43 replies to this topic

[Skwiggledork]

Decided to go out last night(25/5/2020) after dark to try and take insect photos, ended up seeing more Camponotus queens than I could ever hope to care for. I snagged 5 of them. Hopefully I will get one or two colonies that are fertile and survive. I believe I have 3 C.pennsylvanicus and 2 C.chromaiodes.

 

 

 

https://i.imgur.com/LQ97iB6.jp

 

[Kaelwizard]

Yep, that's exactly what they are.

[Skwiggledork]

Checked to make sure none of the test tubes were leaking before and #1 and #4 have died. Their gasters look distended to me, so I am going to keep them for a few days and see if anything comes out.

2 C.pennsylvanicus and 1 C.chromaiodes left.

 

[Skwiggledork]

I was right the two that died were victims of a parasite. Not sure what the culprit is, but there is larvae in the two dead queen's test tubes now.

 

[Skwiggledork]

Queens 2, 3, and 5 laid a decent amount of eggs this week.

 

 

 

 

As for the parasites some of them have pupated, so hopefully we will see what they are soon. I am glad I put the test tubes in a container because apparently they burrow out of the cotton.

 

 

 

 

[Skwiggledork]

Brood is growing nicely.

 

 

 

Still no news on the parasites. They might be dead. I don't know.

[Skwiggledork]

Sooon.

 

 

 

Not sure if the parasites are dead. Nothing has changed with them. I'm going to give it another week then clean everything out.

[Skwiggledork]

First two workers for one of the C.pennsylvanica queens

 

Other two queens are getting close but nothing yet.

[Skwiggledork]

Everyone has workers now. I moved one colony of the C.pennsylvanicus into an antkit size 2 nest, attached the C.chromaiodes to an AntsCanada test tube portal, and the last pennsylvanicus is just in the test tube for now.

 

 

[Skwiggledork]

Queen #2 (C.pennsylvanicus) in the AntKit nest is up to 12 workers and doing the best out of all of them, but it is also getting more food and more different food since there is space to put items in the outworld and it's easier to maintain. Also the easiest to take pictures of.

 

Queen #3(C.pennsylvanicus) in the test tube setup is doing the second best with 9 workers. They are eating a ton of honey. I only give them a little dab at a time, but it is always gone when I check on it.


Queen #5(C.chromaiodes) is doing well, but behind the others with only 7 workers.

[Skwiggledork]

Queen #2 is up to about 22 workers. Trucking right along.

 

Queen #3 I moved into an AntShack nest and is up to 15-16 workers. Nest is too big and they've started storing trash in two places. Who would have guess that? I know better...

 

Queen #5 is between 15-20 workers. They stay huddled up since they can't really spread out in a test tube like the others can, so they are a bit harder to count. By far my prettiest colony.

[TheAntGuy]

Awesome journal, looks like you got some pretty colonies there!

[Skwiggledork]

Awesome journal, looks like you got some pretty colonies there!

 

Thanks.

[TheAntGuy]

Do those 3d printed nests seem to work well?

[Skwiggledork]

Do those 3d printed nests seem to work well?

The AntShack nest seems to be decent, so far, It's too big for the colony, so they are storing trash in it a bit. I need to figure out how the humidity setup works. It's got two test tubes that are supposed to make it so you don't have to worry about the humidity for awhile, but I made regular test tube setups and it's not doing anything, I'm sure it's something silly that I am doing wrong though.

[Spazmops]

Those parasites freak me out, that’s so nasty.

[Skwiggledork]

Those parasites freak me out, that’s so nasty.

Yea, parasites are the last creatures that I'm not a fan of. Still a little sad that they died before I found out what they were though.

[Skwiggledork]

Queen #2 (C.pennsylvanicus) is doing well in the Antkit size 2 nest. They are up to 33 workers.

 

Queen #3 (C.pennsylvanicus) in the Antshack medium hydro nest seem to be iffy about the nest. There seems to be a few workers that hang out in the nest and the queen, brood and rest of the workers stay in the water test tube. I'm not sure if I figured the hydration tubes out or not, but the cotton seems wet, so it should have plenty of humidity. I might try letting it dry out a little to see if it's just too humid. With them clumped up in the test tube and spread out I don't have an accurate count, but they are still growing.

 

 

Queen #5 (C.chromaiodes) is slowly growing as well. I hooked their test tube portal up to an AntsCanada mini hybrid nest that I mostly filled with dirt. I'm trying to use what I have instead of buy more stuff for now, so hopefully limiting the space will let them move in and make more room as they need, but so far they haven't decided it's better than the test tube. Almost had a whoopsie and forgot there was a second entrance, so one ant found the exit and was found walking around. Luckily I saw it early enough that I caught her and fixed my mistake.

 

 

[ANTdrew]

33 workers is impressive growth.

[Skwiggledork]

Almost saw them open a cocoon. Thought I had enough time to make a sandwich for the show. I was wrong.