31 replies to this topic

[AsdinAnts]

05/8/24

Hey everyone, this is a journal about my newly acquired C. Vicinus colony. The queen is very plump, seeing as I gave her and her workers some honey water. They have 3 larvae, two of them are pretty large and one is small. They have a nice batch of yellowish eggs going on, and i’m super excited to be keeping them. Big thanks to bmb, he’s the one that sent me the colony. These are the dark variant of C. vicinus as well.

 

Shortly after I got them, I put them into a tubs and tube setup, since it would be much easier for me to feed these fast and slim creatures. I gave them a mealworm that they did not touch at all, and a liquid ant feeder. What I noticed about these ants is that the nanitics are VERY shy, unlike most of the other ants that I have kept before.

 

(sorry for the bad picture, I do not want to disturb them too much.)

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[AsdinAnts]

5/22/24

 

I just fed the colony, and SHEESH. The workers gasters expanded to huge lengths, and so did the queens. I was pretty happy when the queen drank some of the honey water I gave them because she was looking very skinny while the workers were pretty fat.

 

I really want this colony to do good, seeing as this is my first camponotus colony.

I’m also very happy, I saw a larvae pupating. I saw the larvae spinning silk to make her cocoon, there are also quite a few small larvae and eggs.

Edited by AsdinAnts, May 22 2024 - 2:51 PM.

[AsdinAnts]

5/29/24

 

I gave the colony a small out world, I decorated the out world with some moist dirt, leaves, and a few rocks. I also added a springtail(s) as an extra cleanup crew, there are places where the springtail can hide and feel as if they are in the wild. (hopefully) There was a worker exploring it like crazy after I introduced them to the out world! I also put a piece of foil with honey water, and a young earwig. The worker drank the honey water till her gaster almost exploded, and then she ran back into her test tube to feed it to her sisters and mother.

As soon as she made it back to the nest, another worker picked up her food pheromones, and ZOOMED to the honey water!

 

They later dragged in the young earwig, and started feeding the larvae and queen. The cocoon they have has started darkening a little, (i’ve been heating all of my colonies now) and their young larvae have started turning a bit bigger. The queen has also laid some more eggs! I’m super excited and happy for this colony. 

The queen turned super fat! She’s about to burst with honey water, half of the 4 workers are also pretty plump.

 

(the white stuff you see is cotton, and also, the earwig is dead. I don’t know why it looks alive)

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Edited by AsdinAnts, May 29 2024 - 9:18 PM.

[AsdinAnts]

Small update 5/31/24

okay, so apparently the colony moved into the old A. occidentalis nest that I attached to their outworld.

 

I get it though, cause I don’t think they liked the humidity in the tube very much. They moved to the driest spot I had open in the nest.

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Edited by AsdinAnts, May 31 2024 - 6:28 PM.

[AsdinAnts]

6/13/24

The colony now has two cocoons, a bunch of medium sized larvae, and a bunch of small larvae! 

 

Unfortunately, one of the workers had escaped while I was away for a few days. I'm guessing that she escaped from the test tube entrance, since I had to use cotton to get the test tube to actually fit into the tube, somehow the cotton must have gotten loose and she escaped. 

Another bad thing is that their previous larvae failed to enclose, I checked in on them on like the 7th, and I saw that the cocoon was kind of shredded, and there were no new workers out and about.

 

The queen and her remaining workers are doing fantastic! 

They are all fat, and will gladly accept what I offer them.

 

(I will upload pictures hopefully tomorrow.)

[AsdinAnts]

sorry for the blurry picture, the queen laid another batch of eggs overnight, and you can also see that one of the cocoons are starting to get older? (i’m basing it off of the wrinkles)

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Edited by AsdinAnts, June 14 2024 - 9:42 AM.

[NotAxo]

Very cool. I can't wait to see more workers! Do they have decent sized majors, or non at all?

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

at maturity they can have large majors same with the whole genus of Camponotus

[Stubyvast]

Yes camponotus is known for its polymorphism! I've seen some super-majors that are pretty much as big as the queen. Amazing! And their mandibles are just huge. Love this species! Vicinus can also be polygynous, unlike a lot of other camponotus types. They're probably one of my favourite species. Good luck with them!

[AsdinAnts]

I’m pretty sure that the dark variant of C. vicinus isn’t polygnous.

Thanks!

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Yes camponotus is known for its polymorphism! I've seen some super-majors that are pretty much as big as the queen. Amazing! And their mandibles are just huge. Love this species! Vicinus can also be polygynous, unlike a lot of other camponotus types. They're probably one of my favourite species. Good luck with them!

they don't have super majors

[Stubyvast]

Ah okay my mistake. Yep you are correct no super majors, as I checked this on AntWiki. Although from what I've seen from them I have seen minor dimorphism, so there'll still be a difference there. and, also correct, polygyny isn't a thing for dark variants, but they do practice pleometrosis, where they found colonies together. 

Thanks guys! I'll be sure to fact-check myself next time. 

[AsdinAnts]

monomorium ants are so annoying when they invade.
Monomorium invaded my C. vicinus outworld, and ended up killinng 2 of the 4 nanitics.
The good news is that there are 6 more on the way. There is one naked pupa though, its growing very steadily.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Rip I hate when ants invade the nests of my colonies. hope they bounce back, Surprised they haven't eaten the naked puepe

[NotAxo]

Send a photo of the naked pupae before its killed!!!

[AsdinAnts]

here’s a not so great photo..

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[GOCAMPONOTUS]

has some color to it. It also seems another will eclose soon because it is dark or is that lighting?

[AsdinAnts]

the other cocoon is indeed dark, so hopefully it will enclose soon

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

My single queen is slacking she just ate her larvae and is now back to eggs yours seem to be  doing good!

[AsdinAnts]

aww man, you should try boosting her with some pupae if you can find a nest