9 replies to this topic

[Menagerie]

First off hello, I am new to this forum technically; though I've been on here gathering great information for a while. I just now have a specific reason to post now. So lets begin.

Yesterday after a heavy rain the night before I found a seemingly new colony of camponotus ants under the seat of a plastic bench. I believe the species is Camponotus discolor though I'm a novice at this so I could be wrong. The curious thing about this colony is there were probably 10 to 15 workers (nanitics, minors, and majors) tending to 6 still winged queens. All of which where huddled together.

I captured all of them and put them into a temporary home of a deli cup with some dried leaves in it for cover. The queens are still hanging out together and being cared for by the workers. The strange thing was there were no larvae with them save for one thag was promptly carried away by a major worker before I could grab her.

My questions are:

Should I leave the queens together?

Are these queens fertile or did I catch them before their nuptial flight? (Which would be pretty late for this speciese around here). Or are they a satellite of a bigger unseen colony?

Is the colony viable? Because I would love to purchase one of the omninests from ants Canada and get them started if they are.

Thanks a ton in advance for the advice.

Sincerely,
Menagerie

[Works4TheGood]

Where were these found at (city/state)?  Could you please upload some pictures of what you've got, including some closeups of the workers and queens and also something in one or more of the pics to show scale, like a ruler?

 

And you say that you found them under the "seat of a plastic bench"?  Just because I'm curious, I would also really love to see a pic of where exactly you found these lil guys because I'm imagining a situation where ants would never choose to found a new colony, and so I'm probably misunderstanding.

[Crystals]

Were all of them winged?

If you you likely found a satelitte nest with 6 unfertile alates waiting for spring flights.

[Menagerie]

It's a plastic childrens bench that was filled with sand to keep it weighted. The seat opens to a closed off storage space underneath. It also had harvestmen and spiders with egg sacs in it. I am wondering if the rain drove the ants up and out of it to drier ground directly underneath a crease in the seat. I'll post pictures of them when I get home from work. The bench is in a park with a lot of trees and many wandering Camponotus scouts and trails. I live in Mississippi by the way.

[Menagerie]

They are all still winged. It is still plenty warm here for flights though. Still highs in the 90s.

[dspdrew]

I highly doubt those are fertile.

[Menagerie]

I figured. Oh well. Would there be any harm in keeping them in that set up to see if any eggs were produced?

I still have a Camponotus pennsilvanicus in a test tube. she's produced some tiny eggs but has taken her sweet time doing it, and concerns herself with pulling cotton more than anything else.

[Menagerie]

Speaking of, the pennsilvanicus is my first tube queen. How long does it take for them to produce because she's been bottled since july and she doesnt have a single nanitic. Just one large egg

[Crystals]

Depends on the queen, Camponotus usually settle down after 2-3 weeks.  Also depends on the exact set up.  Low light, low vibrations, etc.

 

If you can find wild C. pennsilvanicus workers, you can catch 2-4 of them, and after keeping them by themselves for 3-4+ months, they will usually adopt a workerless queen.

Introduce one worker first just to ensure they will get along.

 

All else fails, feed the queen a tiny drop of sugar water every week until she succeeds in raising her workers.

[Menagerie]

Thanks for that crystals. If this egg doesnt develop soon I might have to do that. I gave her a toothpick drop of honey and she seemed to really enjoy it but it made a mess of her tube. So between honey and all the shredded cotton its a wreck. Should I clean it or just accept that she is a slob?