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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 8, 2017 20:47:51 GMT
I thought I'd try this species again! I ordered a queen with her first workers from Ant Dealer on Sunday. I'm hoping they arrive within the next few days. This is actually the only Camponotus species I've ever tried keeping, mostly due to the size and black/red colouration that I love. I would LOVE to try the black/gold Camponotus turkestanus, but I'd rather eat a bucket of broken glass than try justifying spending over £100 on ants to my family. As always, please feel free to comment.
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Post by jeoff82 on Aug 8, 2017 21:01:39 GMT
Good luck, last time I kept ligniperdus I found them easy as long as you limit the disturbances and light. They was doing really well, I found giving them a heat source helped speed things up and hibernated them in our climate no problem. Spending £100 on ants is ok as its something you obviously are really into and you could be spending it down the pub or other crap as some people do.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 11, 2017 9:45:15 GMT
They've just arrived! A very formidable looking queen and six workers. At first I didn't see any brood but it turned out the queen is holding a clump of eggs and small larvae in her jaws. Workers engaged in trophallaxis. One of the workers is carrying a very chewed up brown ball which upon closer inspection used to be a cricket. At the moment the larvae are still chewing on it, so I'll wait until later to try feeding the colony. They're very calm at the moment but I know that'll change the instant I try opening the test tube.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 11, 2017 12:25:05 GMT
Here they are drinking some honey. When the queen joined in, the droplet depleted very fast and I had to top it up. The queen's countenance: A few workers drank so much honey that their gasters are distended, golden light filtering through them.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 13, 2017 23:52:39 GMT
Here's the queen being fed. She has drank her fair share of honey this evening but I guess she wants more. And I photographed trophallaxis between a pair of workers. Finally, here's the ball of tiny larvae. I'm unfamiliar with Camponotus growth rate, but I assume it'll be particularly slow? The workers took a long time to work up the courage to drag their fruit flies over, but they did so in the end. I have to remind myself that these workers, though huge, are merely nanitics and the future generations will be much larger and braver. That's not even taking majors into consideration!
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Post by jeoff82 on Aug 14, 2017 8:37:54 GMT
Around 2 months from egg to worker it took my colony. They used to over winter with a bunch of eggs also which I think they ate. It seemed the queen purposely laid the eggs as the temperature fell towards winter.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 20, 2017 15:17:05 GMT
One of the workers has died, dropping the count to five. Otherwise, the colony seems to be alright...I am a bit concerned about the larvae though. Although the workers and queen are well fed, the larvae have barely grown at all since the last update. When I give them bits of insect the workers might chew on it for a while, but I've never actually seen them offer any to the larvae. Is it normal for them to be growing so slowly?
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Post by Wood~Ant on Sept 20, 2017 17:35:50 GMT
I find that small colonies of this genus can be difficult to get going, especially if they lose workers and have slow growing larvae. You could try feeding very small insects and give the adults a sweet liquid diet, as sometimes brood development is either very slow or non-existent meaning no new workers which is frustrating. My C. ligniperda and C. auriventris have done the same to me this year, as the latter haven't produced a single new worker, while the former have lost 2 workers but do have a batch of larvae which have not pupated.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Oct 5, 2017 11:54:19 GMT
A few days ago I moved this colony into a larger and more importantly clean test tube, since the old one was filthy. They settled in quite quickly. The larvae definitely seem to be growing, although at a very slow pace. All of the workers are very well fed indeed, any more honey and they'd probably burst!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 27, 2018 18:46:12 GMT
Been a while, has it not? This colony is quite happy. All 5 workers are still active and the queen is very fat at the moment with noticeable gaps between the plates of her gaster, hopefully preparing for egg laying in Spring. A few days ago the larvae ate for the first time in ages and took a few small crickets. They have practically doubled in size since then, almost half as long as the workers.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 28, 2018 10:39:10 GMT
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 29, 2018 21:41:29 GMT
Right now there are three eggs and it seems that the larvae have again noticeably grown. They've been having one cricket every day now. Earlier I watched the queen vigorously chewing up the cricket into a little chitinous ball which was fed to the larvae. After the near stasis the larvae were in since I first got this colony, the sudden growth spurt is very surprising. I wonder when they will start to pupate?
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jan 29, 2018 22:46:54 GMT
Right now there are three eggs and it seems that the larvae have again noticeably grown. They've been having one cricket every day now. Earlier I watched the queen vigorously chewing up the cricket into a little chitinous ball which was fed to the larvae. After the near stasis the larvae were in since I first got this colony, the sudden growth spurt is very surprising. I wonder when they will start to pupate? Most probably late March or April when the warmer spring weather arrives. Nice to hear this colony is coming on, as I did see daffodils in bud today so an early start for them may herald an early spring perhaps?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 3, 2018 21:05:31 GMT
Right now there are three eggs and it seems that the larvae have again noticeably grown. They've been having one cricket every day now. Earlier I watched the queen vigorously chewing up the cricket into a little chitinous ball which was fed to the larvae. After the near stasis the larvae were in since I first got this colony, the sudden growth spurt is very surprising. I wonder when they will start to pupate? Most probably late March or April when the warmer spring weather arrives. Nice to hear this colony is coming on, as I did see daffodils in bud today so an early start for them may herald an early spring perhaps? I suspect that pupation will occur earlier than you said, since the largest two larvae are now almost the size of the workers in length. Perhaps they are being fed more than their siblings, because I've noticed them getting visibly bigger every day now. Earlier I offered them a new cricket and at first I thought it would get rejected as the workers made as if to drag it away to the open end of the test tube, but the queen dashed forth and pulled it over to her side with what seemed like surprising enthusiasm. She reminded me of a dog playing tug of war with a toy. Here's one of the largest larvae: Queen with her 7 or 8 eggs: Worker taking the eggs to safety from the camera: Queen again:
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 12, 2018 1:44:40 GMT
Two of the larvae have caught up with the largest and they honestly look like they'll be awkward for the workers to carry if they get much bigger. I'll be surprised if none of them pupate this week, since they're already around the size of the workers. The queen is as fat as ever and has in fact now produced at least 15 eggs, which pleases me immensely. Yesterday they drank a bit of honey but they seem to be more reluctant to accept crickets now and will just take a few little pieces of one. I'm not worried since the queen is actively laying eggs now and the larvae are still growing. It's amusing to watch the queen start pestering the workers as soon as they return with a crop full of honey, asking them to feed her.
I've decided to give them a few days on the heat mat to see if that helps them. The test tube isn't entirely on it, so there's a temperature gradient. If it's too warm or cold they'll be able to choose where to go.
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