13 replies to this topic

[tdlnx]

Hi all.

About a month ago I (rather, my cat) found a big black ant crawling across my living room floor. I caught her and tossed her in a small formicarium I had available, and she was later identified as Camponotus pennsylvanicus. I know formicariums are frowned upon for solo queens but I decided to leave her in there and see what happens.

She now has a pretty nice brood pile and is very active. It looks like she may have workers soon so the coming weeks should be very interesting. Here’s hoping she is as successful as my other two colonies have been.

Attached Images

• 
• 

[ANTdrew]

Yup, that dark pupae should eclose in the next 48 hours.

[tdlnx]

Yup, that dark pupae should eclose in the next 48 hours.

You were absolutely correct about that. In fact, there are now 4 workers running around out of nowhere! I dropped some fruit flies in the tiny outworld portion of the nest and it took them zero time to find them and drag them back inside the nest.

Attached Images

• 

[tdlnx]

Update: this colony is doing very well! This queen has been hard at work and is now up to 15 workers. During the day the colony mostly stays inside and bundled together, but in the evenings the workers are constantly running around. I took these pictures after dropping some fruit flies in their enclosure (which they grabbed up nearly instantly).

Attached Images

• 
• 
• 

[m99]

Aw this makes me sad none of my pennsylvanicus queens made it, such a fun nest to watch! They seem to really like those super-deep chambers too, very happy ants

Edited by m99, August 18 2021 - 7:16 PM.

[tdlnx]

Back from diapause and I’m very worried about this queen. She has been moving around slightly since taking them from the fridge but has also been laying on her back. Her workers have been all around her so I’m just letting them do their thing for a but and hoping for the best.

They were so focused on her that I was actually able to remove the lid from the formicarium and take a picture.

Attached Images

• 
• 

[ElisAnts]

Its a goos sign that she's moving, however did slowly raise the temperature or just a sudden large change?

[tdlnx]

I’ve slowly been raising the temp throughout the day from 40 to 70 so far. I’m hoping tomorrow she’ll be more lively.

Edited by tdlnx, May 7 2022 - 8:17 PM.

[ANTdrew]

I bet she will. Northern Camponotus fully shut down on a deeper level than most other ants. Good luck!

Edited by ANTdrew, March 6 2022 - 7:46 AM.

[Antkeeper01]

Same thing happened with my Lasius americanus queen when I took them out of the fridge. She wasn't very active and then she "died" and was put in the trash pile a few hours later she was being tended to by her workers and active.

[azzaaazzzz00]

Yea most camponotus when in dispause lay on their sides or backs making them look dead. The first time this happened it also freaked me out.

[tdlnx]

Good news it looks like you were all correct and the queen is back to normal. In fact the whole colony seems more lively than ever and they’ve already started tending to a pretty size-able egg pile.

[tdlnx]

It’s so hard to get photos of this colony since they like to stay hidden deep in the chambers of their nest. There is a nice amount of brood and the workers are actively foraging almost all hours of the day and night.

Attached Images

• 
• 
• 

[tdlnx]

Sorry for the year long hiatus. I unfortunately lost all of my ant colonies this past winter and will need to start over. These were wonderful colonies and I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to keep them successfully, but I have learned a lot and will be better prepared in the future.