best place to look for Camponotus

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jasont200
Posts: 45
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2016 8:05 pm
Location: Canada

best place to look for Camponotus

Post: # 17769Post jasont200
Sun Mar 05, 2017 9:03 am

Hello everyone

I live in a small city about 2 hours east of Toronto Ontario. This will be my first year were I have a chance to get a queen. Like toronto my city has parks, lots of cement, and is on the lake so my question is where should I look for a nice big Camponotus queen?

Martialis
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Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2016 5:30 pm
Location: Indiana

Re: best place to look for Camponotus

Post: # 17770Post Martialis
Sun Mar 05, 2017 9:35 am

Look near rotting wood or near sandy soils. These are their favorite habitats.
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Batspiderfish
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Location: Maine

Re: best place to look for Camponotus

Post: # 17771Post Batspiderfish
Sun Mar 05, 2017 9:41 am

Around the northern forests of North America, the Camponotus queens will find you (May through June). Best to look around forests. If you want to keep Camponotus, then it's best to start with your own queen.
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ItShallBeJordan
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Re: best place to look for Camponotus

Post: # 17774Post ItShallBeJordan
Sun Mar 05, 2017 12:08 pm

Another place to look is under stones but, it isnt the most common place to find them. Best places are stumps or rotting logs.
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Cale3459

Re: best place to look for Camponotus

Post: # 17780Post Cale3459
Sun Mar 05, 2017 4:36 pm

ItShallBeJordan wrote:
Sun Mar 05, 2017 12:08 pm
Another place to look is under stones but, it isnt the most common place to find them. Best places are stumps or rotting logs.
I've actually had the most luck finding them under large flat stones on hot days. For removing a colony that is going to be destroyed due to construction or pesticides in people's yards that I know I've used the technique of bringing over a large flat stone and leaving it on top of the nest enterance for a week or two. I wait until the weather is nice and warm and lift the stone ready to capture the queen first and then go for the rest of the brood and workers. They will often bring them all to the surface under the rock to warm them. I don't recommend capturing colonies this way as you are sentencing the rest of the colony to die out but when the colony is going to be destroyed anyway that method has worked wonders.

jasont200
Posts: 45
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2016 8:05 pm
Location: Canada

Re: best place to look for Camponotus

Post: # 17810Post jasont200
Sun Mar 05, 2017 9:26 pm

Thank you all for the info and knowledge. once I find her and put her in a test tube setup will keeping them in a shoebox tucked away be ok?

ItShallBeJordan
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Re: best place to look for Camponotus

Post: # 17845Post ItShallBeJordan
Mon Mar 06, 2017 6:32 pm

jasont200 wrote:
Sun Mar 05, 2017 9:26 pm
Thank you all for the info and knowledge. once I find her and put her in a test tube setup will keeping them in a shoebox tucked away be ok?
A shoebox will be fine just make sure they do not get too cold.
Ant Keeping Motto
"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
I like reptiles, turtles, tortoises, amphibians, mammals and of course ants!

jasont200
Posts: 45
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2016 8:05 pm
Location: Canada

Re: best place to look for Camponotus

Post: # 17887Post jasont200
Tue Mar 07, 2017 8:52 pm

I have another question. I'm planning out my setup for after the test tube stage. Is useing dirt ok for them?

ultraex2

Re: best place to look for Camponotus

Post: # 17926Post ultraex2
Wed Mar 08, 2017 12:44 pm

Dirt is fine but you may not be able to view them very well so keep that in mind.

jasont200
Posts: 45
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2016 8:05 pm
Location: Canada

Re: best place to look for Camponotus

Post: # 17941Post jasont200
Thu Mar 09, 2017 4:47 am

I was thinking on useing a ant farm like the old ones from the 50s. But putting dirt in it instead of the sand stuff. The one I'm looking at has ports to connect more then one together so that's what I will use to connect the outworld. So it would be very thin.

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