9 replies to this topic

[Temperateants]

I caught my carpenter ant queens in late May, most of the, have about 10 workers, and a pile of brood. I have seen colonies of Camponotous pennsylvanicus. and Camponotous Chroamaiodes grow to have lots of brood, is there anyway to make them grow faster?

Do I have to feed them more protein?

More heat? thanks

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

It's diapause season, so hibernate them until March/April depending on where you live IF you see diapause signs (no brood growth, rejection of normally accepted foods, less foraging, you get the idea). About the colony growth, you can't really do anything about brood piles and egg laying. You can help to make it more appealing for the queen to lay, such as keeping their set up dark and giving them a steady tempatures of 80-82 degrees Farenhite. Another thing you could do is feeding them some extra protein to help energize the queen into egg laying and help the brood develop faster. If you have anymore questions, feel free to join me and some other Campokeepers on the Camponotous Q&A thread! We will always give our best to help anyone with questions relating to Camponotous

[Temperateants]

I am aware that it's diapause season, since I am in the northeast. Thanks for the invitation!

But when my ants are going to wake, is there any other things I can do?

[ANTdrew]

For fast growth, definitely keep them as warm as you can. Natural heat is way better than any heat cable if you can keep them somewhere with little or no AC. Other than that, get them a big variety of insect protein sources. I think termites are a super food if you can manage to find those.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

I am aware that it's diapause season, since I am in the northeast. Thanks for the invitation!
But when my ants are going to wake, is there any other things I can do?

You take them out after give or take 5 months (a very welcome break for most ant keepers). The ants wake up when you take them out of diapause. You can put them in your garage for a natural cool down or gradually cool them down yourself using a wine cooler. Fridges with freezers above them are not recommended.

[Temperateants]

For fast growth, definitely keep them as warm as you can. Natural heat is way better than any heat cable if you can keep them somewhere with little or no AC. Other than that, get them a big variety of insect protein sources. I think termites are a super food if you can manage to find those.

Can you elaborate on that?

[DDD101DDD]

 

For fast growth, definitely keep them as warm as you can. Natural heat is way better than any heat cable if you can keep them somewhere with little or no AC. Other than that, get them a big variety of insect protein sources. I think termites are a super food if you can manage to find those.

Can you elaborate on that?

 

Natural heat will more accurately mimic what they would be feeling in the wild, and they won't get burned to death which is sometimes a risk on the hotter days. Camponoutus likes to eat termites from what I've seen on other people's journals.

[vtyler98]

IMO there are two things I’ve done which caused a colony explosion this year.

One is a warmer diapause inside my house. I keep them in a room that is 66-68, cool enough that they enter diapause but imo places less strain on the colony. I had ZERO worker deaths from diapause and only 15 total bodies in the outworld over the past 2 years. Second, as already mentioned, tons of protein sources. I use cooked chicken, pork, egg, live insects like spiders and fruit flies and then a good supply of maple syrup, ant nectar and ant juice.

This C. castaneus colony went from 3 workers and a queen 2 years ago to this large colony with several hundred workers. Both sides of this nucleus habitat are filled up and now they’re overflowing into the outworld. Here’s a pic of the colony and the brood pile this spring after they were a few weeks out of diapause.



And here is a pic of the colony. There aren’t as many ants on the front due to the light that shines on it and they prefer the back portion better because of that.

[Serafine]

It really depends on where your Camponotus species are from. Southern species can be encouraged to grow with some heating and lots of food.

On northern Camponotus species these efforts are wasted. They will lay twice per year - once in spring and once during the summer - and only the spring batch will develop into workers during the same year. Yes, heating will still make the brood develop faster but once the first batch has made it to workers and the second batch consists of fat larvae they will just stop doing anything and enter pre-hibernation. I've seen Camponotus herculeanus and ligniperda colonies going into pre-hibernation in the middle of JUNE.

 

Also if you heat your ants always give them heat gradient (heat only one side of the nest so they can evade to cooler places if it gets too hot).

If it gets too hot your ants will die - it makes absolutely no difference whether the heat is "natural" or comes from a heating cable .

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

It really depends on where your Camponotus species are from. Southern species can be encouraged to grow with some heating and lots of food.
On northern Camponotus species these efforts are wasted. They will lay twice per year - once in spring and once during the summer - and only the spring batch will develop into workers during the same year. Yes, heating will still make the brood develop faster but once the first batch has made it to workers and the second batch consists of fat larvae they will just stop doing anything and enter pre-hibernation. I've seen Camponotus herculeanus and ligniperda colonies going into pre-hibernation in the middle of JUNE.
 
Also if you heat your ants always give them heat gradient (heat only one side of the nest so they can evade to cooler places if it gets too hot).
If it gets too hot your ants will die - it makes absolutely no difference whether the heat is "natural" or comes from a heating cable .

Wow, that's good to know! I will have to read your journals, because it seems like I can also learn a lot from you about camponotous too!