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Post by TenebrousNova on May 19, 2019 22:33:04 GMT
Although I have read Wood's journal on his colony, I didn't appreciate how small these Camponotus are until I saw them in person when I visited the Ant Hill this week. I ordered a colony with one queen and 80 workers from Mierwinkel and they arrived yesterday. The problem is, there's only 17 workers. I asked Ricardo how this possibly could've happened and he says that there's no way my order could've gotten mixed up and that the test tube was positively crammed full of workers when he sent them. Is it possible that over 60 workers could've somehow chewed their way through the cotton and escaped on the journey? I didn't see them in the packaging... Nevertheless, the workers that did arrive seem alright and there's definitely a queen with several eggs. I won't deny that I'm disappointed but maybe the colony will be able to get back to their former numbers? Here they are:  Fingers crossed that they'll do well. As always, comments and feedback are welcome. |
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Post by Wood~Ant on May 20, 2019 7:06:48 GMT
These ants are not fussy about what they eat, and will very quickly devour crickets and other insects. Honey water is drunk fast too and my own queen has been a prolific egg layer, and the eggs hatch into larvae fast. I found they thrive at a temperature of 20 to 23 Celsius and are very active foragers and easy to keep.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 9, 2019 18:30:01 GMT
Apologies for the lack of updates, but this colony's progress hasn't been exciting so far. What I saw today though raises a few questions I'd like addressed. For example, why the three cocoons are so tiny compared to all of the workers. Are they all majors? Are these nanitics from a queen boosted with workers?  Credit where it's due, the queen has been laying some eggs:  Queen trying to hide:  If anyone could shed some light on the size discrepancy, that would be great. |
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jul 10, 2019 7:44:30 GMT
Right, here goes on the caste size of the workers from my own personal study of this species.
Firstly comes the major/super caste, which is as big or slightly bigger than the queen. Next size down are the media workers who are approximately 2/3rds the size of the queen. Then you have the minor workers which are a 3rd the size of the queen.
I believe that the cocoons will probably produce minor workers, as I have never seen anything smaller in my own colony. Check out my journal for videos of my thriving colony for worker caste and brood sizes.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 11, 2019 1:33:46 GMT
Right, here goes on the caste size of the workers from my own personal study of this species. Firstly comes the major/super caste, which is as big or slightly bigger than the queen. Next size down are the media workers who are approximately 2/3rds the size of the queen. Then you have the minor workers which are a 3rd the size of the queen. I believe that the cocoons will probably produce minor workers, as I have never seen anything smaller in my own colony. Check out my journal for videos of my thriving colony for worker caste and brood sizes. I think you're right now that one of the cocoons has eclosed into what looks like a minor worker. Still, it's very strange that she's the only one in the colony.  |
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