Camponotus cruentatus queen.

[Blem12]

Good evening,

This morning the Camponotus cruentatus queen from Spain finally arrived in good condition.
To my surprise she even laid a few eggs!

When I caught her I was amazed due to her size and colour and seeing her again made me realise what a beauty she truly is.

She is very active, has a very large gaster and tends her brood with much care.
I soaked a small piece of cotton bud in honey water and placed it into the test tube. She, happily stayed there sucking out the sweet liquid which in turn made her gaster expand quite noticeably.

I have placed her in a small wooden box which contains some cotton wool and shredded newspaper where the queen inside her test tube was placed. This small wooden box is on top of a heat mat which seems to stay at a constant 25C - 28C which is great.

You may find that I will not update this journal very often, this is due to the fact that I shall only be checking her every 2 weeks or so ensuring that she is in constant darkness and peace meaning that stress is as low as possible as she is very precious to me as all of my other ant colonies/queens.

Here is a short video attached of the queen when I had recently took her out of the padded envelope.



Thank you for reading,

Blem12.

P.S Sorry for the background sound in the video.

( If you have any questions or comments, please post them here: queenant.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=nativecomment&action=display&thread=4675 )

[Blem12]

Good morning,

It has been a while since I have not updated on her progress.

As of today, the queen currently has a large batch of eggs and a large batch of big, healthy larvae.
She is still very active and does not show any worrying symptoms of her being unhealthy.

Once the queen has a couple of workers and more brood I will introduce them to a converted Worm World.

I have to say she is one feisty lady as when I removed the cotton bud from the test tube to allow for some fresh air to get in and to feed her some sugar water she immediately started attacking my finger but I was lucky enough not to get bitten by her powerful looking mandibles.

Blem12.

( If you have any questions or comments, please post them here: queenant.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=nativecomment&action=display&thread=4675 )

[Blem12]

Good morning,

here is an update:

The queen and her brood are doing well.

It seems that she has stopped laying but the number of larvae have increased. Most of the larvae are quite big and chunky but some are still quite small.

I fed a bit sugar water to the queen which she took happily after a couple of seconds deciding with her antennae whether or not it was safe to drink from .

Thanks,

Blem12.

( If you have any questions or comments, please post them here: queenant.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=nativecomment&action=display&thread=4675 )

[Blem12]

Good morning,

here's an update:

I am happy to say that she has 1 worker, 2 pupae and 4 larvae!
The worker is a shiny black unlike her mother.

They readily take sugar water and small crickets.

Once the remaining brood eclose, I think I will change them into a converted Worm World so that they have growing space.

Thanks,

Blem12.

( If you have any questions or comments, please post them here: queenant.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=nativecomment&action=display&thread=4675 )

[Blem12]

Good morning to all,

Oh my! This colony is thriving despite being in winter! They have approximately 6 workers and quite a lot of brood.

I have to say that they are very ferocious as the slightest knock will send out several angry, agitated workers looking for a fight.

Their favourite seems to crickets and meal worms as they tear them up and gorge themselves resulting in big bottoms

Best regards,

Blem12.

( If you have any questions or comments, please post them here: queenant.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=nativecomment&action=display&thread=4675 )

[Blem12]

Good morning,

this colony is doing well. However, their growth rate is very slow as they now have 15 workers or so.
There is quite a few eggs and larvae so hopefully they will increase their numbers throughout summer.

They are currently in a test tube which has been filled up with a bit of sand just to make it a bit more natural.

All in all, they are doing well ;D

Thanks for reading,
Blem12.

[Blem12]

Hello,

this colony continues to grow slowly but at a steady pace. They average at about 25 workers and 6 chunky larvae. They continue to reside in a test tube but a bigger one due to the expansion of this small colony. As with the Pheidole pallidula, their test tube is within a medium sized plastic tank which serves the purpose of foraging arena. As with most of my ants, they have gone into a slumber state as they rarely forage out of their test tube.

Thanks for reading,
Blem12.