Camponotus ligniperda

[Asiletto]

One of the biggest european species, with beautiful big-head majors. Also, is said to be quite slow to grow and requires a long hibernation.

The queens swarmed in the mid June, I found a couple of them under a rock on 14 June. Turning another rock I found a 2-3 year colony, I took some larvae and I put them in the test tubes with the queens. This speeded up a little the founding stage, the queen however can only raise a limited amount of larvae at a time.

On July 2 there are the first cocoons.



July 5.



On July 12 the first worker eclosed.



On 19 July, some more workers have eclosed. When the colony is small, they consume mainly honey water, and they are a bit afraid of big preys.



Timelapse 10x of a worker drinking honey



A couple of days ago, 8 September, after 3 months of development. They are not shy anymore, and now they carry the mealworms I feed them into the test tube.

I moved the test tube into a small arena. The ants keep the test tube very clean, they pile up the garbage in the farther point from the nest entrance.



Notice the swollen gaster of the queen.







I think these will be the last larvae to develop this year, at the end of October I will put them into hibernation.

[Wood~Ant]

Very nice. I am quite envious that you can find these ants near you Asiletto as we do not have native Camponotus here in the UK.  

Great photos and videos, and you can always sell ants here on the forum if you get a lot of surplus colonies if you wish.  

[Asiletto]

The queen is getting fatter and fatter. I don't know if she is gearing up for the winter pause or what .

[Zarbi]

Lovely photo of the queen, and while she may be swollen with eggs I think her gaster is more likely full of food ready for the winter ahead. 

[Wood~Ant]

Yes the close up shot of the queen is fantastic, as it shows her body is so swollen it has stretched the chitin plates to reveal her soft body tissue. 
I am not sure if she will lays more eggs this late in the year, despite her gaster being very swollen; and from the looks of her workers I would say the colony is storing up reserves for hibernation. 

[Asiletto]

In the middle of October the colony stopped all activity despite being kept at high temperatures, so I put them in diapause in a cold room.

Today I've taken this colony out of hibernation and opened the test tube in a small arena, they accepted honey water and a mealworm.

[Asiletto]

First cocoons of 2014, maybe one with major worker, a lot of eggs and newly hatched larvae.

Despite their size and timid behaviour, these ants are escape artists.

[Wood~Ant]

One of my workers keeps getting out as I find her exploring our fridge, presumably hunting for food despite what we may feed the colony; but how she gets out from what should be an escape proofed tank is still a mystery waiting to be solved. 
Wish my colony was doing as well with all that brood.

[Asiletto]

Apr 22, 2014 21:50:42 GMT Wood~Ant said:

One of my workers keeps getting out as I find her exploring our fridge, presumably hunting for food despite what we may feed the colony; but how she gets out from what should be an escape proofed tank is still a mystery waiting to be solved. 

Ahah same for me, I kept finding workers wandering in the room, until I decided to build an escape proof arena, a 5.8 liters braplast box with two big windows closed with aluminium mesh.

The only drawback is that when I open or close the lid, it snaps and the ants start to panic, with workers that carry the larvae around the arena trying to "save" them .



The sad thing I noticed is that if a worker stays outside the colony for a couple of days, somehow loses the smell of the colony and is then attacked by other workers when I put her back to the arena. Not every time but often.

[Wood~Ant]

It is a bit frustrating to find a worker wandering around when she should be at home eating. You are right to say they are excellent escape artists.