5 replies to this topic

[JackPearl]

6/11/17

So I caught x6 C.Lownei queens at a school camp in Coolendell, Kangaroo Valley. The weather was very hot, 36* celcius or 90+ Fahrenheit. At night we went to the washroom and we looked under the lights on the roof. Sure enough, we saw Camponotus queens scuttling about looking for a home. We picked them up and I kept them as my friend didn't want them ( he already owns a queen).

These girls are certaintly not the biggest Camponotus species in Australia, but they definetly aren't something to laugh at, the queens are probably 14-15mm long.
Camponotus Lownei are one of my favourite Camponotus species, I love their colouring. Shiny metallic black bodies with yellow or orange legs.

Heres a photo of one when I arrived home.



Since I caught them, one unfortunately died, and five have a range of 1-4 eggs.
I'm fairly sure that these girls don't have very large egg batches and so I'm not expecting much over maybe 10 maximum.

Anyway, I'll update whenever anything interesting occurs, larvae, deaths, more eggs etc.

[JackPearl]

12/11/17

A quick update!

The lownei are all going great!
They all have larvae (except the dead one obviously) and they are all growing large piles of brood.

Sadly, after talking to some Australian ant keepers, these guys are NOTORIOUSLY slow growers. With workers arriving after maybe 2-4 months...so buckle up, this journal will take a while to get super interesting xD

[Penguin]

I see you have six queens in the photo, I cannot tell which one is dead, which one is dead? Did you collect another? They look so nice with their metallic sheen and orange legs. 

[JackPearl]

I see you have six queens in the photo, I cannot tell which one is dead, which one is dead? Did you collect another? They look so nice with their metallic sheen and orange legs. 

The second queen from the top is dead

They sure do look amazing. I can't wait until the workers arrive, but apparently that'll be a while. So I'll update this journal whenever anything big has changed.

[Penguin]

Ah, I see.

Edited by Penguin, December 5 2017 - 1:11 PM.

[JackPearl]

10/12/17

Update time!

So a fair bit has happened with these girls. None have died, so we still have 5 and they are all starting to get their first pupae! This was a hell of a lot quicker then I was expecting, and although they have slow growth normally, the extreme heat we've had in Australia has attributed to their lighting fast growth right now. So, I'm expecting within a week for the first workers to arrive, and then I will post a proper update with pictures included.