17 replies to this topic

[AntsCali098]

I caught a variety of camponotus queens on April 28th - 29th. This is a general journal for all of them.

Camponotus vicinus:
I caught about 10 of these queens. I will probably keep 2, one as a backup. These queens all have plenty of eggs and are very physogastric. They grow very slow, so I'm not expecting workers in a while.


Camponotus ca02:
I caught about 20 of these queens. They were everywhere, on the pavement and wood. These queens all have eggs as well. I bought one a bit before, so I am keeping her and another one as a backup. The queen I bought has larvae already.
Queen 1

Queen 2


Camponotus clarithorax:
I got 5 of these queens. I have two queens together in one, and a backup single queen just in case. They also have eggs.


Camponotus laevigatus:
This queen was originally miss-identified as vicinus black. I have one of these queens with a little batch of eggs and caught 2, sold one.

Camponotus essigi:
I caught 4 of these during the trip. I am keeping 2 of them. I really love the colors of this species, they are beautiful. The queens have eggs.
Queen 1

Queen 2


Thanks for checking out my journal!

Edited by AntsCali098, September 7 2023 - 11:24 AM.

[byungkyulee]

Is the difference between CA02 and vicinus the direction of their antennae? Or is there something else? How do you distinguish and id them?

[AntsCali098]

Usually ca02 is a bit larger then vicinus. Also, vicinus has red and orange on the gaster, while ca02 is pure orange.

[bmb1bee]

Looking forward to updates on the essigi! They're probably the coolest looking Camponotus on this journal in my opinion, just because of their coloration.

[AntsCali098]

Yeah, I really like them. I kept them before but they escaped, so I'm really hoping these do well. They were definitely on the wish list before I caught them.

Edited by AntsCali098, May 18 2023 - 9:44 AM.

[ZTYguy]

Yeah, I really like them. I kept them before but they escaped, so I'm really hoping these do well. They were definitely on the wish list before I caught them.

Essigi are definitely a nice looking species, they’re also quite fast (as you probably already guessed based on their size). A big disappointed I didn’t grab any this year but I’m excited for my ca02. Can’t wait for workers from my queens, it’ll hopefully only be a week and a half for my farthest queen.

[AntsCali098]

Yeah, I really like them. I kept them before but they escaped, so I'm really hoping these do well. They were definitely on the wish list before I caught them.

Essigi are definitely a nice looking species, they’re also quite fast (as you probably already guessed based on their size). A big disappointed I didn’t grab any this year but I’m excited for my ca02. Can’t wait for workers from my queens, it’ll hopefully only be a week and a half for my farthest queen.

Definitely, I lost a few while anting, they can easily run away and get in crevices in logs.

[AntsCali098]

The more developed of the 2 ca02 now has a cocoon to go along with her 2 eggs and 2 larvae! The other queens mostly still have eggs, although a few have some small larvae.

I'll also add another colony to this journal. This is my Camponotus vicinus black variety that I've had for a while now. She has one worker, 3-4 larvae and some eggs.

Edited by AntsCali098, May 25 2023 - 7:37 AM.

[Ernteameise]

The queen with the red butt is beautiful.

[AntsCali098]

The queen with the red butt is beautiful.

Thank you, that is a Camponotus ca02 queen

[AntsCali098]

After checking on the queens today, I saw some had larvae

Camponotus us-ca02 (queen 1) larvae:


Camponotus clarithorax (duel queen) larvae:


Camponotus essigi larvae (queen 1):


Camponotus vicinus black larvae:


All the others still have eggs, vicinus single queens growing very slow.

The other ca02 (queen 2) is close to workers, I believe with multiple cocoons now.

The camponotus laevigatus seems to be injured unfortunately, and ate all but one egg.

Thanks for checking out my journal

Edited by AntsCali098, June 5 2023 - 6:46 PM.

[AntsCali098]

I'm selling the most developed ca02 to keep this beautiful queen with black stripes on her gaster in place of her.

She is nicely developed as well with a cocoon and some small and large larvae.

The other ca02 is even more developed with multiple cocoons.


Camponotus vicinus with some larger larvae now.

The dual clarithorax also seems to have a young cocoon.


Last but not least, both the essigi have young cocoon(s)


Thanks for checking out my journal!

[AntsCali098]

Workers!

 

All the species except the vicinus and laevigatus have the first nanitics.

 

The main ca02 queen has perhaps the most brood of them all, with 8-10 cocoons and a few larvae. She now has her first 2 freshly hatched nanitics. At the nanitic stage with my first ca02, this is where things went wrong so with my second shot, hoping she does well.

 

The essigi queens both also have workers, expecting both to get around 5 nanitics. I've had a colony of these before, but never raised a queen. I guess the nanitics are noticeably smaller then the normal workers after development in essigi, these look a lot smaller then the first colony I had, maybe 3-4 mm difference. Apologies for the second picture being low quality, she's in a plastic tube unlike most.

 

The clairithorax duel queen colony has 2 nanitics, expecting around 6-7 from them. I've never heard of these being poly (although I don't know much about them) so we'll see how they do now that they have workers.

 

 

Thanks for checking out my journal!

[AntsCali098]

All the Camponotus now have workers!

 

I moved one of the vicinus into a mini hearth, they have 8 workers and a small pile of small-medium larvae

 

 

I moved the other vicinus colony into a brand new test tube, since the old one ran out of water. They particuarly enjoyed their first meal! This queen has 7 workers, 2 fat larvae, 1 cocoon, and 5 eggs.

 

 

The laevigatus also has her only nanitic:

 

 

The us-ca02 main colony has been moved to a small tank as an outworld, which they seem to like, while the 2nd one got a new test tube as well. I've noticed the main colony is way more sensitive to vibrations rather then light, I think I've trained them not to mind light as much. they tank and test tube is mostly not dark, which they seem not to care about. When you move the tube or tank, they go crazy and the queen runs around the tube.

 

Main us-ca02:

 

 

The vicinus black queen and worker have died, I was never really able to get them started 

 

 

Thanks for checking out my journal!

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Upd?

[The_Gaming-gate]

Upd?

One colony died, and the others are probably hibernating.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

I would think they would be out by now. That is why I am asking for an update.

[AntsCali098]

I'm down to two. I recently took the vicinus out of hibernation, and the ca-02 just has 2 workers now. The essigi were sold and the lae unfortunately died.

I also now have 2 fragilis colonies that I'll add soon!

Edited by AntsCali098, March 20 2024 - 7:53 PM.