I caught a bunch of Camponotus last September, in Northern California-to my surprise they had a second flight of the year. I put them on heat but they did not lay eggs, so I figured they need hibernation. I put half of them in a wine cooler with the rest of my ants and hibernated them for a few months, and left the other half at room temperature. I recently took one half out of hibernation, and neither group has laid eggs yet. I'm still hopeful at least the hibernated group will lay eggs soon enough, but I wanted to ask-does anyone else have experience with fall flying Camponotus? The ones I catch in the spring usually just immediately lay eggs and continue to grow. Thanks!
Edited by buglover123, February 22 2022 - 3:07 PM.
) queen was found in early September and laid eggs less then a week later, she is missing a leg and part of one antenna but is going very strong, the eggs grew into larvae which I then hibernated as I had already given lots of time to grow, after hibernation one got eaten the other was a naked pupa which got eaten, but finally the queen had her first nanitic. So it can be a little harder sometimes, but generally about the same as spring flying queens. Fall flyers may actually end up bigger and stronger since less of them are typically produced vs spring flyers.
