Ants4fun's Camponotus pennsylvanicus journal

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Ants4fun
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 10:44 am
Location: South Dakota

Ants4fun's Camponotus pennsylvanicus journal

Post: # 4812Post Ants4fun
Mon Feb 01, 2016 8:32 am

April 16, 2015
I caught this queen along with four workers a little less than a week ago. I assume she had her nuptial flight last year. I found her in a rotten log. They had no brood, and we're really slow from hibernation.
Since then she has laid five eggs. I am keeping her in a tarheelants' talus. They are voracious eaters, and enjoy fruit flies and mealworms. I hope they do well!

The colony
[attachment=303:image.jpg]
[attachment=304:image.jpg]

The eggs
[attachment=305:image.jpg]

April 22, 2015
Although the queen laid about 15 eggs, mold was growing on all the food the brought into the talus. Eventually it got so bad, that I had to move them... BTW these ants would not budge an inch! I said to myself, "I'll just move them in the morning." Well I unfortunately left the top open! Where was the queen? In my Tapinoma sessile outworld! Fortunately there where no ants out at the time, and all the workers were inside the talus.
But... I still needed to move them. So I had to drill holes in the glass to try to get the workers out. Didn't budge. I then had to literally tear it apart, and even then all the workers hid... Finally a just put them in a plaster plexi glass container to keep them in. Unfortunately all the brood was lost. It also seemed that my queen was a bit off. I originally had them in a test tube, but she kept tearing at the cotton.

Today I found her upside down and spazzing out. Her faster looked small, even when I tried to feed them... Oh well, I hope I can at least find one during their supposed big nuptial flight in the northern area... She probably had bad genetics anyways, as she only produced 4 workers her first year...

June 4, 2015
I just found small colonies, and 3 queens.

One week ago I found this queen under a box in Sioux Falls, SD.
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Here you can clearly see she has five eggs

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I found this queen in the Split Rock Creek State Park in Ihllen, MN
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She has 2 larvae that are pupating as I speak, and 1 other larvae, along with 3 recently laid eggs

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I found this colony In Split Rock as well. I couldn't get all of the workers, however I got most of them

This colony has 6 workers, 1 recently eclosed pupae, 4 larvae, and 6 recently laid eggs.

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This queen was found in Palisades State Park

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She doesn't have any brood yet, but was found inside her founding chamber, so I believe she is fertile.
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This colony was found in Palisades as well.

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They have 3 workers, 1 pupae, one large larvae, and 3 recently laid eggs.
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This poor worker only has one antennae...

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The queens/colonies found in Split Rock Creek Palisades where found 3 days ago. I ordered a large inception chamber from THA, and I think I will put the largest colony in there until I get my hands on something else. So far everybody accepted meal worms and honey. I have high hopes for them.

Ants4fun
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 10:44 am
Location: South Dakota

Re: Ants4fun's Camponotus pennsylvanicus journal

Post: # 4813Post Ants4fun
Mon Feb 01, 2016 8:32 am

July 12, 2015
Update!

All queens/colonies have tons of brood. They are ,so far, my favorite ants here in SD.

The largest colony (I will call them colony 1 from now on) now has eight workers, with a couple pupae, a couple medium larvae, and lots of small larvae, a long with a couple eggs. They are in a nest I made from firebrick. I think that I might move them into a smaller setup later however.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21 ... whthlw.jpg


The next colony that formerly had 3 workers( I will call them colony 2 from now on) now has 5 workers, with a couple pupae, a couple larvae, and lots of eggs. They are in the Grotube XL version 2.1 and I believe they like it.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21 ... wg7bab.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21 ... ta468n.jpg


The queen that I found under a box in my yard (I will call her colony 3 from now on) now has 7 pupae as well as some medium sized larvae, and a few eggs. She is very prolific.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21 ... dulwow.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21 ... ufayqd.jpg

The queen I found in Ihlen that had 3 larvae ( I will call her colony 4 from now on) now has 2 workers, 4 pupae, a few larvae, and a few eggs.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21 ... 8tqwqs.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21 ... wbe0zh.jpg
The lone queen without any eggs (I will call her colony 5 from now on) has been a bit of a slow poke, but is coming in strong with a few medium sized larvae, and a couple eggs. The picture lies a bit, she has some more brood in the shadows.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21 ... 75jwky.jpg

Ants4fun
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 10:44 am
Location: South Dakota

Re: Ants4fun's Camponotus pennsylvanicus journal

Post: # 4814Post Ants4fun
Mon Feb 01, 2016 8:35 am

I have let colony 1 and what I believe to be colony 3 out of hibernation. They have several larvae. I have noticed that when the larvae come out of hibernation they where yellow, but a few days later they turned back to white. Colony 1 has 16 workers and colony 3 has twelve. Colony 5 and colony 2 sadly died. Colony 3 has had some issues, many which where my part, but is now in hibernation. I will take them out in a month. So far the larvae are growing rapidly.
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Ants4fun
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 10:44 am
Location: South Dakota

Re: Ants4fun's Camponotus pennsylvanicus journal

Post: # 4960Post Ants4fun
Wed Mar 02, 2016 3:21 pm

I am continuing this journal as I could not keep track of my colonies well when they were all bunched up.

One month later, and most have pupae. The one in the firebrick formicariums was moved into a grey grotube as they had trouble foraging and putting trash in their nest. A couple workers have died, currently leaving them with eleven. They have a couple pupae, some large larvae and a few eggs.


The colony in the plaster nest was relocated to a blue grotube. They are doing well and now have 14 workers over their previous 11. They have about 5 pupae, a few more larvae, and some eggs.


My smallest colony which was in hibernation, had most of the workers die, leaving me with three. They used to be my largest colony, but due to my fault they only have three. At first they were acting strange and I thought they where going to die. They where stumbling around and disoriented even a few days after I took them out of hibernation. I found out that they were dehydrated. I gave them some water and now they are acting normal. The Queen has even laid some eggs.

shaneant

Re: Ants4fun's Camponotus pennsylvanicus journal

Post: # 4961Post shaneant
Wed Mar 02, 2016 5:00 pm

Nice videos :D

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