escaped, leaving me with less than ten.

[TennesseeAnts]

Oh no! I used my black light last night and got another of these queens, and a TON of Camponotus castaneus males. No queens though.

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, June 5 2019 - 6:47 AM.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Oh no! I used my black light last night and got another of these queens, and a YOU of Camponotus castaneus males. No queens though.

Oh, that's a shame. I've only found at night, and she was infertile.

[Ferox_Formicae]

I've moved the colony with all of the escapees into a smaller container. They're down to 5 workers, around 10 eggs, a single larva, and the queen. In better news, my other colony has two pupa now, and lots of larva! There are plenty of eggs too. I never really see them foraging above ground too often, but that's to be expected from such a small Camponotus colony.

[Ferox_Formicae]

I found a wingless queen at my porch light.

[Ferox_Formicae]

My first Camponotus nearcticus queens (a group of two) have their first pupa! I'm so glad that my queens are starting to get pupa.

[TennesseeAnts]

I gave my Camponotus nearcticus queen a bunch of Camponotus subbarbatus pupae and larvae. She is caring for them and is very protective of them.