Camponotus Herculeanus

[Sam_the_Ant]

Well today she has finally arrived and is so beautiful and a very big girl. She is about 18-19mm and is full of character. A beautiful dark colour with slight dark red in the middle. I am officially naming her Athena, goddess of war in greek mythology. As soon as I put her in her new set up she was out the tube and climbing all over the wood and sides.

She started chewing at the wood, which I hope is normal behaviour. And not sure if she has laid eggs, but there are some small yellow things on the moist cotton wool I put in with her!

Pictures to follow shortly ;D



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[IceWhyte]

Indeed that will be her eggs Sammy boy I thought these ants were supposed to take ages to lay eggs.

[batspiderfish]

Aug 23, 2012 15:11:21 GMT IceWhyte said:

Indeed that will be her eggs Sammy boy I thought these ants were supposed to take ages to lay eggs.

Maybe if they get shipped in the mail. When I catch the native Camponotus near me, they usually lay within a few days.

The eggs are usually yellow, large, and obvious. If you can't tell that they are eggs, then they probably aren't eggs.

[Wood~Ant]

Camponotus eggs are more or less like a pale yellow (though the colour can vary to orange or even pink) sausage, and quite large. Certainly bigger than the round or oval eggs of many other ants.

[Sam_the_Ant]

Ok I'm going to count these as eggs, since they certainly looked like something out of aliens... even tho she has for some strange reason put wood on the cotton wool where they were.

Its like having children sometimes (not that I would know) but I hate missing the things that she does, and also the confusion as to why she does this hehe:P

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[Sam_the_Ant]

So this is Athena... she has only been in the new set up a day, and has already dug a massive hole in the wood, which is in her set up. As you will see from the pictures, she has put all the chewed wood all over the place, including the cotton wool, strangly enough, which I thought she had laid her eggs upon.

I did try to give her a spider to eat, but she has not been interested, and also cotton wool with some honey water mix, which also seems to go untouched! But besides all of that, she is still digging and looking as fierce but beautiful as ever ;D





More updates as she progresses with her digging!

[crockatt]

My god she looks huge!! wouldnt fancy having her escape, great pics, your set up looks good

[Sam_the_Ant]

Thanks a lot, she is a beauty ;D Its nothing special really, just I like my queens to feel comfortable to lay. But when I see that the colony is coming along, then I'll add more to make their lives more interesting hehe!

[Sam_the_Ant]

Athena is doing great. She is digging further into the wood, which I guess is a good thing. She doesnt come out often, and cannot tell anymore if she has eggs, but aslong as she is happy, thats all that matters.

I dropped in a fly yesterday, and she has moved it, but not sure if she has eaten any of it. I hope she has, so she can get the protein that she needs to start producing lots of babies!!

You can pick up the wood, and she just pokes her head out to see whats going on, I will get some pictures shortly of her handmade hole! Starting a colony from scratch may be slow, but its so much more rewarding to watch once they are flourishing ;D