The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Ok so finally I found (maybe she found me?) what I have been looking for years for! A Camponotus pennsylvanicus Queen (Black Carpenter Ant)!!!! So Happy!

Was at work and something happened to catch my eye on the ground as I was talking to a co-worker, and when I looked better I realized it was a Carpenter ant Queen! Of course I got excited and quickly found something to put her in until I could locate a test tube to set her up with a founding chamber. One concern is that she still has her wings and might not be mated but I've had Solenopsis queens before that still had their wings and were mated but just hadn't removed their wings yet. I guess time will tell!

I took some pictures and also a short video, in the video you can see her drinking some of the water from the cotton in the test tube. Man it was cool watching her do that! Also she is soooooooo big compared to my Solenopsis ants! I know they take quite a while to establish a decent sized colony but hey I've got time!

Ok enough of my rambling (sorry I'm excited! ) Below will be some pics and then the video will be last.

Congrats Can take a year or more to get workers they grow slow may so you might get a few workers before winter then next year will boom. Oh they are serious cotton pullers use extra >.> had a escape issue with mine relocated but shock caused brood to well be eaten I think they are gone ,_,.

I literally just caught one too!

Went to pick up my kid at school. It was walking up the wall next to the exit door.

What temps are they flying at and what are the conditions. I caught some last year but did not take the time to think about the exact conditions

Today it was low to mid 60's most of the day. At 3pm it was 68. It never broke 70 today.

Friday we had mid 80's and I found a bunch of dead males, a ton of active scouts, but no queens.

Caught it yesterday and the temp in the morning was around 70*F. Also yea I know they grow slow but good thing for me I'm in the south so I don't have to hibernate her. And yes I know they love to pull out cotton that's why there is a wire mesh cover on the test tube not cotton.

Awesome good luck with her ^.^

i tried the steel cotton on my camponotus but all it would do is get little strands of the wire every where where it would rust