4 replies to this topic

[ariaant]

Hello all,

 

After reading a few journals, I have become interested in starting a colony of Camponotus quercicola.  From the resources I saw at this website, i gather they are best found at night near areas with large concentrations of oak (coastal live oak) between March to May.  I was thinking about trying to collect some queens near O neill regional park in Orange County CA (next really hot night) which has these oaks and where people have reported finding them in the past.

 

People mentioned finding them mostly crawling on oak trees (live or dead) and on the ground.  Some people mentioned on the Southern California ant map that they found queens in "nests".   Has anyone found them in nests? Are these nests in dead oak or in the ground?  Does anyone think it's too late for this season?

 

Thank you

[nurbs]

They are found most easily right after their flight on the same night, crawling on Oak. It is probably too late at Oneill, they most likely flew a few weeks ago.

 

If you do go look, yes, on Oak trees at night. There may be a few stragglers. You will not find any during the day. They come out late, usually after 11pm.

[ariaant]

Ok thanks for the reply.

[dspdrew]

I'm in that area a lot, and so far, even though I know there are nests in some of the Live Oak trees along Live Oak Canyon Rd, I still haven't been able to find any queens there. They most likely already flew there over a month ago. I am still hoping to find some up near Big Bear where it's a lot cooler. I've been watching the weather and I don't think it has gotten warm enough there yet. Other years I have found Camponotus queens up there, I found them around May.

[crotalus]

Did anybody end of finding them? I’ve also been on the hunt for quercicola queens where they may be still