44 replies to this topic

[Kevin]

I wouldn't consider New Jersey "southern", but I have 10 colonies of Camponotus chromaiodes. In the wild, I've noticed their founding chambers are very tight, even with 10-15 workers. I'm currently working on a BoxBox formicaria similar to Drew's to raise them.

[Batspiderfish]

So I don't believe any testing has been done for either of these, but two common rumors about Camponotus that I've picked up over the years are:

 

That they don't like crappy plastics
That wood-dwelling species may depend on botanical compounds or microbial ecosystems to keep an adequately clean nest.

I've been including pieces of dried pine resin (along with coconut fiber) in test tube setups, simply because I've heard that some ants (i.e. Formica rufa) are attracted to resin bits.

[Serafine]

Another thing that hasn't been checked either - do they have enough space to walk around? Camponotus love to walk long distances foraging for food so maybe try some extensive tubing.

[Superant33]

If Camponotus sayi are native to your area, try raising them. They are very easy. I feed mine organic fruit juice, sunburst, and insects. They readily take the fruit juice (added sugar is sometimes needed) and sunburst. Insects are taken intermittently. Although they love WIPE. I have had tried rearing three colonies, all from recently mated queens. Two are about 13 years old. The third decided that the space in my wall was more comfortable. That one was about 10 years old. Pogonomyrmex I have problems with. C. sayi are hard to go wrong with.

[Mdrogun]

Of all the northern Camponotus queens I catch (I could catch probably 30 or more every year because they're so abundant) very few have ever failed. I had a queen with 1 leg and 1 antennae found a colony once after I gave her a single pupa. It astounds me how the northern cousins of southern Camponotus are such polar opposites. In fact, most of the colonies I keep of Camponotus I end up neglecting and they still do fine. I kind of want to give southern Camponotus a try.