8 replies to this topic

[giraffedom]

 

 

I found this queen on March 30th, 2018 around Tucson, AZ in the Coronado National Forest. She had dug her founding chamber conveniently under an obvious rock. After consulting antweb I identified her as Camponotus sansabeanus. After capture I homed her in a THA atom B formicarium, which she took to well. My girlfriend named her “Champagne.”

 

Like many other Camponotus queens, she was anxious, easily startled, and ate her eggs regularly in this founding stage. I started feeding her drops of honey on the inside of the nestmate when I refilled it with water, and this seemed to stop her from eating her eggs so much.

 

 

Champagne’s first worker eclosed on June 15th, 2018. I fed them again to celebrate—you can see the queen drinking from a honey droplet in the first photo above. I also caught a cute photo of her sharing her meal with her daughter. For some reason, this one ant was the only one to develop fully. The other brood only consists of a few eggs.

 

 

On June 22nd, I moved these two into a THA Mini Hearth so they could forage when ready. Still no larvae, just a small clutch of eggs. I placed a few dabs of honey in the feeding dish in the upperworld, and it went untouched.

 

 

A few days later I found many more small orange eggs. Chamgpagne sure likes her throne on the water tower! Honey still hasn't been discovered yet.

 

 

I got back from vacation on June (edit: July) 11th and was happy to find 3 pupae and a pile of larva with Champagne and her worker! More big gold ants coming soon! The honey droplets were probably found by the worker, as they are no longer on the feeding dish. It’s exciting to know that she’d been foraging. I placed a half of a cherry in their feeding dish along with a few frozen fruitflies.

 

More updates to come! I’m really excited to see the development of this colony.

Edited by giraffedom, July 16 2018 - 8:07 PM.

[giraffedom]

7.17.2018

 

This colony has been a lot of fun so far. They are no longer very sensitive to light and the sole worker forages very often. They have not touched the fruit flies offered. A couple days ago I placed a dab of honey on the dish as well and they loved it. Today, I offered a small cricket head and leg that my trap-jaw queen didn't want. Within hours I found it gone from the outworld. In the first photo you can see the queen chowing down on the cricket head, with the leg set off to her right. I'm hoping this helps brood development; I think I see some new eggs, and a larva about to pupate. There are four pupae currently, and I can't wait for the new workers to arrive soon. I added a new piece of cherry. We'll see if they are interested in it at all.

 

 

 

[giraffedom]

7.27.18

 

I peeked in at a lucky moment today and got to watch and record Champagne and her one worker as they helped a new worker out of her cocoon. It looks like four more pupa will also be hatching in the near future, which is exciting.

 

[DaveJay]

7.27.18

I peeked in at a lucky moment today and got to watch and record Champagne and her one worker as they helped a new worker out of her cocoon. It looks like four more pupa will also be hatching in the near future, which is exciting.

Great footage! If I'd have seen my ants doing that I'd be thinking they were eating the baby ant!
Now I know what to expect!

[giraffedom]

8.8.18

 

We are now up to six workers! There's also a growing pile of brood with five or six pupae and some new eggs.

 

 

[giraffedom]

7.27.19

 

It's been about a year since I updated, but these girls are doing great and growing fast!

 

 

They grew to about 35 workers by the time they became noticeably less active in the late fall. Unfortunately, they had a moderate die-off over the winter. I didn't hibernate them since my other desert species don't require much cooler temperatures. I think this was my mistake, since they were found at high elevation where they would have experienced a colder winter. Luckily, they've bounced back fast since springtime. Now I estimate about 40 workers. 

 

The first major eclosed about a month ago, and there are four huge larvae that I suspect will become majors as well.

 

 

These ants love honey, apples, peaches, pears and berries. They will also eat banana and orange although these don't seem to be their preference for sugars. Their favorite protein is fruit flies and house flies, although they also eat crickets. They do not like superworms. These ants are my gentle giants; although they're much bigger than the fruit flies I feed them, they are extremely skittish and will usually retreat back to their nest for a while before attempting to hunt them, making it look like the fruit flies have taken over the foraging space. If they see any kind of moving prey, no matter how small, their first reaction is to run away. This colony has always been very sensitive to any kind of disturbance.

 

 

There's a large range of sizes among the minor workers. The largest workers seem to stay in the nest more and are very often the most corpulent. It seems to me that the colony is taking advantage of their larger food capacity and using them as storage rather than them leaving the nest to forage or hunt, although this is just my guess. 

 

Hoping to update again soon. This colony is a lot of fun.

 

 

 

 

[Silq]

I just purchased my first 2 queens, a c. semistaceus less than a week ago and each has 3 workers. Would you say they are similar to sansabeanus? I don't know much about either but both seem very inactive. I also purchased a bunch of p. californicus queens and they are extremely active in comparison.

[brian]

How are these girls doing?

[RushmoreAnts]

Beautiful species (I especially love the orange eggs  ).