7 replies to this topic

[yaboiseth]

I have a few Camponotus species, both with workers and without workers, not producing any eggs whatsoever. Its been months since I've seen one. My C. Essigi had one whole egg to worker and the worker died and hasn't laid a second egg at all, my C. Semitestaceous has had 2 workers and no eggs, my C. Vicinus (small) same story as my essigi (one egg to worker). I was wondering if they need hibernation to produce or if I could do a small brood boost with a C. Quercicola or C. Ca02 colony? Thanks in advance.

[ExponentMars]

because it's so late into the year and they still haven't laid eggs, maybe they'll lay next year and hibernate until then? 

[DDD101DDD]

Is their other brood growing normally or have the smaller larvae stopped growing?

[ANTdrew]

Temperature?

[yaboiseth]

They have absolutely zero brood. And I can't get an exact temperature right now but I have the essigi In a warm drawer and the other two near a heat cable.

[yaboiseth]

I ended up attempting the brood boost with the quercicola/laevigatus colony. After I smashed one worker in the glass I got a few larvae and a few pupae. Gave the essigi a pupa as large as her (lol) and a few larvae and gave my vicinus and semitestaceus a few larvae and they all accepted and are caring for them. Wish me luck!

[AleeGuy]

Maybe they are being underfed, how often do you feed them and with what? founding camponotus colonies should get carbohydrates at least 2-3 times a week and protein at least twice (maybe even once depending on the size of the portions). I said, "at least" since you can always go more than that.

I ended up attempting the brood boost with the quercicola/laevigatus colony. After I smashed one worker in the glass I got a few larvae and a few pupae. Gave the essigi a pupa as large as her (lol) and a few larvae and gave my vicinus and semitestaceus a few larvae and they all accepted and are caring for them. Wish me luck!

You should only be brood boosting with pupae. Larvae are useless since they will demand food from the queen all the time, and the queen would've laid eggs if she wanted to do that.

Edited by AleeGuy, August 5 2021 - 2:05 PM.

[yaboiseth]

Maybe they are being underfed, how often do you feed them and with what? founding camponotus colonies should get carbohydrates at least 2-3 times a week and protein at least twice (maybe even once depending on the size of the portions). I said, "at least" since you can always go more than that.

I ended up attempting the brood boost with the quercicola/laevigatus colony. After I smashed one worker in the glass I got a few larvae and a few pupae. Gave the essigi a pupa as large as her (lol) and a few larvae and gave my vicinus and semitestaceus a few larvae and they all accepted and are caring for them. Wish me luck!

You should only be brood boosting with pupae. Larvae are useless since they will demand food from the queen all the time, and the queen would've laid eggs if she wanted to do that.

The semitestaceus with workers always have access to a byformica feeder with sunburst and I feed them twice a week with fruitflies mainly and occasional mealworms. The essigi and vicinus (no workers or brood) I gave sugars like 2 weeks ago along with fresh killed fruitflies with no progress. And 2 weeks before that, the same thing. And as for the boosting, my quercicola only had a few pupae but a very large larva pile so I tried working with what was available. I'm pretty sure they arent underfed (especially the semitestaceus) I'm also trying not to disturb them too much.