81 replies to this topic

[Shazza]

Hi everyone, thought I would start the journey with you all and start a journal.

Received her 22.06.21, purchased from an Australian supplier in another state than me. They occur in my state and region but I have never had luck locating a queen from a flight.

They occur on the east coast of Australia and are very common to come across forgoing workers while out in the yard.

The queen is from a 2020 flight apparently, this slightly concerns me as she will not have had any food for 6-7 months. I hope she can survive ok without having to add some honey.

She has approximately 3 large pupae and maby 5-6 eggs or small pupae. It is winter here at the moment so i am expecting growth to be slow. I can't seem to find literature on how long each stage of growth takes for this specias.

Couple of bad photos attached and I will update as things change.





Note: Queen arrived with water already red and supplier assured me it is food die they use to catalogue there stock

Edited by Shazza, June 26 2021 - 4:59 PM.

[eea]

i love her colors!

[Shazza]

i love her colors!

Thanks, one reason they are my faverit. Il try get better photos once settled. The workers can be a great orange as well so ni am looking foward to seeing how they turn out

[Shazza]

Not a great deal to update, larvae still about the same. I know camponotus are slow to grow but my god lol. I did test the lid on the test tube and it's very tight. I was going to tempt the queen with some sugar water but I do not want to upset her by trying to remove the cap to much. This may be a dumb question aswell but not being cotton wool will she eventuly suffocate?

[Shazza]

Just a photo with the brood

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[ANTdrew]

Not a great deal to update, larvae still about the same. I know camponotus are slow to grow but my god lol. I did test the lid on the test tube and it's very tight. I was going to tempt the queen with some sugar water but I do not want to upset her by trying to remove the cap to much. This may be a dumb question aswell but not being cotton wool will she eventuly suffocate?

What is the cap made of? If it’s airtight, she will suffocate. Poke needle holes in it or replace with cotton.

[Shazza]

Ok cap removed and replaced with cotton, I took the opportunity to give the queen a well deserved drink of sugar water. She acted aggressive untill she touched it and then she sat there for a good few min lapping it up. Sorry for the bad picture, my hands were full so I had to rely on my 11yo

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[Shazza]

Now that the tape is removed and she had settled I was finaly able to get an picture of her and the brood.

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[Shazza]

It's been a long time since I have kept a colony so I'm not sure, Do any of the Larvae look the size that they would start spinning a cocoon soon?

[eea]

It's been a long time since I have kept a colony so I'm not sure, Do any of the Larvae look the size that they would start spinning a cocoon soon?

maybe a bit bigger

[Shazza]

Still not much happening as expected, Queen seems very settled. When I open her dark box to check her every 4-5 days she doesn't react at all now. I have purchased a 5W heat mat and I have placed that in a large container with the queen down one end in her dark box, heat mat is at the opposite end. I set it up with a thermometer and I have monitored prior to placing the queen in. Box never exceeded 24deg. I plan on only heating her for this founding stage at the moment.

A few larvae are getting large and all eggs have hatched. No sign of new eggs yet but it is the middle of winter here at the moment. Hope fully this will change with the heat mat. It is hard to count but I estimate 10-11 larvae. Sorry for the bad picture's

[ANTdrew]

That’s a good setup. You should get cocoons any day now.

[Shazza]

That’s a good setup. You should get cocoons any day now.

Thanks mate, once I'm sure it works il put a hole in the side for the cable to run. Yes hopefully cocoon will spin shortly.

Once she has a few nanantics has any one successfully mixed some proteine powder with honey? Just trying the think of a way to minimize food in the test tube.

[Shazza]

Not much to update as still only larvae. Starting to wonder if something is wrong. Taking a very long time.

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[bradscatch22]

Not much to update as still only larvae. Starting to wonder if something is wrong. Taking a very long time.

 

I wouldn't be worried. I've got a Camponotus Consobrinus queen that I caught in late summer and she hasn't laid eggs at all yet. Some of my other larger Camponotus larvae have taken a long time to develop. I think the bigger the species the longer it takes. You could try feeding her a small insect, like a fruit fly or something, and that might help her along with some protein. Nothing big or it will make a mess.

[Shazza]

Thanks for the reply, sorry I missed the response or I Would have replied sooner. Hopefully it is just the time thing. I did the weekly check today and the queen has placed the some of the wet cotton on top of the brood for some reason? any ideas why she is doing this? The water is also about to run out in the tube so looks like il be trying to move her tomorrow.

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[Shazza]

I haven't had any luck finding out why the queen was covering the brood with cotton wool. At a guess the wool was drying out so I think she was trying to keep them damp. I attached a new test tube with fresh water to her existing test tube tonight. I hope she will move in to the new test tube with fresh water if that is what she is needing.do I need to worry if she doesn't move and force move her?

A bit of exciting news though there is finally a cocoon. Il get a photo once she settles down from disturbing her with the new test tube addition.

Edited by Shazza, August 16 2021 - 2:52 AM.

[AntsMaryland]

They tend to do that to give their larvae some substrate to use to cocoon.

[Shazza]

They tend to do that to give their larvae some substrate to use to cocoon.

Hopefully that's what it was, I have kept this species before and I haven't added substrate in there test tubes before. Should I be putting some in?

Edited by Shazza, August 16 2021 - 2:57 AM.

[Shazza]

Queen moved that night in to the new test tube 😁. I took some pictures before I separated them to show the cocoon. Strange thing though is that the new cotton is turning red already? The supplier did say it was food colouring in the original water but I'm starting to think it may be cyno. Is there need to worry if it does turn red as well?

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