20 replies to this topic

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Over the past two days I have caught two Camponotus nearcticus queens at my local park. One queen does have a bit more red, but otherwise they are identical. Currently, they reside in test tube setups filled with wood chips, for comfort. The black queen was cleaning her gaster earlier, which if I remember correctly is a sign of fertility. I know this is a seldom kept species, so I'm not really sure if they do well in captivity, or if their care is anything special.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

One of the queens has about four eggs. Both have turned most of their wood into sawdust and excavated little caverns.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

I don't think anyone else actually keeps this ant, since this is my most viewed journal despite having no comments. I assume people come here to look for answers about C. nearcticus, don't find any, and leave. 

[CatsnAnts]

I don't think anyone else actually keeps this ant, since this is my most viewed journal despite having no comments. I assume people come here to look for answers about C. nearcticus, don't find any, and leave.

Many people actually do keep C. nearcticus. It is the common carpenter ant in the myrmentoma subgenus. Still a really good find though, I love myrmentoma Camponotus. really excited for this journal!

[TennesseeAnts]

I have a queen with three pupae and lots of larvae.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Do they grow faster than other carpenter ants on account of their small size?

[TennesseeAnts]

Unfortunately, no. Not that I have seen.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

A shame. But they do look cool in their own way.

Is about 4 eggs after two weeks good growth?

[TennesseeAnts]

Yes. Mine took two and a half.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

The orange and black nearcticus queen (cf. caryae?) has a larva now. The black queen has no brood as far as I can tell.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Queen 2 has one very large larva, and probably some eggs. Queen 1 still has nothing.

[Acutus]

If you post could post pictures it would probably help with replies. I pretty much view any journal that says Camponotus! LOL

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Next time I check on them, I will take pictures. I just took them out of the closet today, so it might be a while. Do these have a short pupal stage and a long larval stage, or the other way around? Or maybe I'm thinking of something else. If the pupal stage is fast, then there might even be a worker within a couple weeks.

[Kaelwizard]

Camponotus have long egg and pupa stages.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

So it probably will be a while before I see workers. I'm fine with that.

[MrCobalt]

Hmm for me most of my queens lay a few eggs by the first 3 days, including my new carpenter queen and she didn't take very long to get workers, only about a month. Heating does wonders.

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[Antennal_Scrobe]

Queen 1 has a larva, I must have missed it before, queen 2 has a pupa and a few small eggs and larvae. I have a picture of queen 1, but queen 2 is nesting on the bottom side of her test tube, and I don't want to disturb her.

[ForestDragon]

I have kept Camponotus Caryae but she died without laying any eggs. I found her by chance when i was doing yard work at 10pm i plan to preserve her and fix her 2 broken front legs that she had when i caught her

[Antennal_Scrobe]

If you have seen C. caryae, then are they the nearcticus lookalikes with the brownish head and the orange thorax? I see those around sometimes, including at the locality where I caught the queen in question. 

[ANTdrew]

Update? I caught two of these last night. I also got two subbarbatus that look even cooler with orange bands on the gaster.