36 replies to this topic

[Artisan_Ants]

The other good news is they are starting to move their trash to the outworld instead of just a corner of the nest.

Man, I really wish I had a brood like like that for my Camps. Haven’t seen a brood like like that for the in months. This colony is really starting to pick up the pace. Great job, and hope they do well!

C. floridanus can explode much faster compared to some other Camponotus species out there. I don't know EXACTLY why that is, but I do know that they are very aggressive and eat like pigs. If you give them constant protein and sugar, as well as keep their humidity and heat where they typically like it, they tend to grow very fast (for a Camponotus species, at least).

For sure.

[Artisan_Ants]

Yes, I've heard the same - C. floridanus is faster growing than most Camponotus, probably related to them coming from a warmer environment where they don't have to diapause?
 
Anyway, they go absolutely nuts if I put a Dubia in their outworld - they smell it and come running.  They drink the sugar water too, but they're much more casual about it.  I just ordered a byFormica liquid feeder to upgrade from their open sugar water bowl that dries out and needs refilling every couple days.

Once I took my Camps out of hibernation, and gave them two pieces of a mealworm, it took them about a day to find it. Now if I put it, they’ll probably find it in like 3 minutes cause there’s always this one worker who always chills in the outworld, usually seeking the sugar water I give them in a ByFormica liquid feeder (I have a pack) but will drag the mealworm down if she sees one in less than 10 minutes. Yeah, getting the liquid feeder is a great thing for young colonies as they last quite a while. My micro feeder that I used for my Camps first lasted for two weeks, and I only switched it to the medium one after that (which might last double which in weeks, is a month). Anyways, good luck with the colony (I bet they’ll be at least 30 or more by next week).

[Flu1d]

Yes, I've heard the same - C. floridanus is faster growing than most Camponotus, probably related to them coming from a warmer environment where they don't have to diapause?

Anyway, they go absolutely nuts if I put a Dubia in their outworld - they smell it and come running. They drink the sugar water too, but they're much more casual about it. I just ordered a byFormica liquid feeder to upgrade from their open sugar water bowl that dries out and needs refilling every couple days.

That's a solid upgrade. A feeder is something I'm glad to personally have. I keep 2 feeders full of water and 1 with sugar water.

[dboeren]

I set up my new byFormica liquid feeder and went out of town for a couple of days.  When I got back, all the liquid was gone and all my ants had moved into the outworld including the queen and all the brood!

 

So apparently what happened is that if you put a liquid feeder too close to the tunnel the ants will see this as a risk that might flood their nest and they will try to plug it with debris, which causes the liquid in the feeder to all leak out.  I get that so far, I'm still not sure why they moved into the outworld though.  Maybe still worried about flooding?

 

Anyway, I was able to scare them back into the nest by opening the top and lightly blowing - this made them go absolutely crazy and the workers started pickup in the larvae, etc... and after a little while they all moved back downstairs.

 

Once they were down, I plugged the tunnel opening with a stopper, took out both their water and feeder, and cleaned the outworld.  Now I've put the feeder back in but opposite of their tunnel entrance so they hopefully won't try to plug it up again.

[dboeren]

Pics

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[dboeren]

The other thing I learned from this is that if you have 1-2 ants escape, DON'T PANIC.  Sure, they're running around super fast but they have no idea where they are or where to go to so they tend to go around in circles and probably won't get very far.

 

Just pick them up gently, open the lid, and drop them back in their home one at a time.  You've got more time than you think.

[dboeren]

Anyways, good luck with the colony (I bet they’ll be at least 30 or more by next week).

 

Looks like you were correct, I think I counted 32 in the top pic above.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

That brood should be in the nest.

And the queen. Why are they all outside?

[dboeren]

I still don't know for sure, read the last few updates.  Their liquid feeder drained out due to debris they stuffed in it, it's probably due to that in some way.  I was out of town for 2 days, came back, and they were living upstairs.

 

Now they are back downstairs in the net where they belong so at least things appear to be normal again.  I'll be keeping an eye on them.

[Mushu]

It's more than they need, but the store I got them only sells a deli cup of 25 Dubias so it's either use them or else a lot of them will probably die unused if I don't because it's a year's supply if I only do every other week

 

As the colony grows it'll be less of an issue and I do make sure they always have sugar water too.

It's easy to keep Dubias alive for feeding. You can make your own roach chow that is cheap and lasts forever and some fruits and veggies for water. 

[ANTdrew]

It's more than they need, but the store I got them only sells a deli cup of 25 Dubias so it's either use them or else a lot of them will probably die unused if I don't because it's a year's supply if I only do every other week

As the colony grows it'll be less of an issue and I do make sure they always have sugar water too.

It's easy to keep Dubias alive for feeding. You can make your own roach chow that is cheap and lasts forever and some fruits and veggies for water.

Why bother, though? One of the beauties of ant keeping is that they do NOT require live food. Freezing is the way to go.

[Mushu]

 

 

It's more than they need, but the store I got them only sells a deli cup of 25 Dubias so it's either use them or else a lot of them will probably die unused if I don't because it's a year's supply if I only do every other week

As the colony grows it'll be less of an issue and I do make sure they always have sugar water too.

It's easy to keep Dubias alive for feeding. You can make your own roach chow that is cheap and lasts forever and some fruits and veggies for water.

Why bother, though? One of the beauties of ant keeping is that they do NOT require live food. Freezing is the way to go.

 

I find my colonies take more a liking to flash frozen foods, they may very well take anything when the colony gets larger. For instance if I freeze the fruit flies too long, I notice they leave more of them on the same feeding regime. My buddy has the same experience. I think it may be because of the thinner plastic bags(small ziplock bags) and  I use a plastic sauce cup with ventilation holes that housed mealworms causing freezer burn. 

 

It's not too hard to keep Dubia alive for those who may not have the option, like my buddy with a full freezer and a wife that would freak out, unless he invests in a separate freezer.  They also get larger, so you gain some extra meat.

 

Indeed freezing is more convenient all things being equal.

Edited by Mushu, April 9 2024 - 3:46 AM.

[dboeren]

Update: Moving the sugar water feeder away from the tunnel opening worked perfectly, the ants are no longer stuffing debris in the feeder and because of this it is no longer leaking.

[dboeren]

Today is my colony's 6 month ant-iversary, so I thought I'd update with some new pics.  They are doing well and I'm planning to move them into a bigger home soon.  I talked to Tarheel and they will have more pre-made formicaria ready in a couple of weeks so I'll wait until then and see what they've got.  Probably going to go with a Labyrinth.  They're currently going nuts over a Dubia I gave them, so there's a lot of activity in the outworld.

 

I'm not sure right now if I want to get a 2nd colony to live in the mini-hearth once they've upgraded, or what I would get if I did, so I'll probably just put that decision off for a bit.  I probably also need to get them a bigger liquid feeder.  This one is OK for right now and lasts about a week, but as the colony grows it would probably be a good idea to have a bigger one.

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[dboeren]

Tarheel has restocked their Labyrinths and I've placed my order.  After it comes in I'll work on moving the colony to their new home.

[dboeren]

I’ve hooked up the Labyrinth with plastic tubing but they aren’t ready to move in yet. Instead they’ve moved their trash to the labyrinth tunnels and for some reason moved all their brood to the upstairs of their old Mini-Hearth to what used to be their outworld. At least I get a great view of the brood pile and the ants taking care of it!
Let’s try that pic again…

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[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

most ants will place their brood in whatever place they find to have the most optimal temp and humidity.
Mine move the late stage brood back and forth a few times each day between the warmest and most humid place in the nest.
When ambaint temps get up to and over the 83f i keep the dry warm part of the nest, they stop bringing the brood out form the water towers where it is more humid.

 

I keep the heat source awawy from the water towers to avoid oversaturauiton from too fast an evaporaiton, which puts condensaiton on the glass.

 

nice pics, great looking colony.