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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 11, 2018 17:41:02 GMT
I saw this lovely looking species for sale on British Ants and decided to give them a try. This colony will consist of a queen and 1-5 workers. According to the store page, their requirements and temperament are similar to that of Camponotus ligniperdus but they do like warmer temperatures and more humidity as they are an Asian species. In terms of size, Camponotus largiceps is around the size of Camponotus herculeanus so I imagine they will grow a bit slowly. I can't find many accounts of people keeping them, so it looks like this'll be a first for us.
As always, feel free to comment.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 13, 2018 13:29:28 GMT
They have arrived! There is a large queen and a single worker. There's three or four dead workers in there, which is unfortunate. I wonder what caused that? There is no brood at all. Hopefully when they're settled in, that will change? I've offered them a tiny drop of honey (No interest so far) and a small dead cricket. The queen's hairs are bright gold in the light, which is quite nice.   |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 23, 2018 1:44:17 GMT
The largiceps queen and her single worker started out very calm on the day they arrived, but they are now very sensitive to disturbances and will quickly panic if there's too much disturbance near their test tube. Consequently, I check them very infrequently indeed. Like the turkestanus colony, I've given them a bit of rolled up kitchen roll to absorb excess condensation and provide some privacy. This measure appears to be helping, as today I spied one or two eggs in the worker's jaws.
I cannot get them interested in any sugary substances such as honey. However, they are interested in dead mealworms. I put in a small piece earlier and the worker promptly dragged it into the kitchen roll with the queen.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 27, 2018 12:55:21 GMT
I opened the largiceps' test tube to replace their cricket and found that there's now at least six orangish eggs. I hope they hatch before too long.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 16, 2018 23:43:22 GMT
Both the queen and lone worker are still alive, but barely eat and prone to panicking still...I have occasionally spotted a few eggs in their test tube but the queen always eats them afterwards. I fear that at this point, she's not going to succeed.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 15, 2018 14:40:02 GMT
The queen has finally given up and died. Alas, with nearly all her workers dead on arrival and her cannibalism of eggs, she never really had a chance. That concludes this regrettably short journal.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jun 15, 2018 15:39:21 GMT
Chalk up another failed ant colony from British Ants. Sorry to read this TenebrousNova  |
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