July 19, 2024: Giants [2 workers, 8 larvae, 3 cocoons]
Received this colony along with 2 other species from Buckeye Myrmecology in exchange for a YouTube video. I've always seen these workers in forests, but never had a colony of my own. All I know is their majors are absolutely huge and I still mistake them for queens when I see them sometimes. Let's see how long it takes them to reach that stage!
Caught the queen laying an egg on the first day upon receiving them.
July 21, 2024: New Hatchling [3 workers]
Gave the colony the traditional honey meal after one worker barely hatched.
August 19, 2024: A New Home [5 workers]
This colony is among the other 5+ colonies I moved into a tubs and tubes setup before I went away from home for a few weeks. They managed to completely block their entrance in a single day.
Two more workers have also hatched.
September 6, 2024: A New Home [8 workers]
All of the cocoons have now hatched. Now we wait for the larvae to grow up, and for the queen to lay more eggs next season.
Thoughts:
So far everything is looking good with these ants. The queen is a lot larger than the fragilis that I'm used to, and a lot less speedy. I'm keeping them off to the side with my other new Camponotus colonies and rarely check on them unless its for feeding. The wait begins until they become a large thriving colony!
Edited by Ender Ants, Yesterday, 2:02 AM.
