28 replies to this topic

[Scrixx]

Scrixx's Camponotus Journals

Welcome to my Camponotus sansabeanus journal! I may be using this for all Camponotus journals in the future. 

 

Camponotus sansabeanus

I caught several queens at Chaney Trail, Altadena on March 29, 2018. From 19:30-00:00. Most queens have eggs and larvae but this queen is the first to have cocoons, and she has three of them! I've been keeping them at 70-75F, mostly room temperature, but I recently bought a thermostat. I've accidentally put them at 88F and they didn't seem to mind but anything over 90F they start tugging at the wet cotton and placing their larvae on it. 

 

Short video! 

Edited by Scrixx, May 30 2018 - 5:41 PM.

[Derpy]

The coloration is just beautiful!

[Scrixx]

Camponotus sansabeanus

This queen is looking like it's going have a great start. She's at 5 cocoons and I caught a larva spinning up its cocoon. So that's a total of 6! I tried to setup a time-lapse so we'll see how it turns out. I played what I have on 64x and you can see the action pretty well. I wish I caught it from the beginning. I'll let it run for a day or until I see the cocoon stopped moving. 

 

 

You can see the larva spinning the cocoon, it's the third from the top-left. It only has a few layers of silk and it's lighter than the others.

[Enderz]

It seems your queens are doing better then mine, but if I understand you have been keeping them at around 88F for an extended time, or have you just recently started doing this?

[Scrixx]

It seems your queens are doing better then mine, but if I understand you have been keeping them at around 88F for an extended time, or have you just recently started doing this?

 

I'm keeping them at about 81F +/- 1.5F. They weren't heated for the first month, just room temperature, 70-75F. The 88F was accidental during the heatwave before I got my thermostat, and it got too hot for my liking. I tried 85F and they tolerated it but they moved the cocoons away from the heat, I think the humidity isn't keeping up with the heat. Otherwise I just think she's a good queen, it's luck really. Most queens have 1-3 cocoons. Honestly as long as you have one it's fine because they'll just get more. 

[Scrixx]

Okay here's that time-lapse I was talking about. There are actually two larva still spinning their cocoons. What's cool is that we can also see the larva inside one of the eggs moving as well. This is 2.5 hours condensed into 2 minutes at 65x speed. A couple things I learned for next time is that my lighting wasn't very good. I'm thinking maybe a darker background would work better as well. When the queen shades the cocoon, we can see the larva very clearly. Next time will be better! Assuming I catch another larva spinning a cocoon.

 

Camponotus sansabeanus larva spinning cocoons

Edited by Scrixx, May 17 2018 - 2:33 PM.

[Scrixx]

Update time!

Checked on my queens and found this queen with three workers. I checked on them no longer than 2 days ago and there were no workers unless I missed it.. Two are lighter colored than the third so maybe I did miss the first one? Either way this colony has a queen, 3 workers, and 6 pupa. One pupa is lightly colored so it's newly spun. 

 

This colony is in a small dirt container setup as I wanted to compare the founding results with test tube setups. I don't think it was the setup since I have a second queen in the same setup and she is doing the same as the queens in test tube setups.

 

Look closer in this photo. There's a nanitic tucked underneath the queen! It's pretty cute.

 

All three workers and queen gathered together.

 

Short video

Edited by Scrixx, May 26 2018 - 8:54 AM.

[Scrixx]

Camponotus sansabeanus

 

There are now about 10 queens with workers inside test tube setups. The queen in the tupperware container is now at 5 workers with 6 pupa! I'm debating moving them to a pencil case with test tube setup or drilling a hole and connecting them to a tiny acrylic box as an outworld. There's a couple more things I'd like to share!

 

Single large pupa

This queen has a single gigantic pupa. I noticed that this queen had only one large larva a few weeks ago. It's probably infertile but it'll be my first experience with an infertile queen raising a possible male alate. We'll see!

 

Cocoon opened too early

This next photo shows a queen who opened a worker's cocoon a bit too early. The empty cocoon can be seen torn up with the developing worker laying nearby.

 

It's pretty cool seeing what I've read about in person!

 

Queen and worker getting their first drink!

You can really see the queen and worker moving their mouth parts to drink! 

 

Camponotus vicinus

 

This queen has 4 workers! She's the only successful C. vicinus I have out of the three surviving ones. One has no eggs, and the other only has eggs.

 

Edited by Scrixx, May 31 2018 - 9:28 AM.

[CoolColJ]

So the tupper ware container colony - how was it hydrated?

 

Just a container, dirt, and that's it? no shelter?

Did you cover them up?

 

 

Also cute little nanitic drinking the honey

Edited by CoolColJ, June 1 2018 - 12:43 AM.

[Scrixx]

So the tupper ware container colony - how was it hydrated?

 

Just a container, dirt, and that's it? no shelter?

Did you cover them up?

 

 

Also cute little nanitic drinking the honey

 

I put a small layer of plaster of paris. After it dried, I covered it with dirt. Then I wet the dirt until it was all moist and closed it. Lastly I poked 5 tiny holes that even argentine ants can't fit through. That's it. 

Edited by Scrixx, June 1 2018 - 1:29 PM.

[CoolColJ]

How long does it stay moist and I assume you regularly water it?

Almost too simple

Might not work as well with smaller ants though

[Scrixx]

How long does it stay moist and I assume you regularly water it?

Almost too simple

Might not work as well with smaller ants though

 

I have not added water since I set it up, which is over 8 weeks now.

 

Also you are correct, this would not work with smaller ants. Primarily because condensation is pretty intense in there. Huge droplets of water form on the top and the sides and smaller ants will easily drown. This colony tries to fix it by covering them with dirt but they can't keep everything droplet free. I will upload a video showing the droplets and explaining the setup. 

[Enderz]

Scrixx your camponotus are doing great, the heat really seems to make a difference as evident by both Spazz and my queens have not yet founded workers. Luckily, I believe a worker will eclose soon as a cocoon has started to darken (not black).

[Scrixx]

Update 2 weeks later!

 

Camponotus sansabeanus

 

My best queens are at 8 workers each. The original in the dirt setup and a queen in a plain test tube setup. I see no difference between dirt setups and test tube setups but my sample size is only 2 dirt setups so it's unreliable. 1/3 of queens have no workers, 1/3 have 1-2, 1/3 have 4-6. I feed them cut up superworms and sugar 1:2 water. The heating cable hasn't turned on in over a week since it's been so hot. 

 

 

Camponotus vicinus

 

This is still the only C. vicinus that has workers. Luckily she's doing great at 6 workers. Two other vicinus have large larva so I'm hoping they will be successful. 

 

 

Camponotus clarithorax

 

I'm being careful with this queen. She had eggs but didn't develop workers. My other queen died and left behind a cocoon which I gave to this queen. So she now has a worker but she only has one larva and I'm worried it may become an alate. I don't think this queen is fertile but I wanted to mention her anyways.  

 

[Scrixx]

Camponotus sansabeanus - 1 month since last update

 

My best queen is now at 20 workers with one pupa. There's a couple larva and a few eggs so I think she's starting on the next batch already. The average workers of the ones I kept are about 16. I'm feeding them pieces of super worm and sugar water. The ambient temperature is averaging 86F throughout the day.

 

My custom setup

 

Nurb's pencil case setup. This Queen will outgrow the current largest colony. She has 17 workers and at least 4 pupa with larva and eggs.

 

 

Camponotus vicinus (brown variety)

 

I now have two successful C. vicinus colonies. The other queen took over 4 months to get her first workers. She now has two. 

 

Now back to original C. vicinus. She's now at 15 workers but no more pupa. Luckily she's already started on her next batch and there are already larva.

 

 

 

 

Camponotus clarithorax

 

This queen was actually fertile and had her own biological worker eclose. Sadly she died. I wonder if it was too hot? Maybe this species can't tolerate heat as well as the other species. Or she was just a weak queen. She barely moved and never groomed the workers so she may have been destined for failure.

Edited by Scrixx, July 17 2018 - 8:17 PM.

[DaveJay]

Nice! I'm definitely liking the genus Camponotus, I received my first ant starter colony today, Camponotus consobrinus.

I'm liking the whole genus but these were my first choice because of size and colour, I'll certainly be wanting more species from this genus though, very envious of your collection!

[Scrixx]

Camponotus sansabeanus

 

Well it's definitely been a long time since my last update. I have 3 solid colonies of this species. My best one is at 55 workers with their first median or fully grown worker. Pretty sure it's a median but I'm not sure if Camponotus sansabeanus even have medians. I thought the species was pretty before but I think this worker is the prettiest ant I've seen yet. I just absolutely love that bronze head color.

 

 

It's also time for diapause and I'm seeing my colonies slow down, huddle together, and just look thick and ready for a break.

 

Video update 

 

Camponotus vicinus (brown variety)

 

Well I have no successful Camponotus vicinus colonies. All of mine failed and my last colony has 1 worker left. It probably won't make it past diapause. I think it's mostly my fault. A few colonies failed from what I believe is lack of ventilation. Their nests smelled of ammonia and the ants exhibited signs of poisoning. Workers were dying before the queens died, even after moving to a clean setup. Lesson learned for next year.

Edited by Scrixx, November 12 2018 - 4:02 PM.

[Rstheant]

Still in hibernation?

[Scrixx]

Still in hibernation?

 

Yeah, planning on pulling them out soon though.

[Rstheant]

Mine have 6 workers and they are in hibernation. They aren’t doing to well. The queen is healthy though.Expecting to get 20+ workers this year to redeem myself.

Edited by Rstheant, February 4 2019 - 6:38 PM.