15 replies to this topic

[Lisberg]

Lisberg's Camponotus Herculeanus

 

 

I'm back in the ant-keeping game..!
Somehow all my Camponotus Barbaricus ants disappeared over a few weeks, and I'm still not sure how exactly.

But instead of buying some new ants, i chose to walk the nearby woods, and stumbled upon a VERY large ant, with beautiful wings. At first i thought it was a wasp, i flew really bad and reminded me of a drunk bumblebee in its movements.

Someone inhere wrote "Always keep a small container on you, it might be your lucky day"... it sure was.

I found my very first Camponotus queen, and in Denmark where i live, there are only two species. But rare, and the one is Camponotus Ligniperda, the other C. Herculeanus.

 

So far I've come to the conclusion that it is indeed C. Herculeanus.

 

Her is a picture of her, before she shed her wings:

 

 

I love the color of her wings, like nicotine

 

Edited by Lisberg, August 8 2019 - 12:42 PM.

[Acutus]

Congratulations!!! Good Luck!    

[Lisberg]

Congratulations!!! Good Luck!    

 

Thanks mate !!



Since I'm still new at antkeeping, and learning a lot due to my errors - i think I've found an ant, that is so robust i can't f**k this up
So first thing i did, was to leave her in a testtube for 10 days, to take away any stress and make sure that she was going to survive her first time in captivity.

After 10 days she was alive, and ready to move into her nesting site. I know many of you keep your ants in the testtubes until nanitics and adult ants appear. I chose to find a more "natural" habitat for her.

 

 

 

Since the ant normally build nests in dead trees, some report that they also have the ability to make an underground nest. So i gave her both options. She chose the inter the wooden piece. Funny thing, there was some green fungus on the piece of wood, which she took with the inside the piece of wood. Now it's growing near the left exit - it looks like she tends too it, i don't know

 

 

 

Here she is as seen inside her habitat. I've named her Hestia, like the goddess of the home and fertility. She has already laid he first batch of eggs, and there is so many more than i would have ever excepted.

 

Edited by Lisberg, August 8 2019 - 12:56 PM.

[Lisberg]

By pure chance, today i removed a piece of dead wood, and under it was SO MANY Camponotus Herculeanus ants - i could hear them buzz.
I saw 5 winged queens, and I'm pretty sure the flightseason is over.. would they have been "mated" or waiting an entire year for next flightseason - does anyone know ?

[Amazant]

By pure chance, today i removed a piece of dead wood, and under it was SO MANY Camponotus Herculeanus ants - i could hear them buzz.
I saw 5 winged queens, and I'm pretty sure the flightseason is over.. would they have been "mated" or waiting an entire year for next flightseason - does anyone know ?

Sometimes not all of the alates fly and are either killed and used as food or ejected later in the year after all possible nuptial flights take place or when they start preparing for hibernation.

[Canadian anter]

By pure chance, today i removed a piece of dead wood, and under it was SO MANY Camponotus Herculeanus ants - i could hear them buzz.
I saw 5 winged queens, and I'm pretty sure the flightseason is over.. would they have been "mated" or waiting an entire year for next flightseason - does anyone know ?

waiting for next year. Camponotus Hibernate their alates. Sometimes you'll find ejected queens in the fall for this reason

[Lisberg]

Can anyone say, based on the pictures, if it is a Camponotus ligniperda instead of a Camponotus herculeanus??

The reason i ask, is because i came across this page http://fp.reverso.ne...--40029087.html

 

Based on the pictures i think the Gaster i too big on my ant to be a C. Herculeanus, BUT... she doesn't have the red coloration on her Gaster as mentioned elsewhere on the internet??.. need some expert advice
 

I can provide better pictures - IF someone can link me the best way to take fotos of ants - got a camera with macro lens and a mobile with a cam to choose from ?

[NickAnter]

Gaster size is somewhat unreliable. It depends on how well fed the queen is, or if she is filled with an egg, or a parasite. I can't tell wether or not she is ligniperda or herculeanus.

[Lisberg]

So it has been three months now, since I collected my queen, and so far she is alive (which is a good thing of course) - she has 15'ish eggs.. but there comes my concern .. wouldn't they be like larvae, cocoons or ants by now ?
She is kept at 18-23° Celsius, inside a piece of wood which is moist and gets sprayed every two days with water from a mistmaker

Any thoughts??

[ForestDragon]

You still got time before you should be worried sometimes nanitics just take a bit to develop and they could also be some small larvae within it just you don't know it yet

[ANTdrew]

18 celcius is a pretty low temperature. Gently heating the nest might help a lot to speed things up. A heat cable heating a small portion of her tank could work or a heat lamp above. Just be sure it is a gentle heat and that the queen can pick her optimum temperature.

[Lisberg]

Okay I'll leave her as is for some time - but where I come from the weather is cold and outside there is only 20 degrees at this time ?

[ANTdrew]

Ok. This species must develop slowly in your climate. Better to mimic her natural conditions than to cheat or take shortcuts.

[RushmoreAnts]

 

 

 

 

I love the color of her wings, like nicotine

 

I find Camponotus queens in general tend to have beautiful wings. 

[Lisberg]

 

 

 

 

 

I love the color of her wings, like nicotine

 

I find Camponotus queens in general tend to have beautiful wings. 

 

 

In general i think Camponotus ants are overall the most beautiful ants - but, i saw a picture inhere some days ago, where someone found a reddish ant with a more triangular wingset - that was indeed a piece of natures great art !

[Lisberg]

So today was a sad day... I've kept my eyes on her 1 time every week, and I noticed the eggs getting fewer and fewer but never saw any large of pupae

I was convinced that she was mated and I know she is fully claustural - but since it has been some months since she laid the eggs I was getting frustrated

So I decided to clean her box, and make sure everything was fine ( never feeded her)
But as I clean I see 3 dead ants in the soil - apparently she had nanitics I just completely missed them because I didn't want to stress her

I can see she has a few eggs left, is there any chance she can recover loosing her first nanitics ? I feel so bad over this neglect