New Camponotus

[aNtzYC]

Hi guys.
I just caught a bunch of new camponotus from the Woodstock, NY area. There seems to be a 3-5 queens/elates as well as 20-30 workers. How do I tell the difference between the elates and queens? Also, I have them living in a bucket with some dirt and two pieces of wood I found them in and I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions as to how I should proceed? I have and inner world about 10'x13' but I don't know with what to fill it. I have given them a piece peach and an insect to eat as well as water to drink.

Thanks,
-aNtzYC

[Batspiderfish]

Alate queens have wings.

It kind of sounds like you didn't have a plan when you did this.

Are they the large Camponotus? (queens being around 1.5 cm in length, not including wings).

[aNtzYC]

There are large. I had a plan originally for formica subsericea but couldn't get a queen. I got lucky when I found these ants and put them in a pretty good spot for now. I just want to transfer them to real formicarium and figure out whats best for them.

[Batspiderfish]

How did you find this colony sample?

[aNtzYC]

They were in a tree in the backyard of my house. My mom saw a couple crawl in so she lifted the bark, found a bunch of them, and brought them back to the house for me. We'd been doing research for a while in my science class and were ready for formica subsericea but the owner had already sold the queen so taking in the bunch was unexpected but exciting.

[Batspiderfish]

It's unlikely that you have a fertilized queen, sadly.