5 replies to this topic

[Ottercl]

This journal is to cover my various Camponotus colonies, all of which are in the early stages of development.

Camponotus castaneus

This colony is in its second year, and currently has 4 nanitics, 8 pupae, 3 (very orange) larvae, and about 5 eggs. This queen is doing much better in her second year, as she only laid one egg and had only one nanitic in her first year. This queen still doesn’t lay nearly as much as my chromaiodes queen (her gaster is also not as inflated), but I’ve heard this is typical of castaneus. Hopefully the large amount of pupae will lead to a population boom, and I can move them into a mini hearth before the end of the season.

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[Ottercl]

Camponotus chromaiodes

This colony is in its first year of development and has 4 nanitics, 4 pupae, a ton of small larvae and eggs, and one really fat queen. I’ve noticed this queen has laid more eggs than any other Camponotus queen I have ever kept, and hopefully this colony will grow fast because of it. Compared, to my other colonies, they tend to be very nervous foragers, only coming out to get their food in the dark. They have created a small garbage pile at the front of their test tube, so I’ll wait until they are bigger to move them and prevent this happening in a new nest.

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[Ottercl]

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

I had caught two Camponotus pennsylvanicus queens earlier this year, both of which have pupae. One queen has five pupae, several eggs and larvae, while the other has three pupae and several eggs. The queen with less pupae was caught earlier in the year, but ate her first eggs, so I’m hoping she makes it. I will be keeping the colony with the most production by the end of the year, and trying to sell the other one.

Queen 1



Queen 2

[Ottercl]

Camponotus castaneus

This colony is continuing to do well and have 10 workers with 4 pupae and batch of new eggs. I assume this colony will slow down for diapause soon and will have 14 workers by the end of the season, and be ready to be moved into a mini hearth before diapause.

Camponotus chromaiodes

This colony is doing extremely well. The very physogastric queen has created a massive pile of brood, and so far, I can say that chromaiodes is the fastest growing Camponotus species of the five I have owned. This colony will defiantly be ready for a custom-made nest I am getting from UtahAnts very soon!


Camponotus pennsylvanicus

This colony’s first 4 nanitics have arrived, and there is still a health pile of brood. They will most likely hibernate in their test tube, and (hopefully) have a population boom next year.


Camponotus americanus

I got a brand new colony of Camponotus americanus courtesy of AKA Ant with 7 workers. The queen had a transport mite on her, but I was able to isolate her from the colony and remove it with a soft paintbrush (not without a lot of stress). This colony has about 4 pupae and some small eggs and larvae.

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[Virginian_ants]

I have a small chromaiodes colony with 6 workers and the queen is very physogastric even after she laid a large pile of eggs. Camponotus are one of my favorites to keep especially Castaneus. Good luck!!

[Ottercl]

Here are some videos of the colonies, I was even able to get footage of the americanus queen laying an egg! (sorry for the bad quality, I rushed to film after seeing her start laying).

https://youtube.com/...A?feature=share
https://youtube.com/...A?feature=share
https://youtube.com/...o?feature=share
https://youtube.com/...Q?feature=share