Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

[antnest8]

Also just a shout out to some old stuff like these Care Sheets i help made a while ago. I think they can be of some help, also if anyone can add to them that would be great.

So apparently the forum didn't save the link i put https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5675&start=40

Also wow Kherafox great catches with those crematogaster queens.

[Kherafox]

Also wow Kherafox great catches with those crematogaster queens.

Well, it was only the first one I caught, a few days ago. The second and third ones I saw today, one was dead (spider, I think) and the other got away by dropping into the leaves.

But yeah, I'm happy watching Helena settle in, she seems calm for a crematogaster. Sol is doing something interesting involving folding herself in half and inspecting her gaster, I'm hoping it's a sign of laying eggs... unfortunately I THINK some mold is growing on her water cotton. We'll see!

[CabboAntsGuy]

Hey oh, I too went out hunting today, (By the way, sorry the queen was dead, and the other got away.) Anyway, went out hunting because I had seen some male and female pharaoh ant alates on some nests around my house. So I went out hunting and got one very small yellow, brownish queen, and dark blackish brown one that looked like it might have had an injury to it's gaster or mites,(really don't know which is better ) Any way few questions, does any one actually know the scientific name of pharaoh ants? and does anyone know of any black types or yellow types, very new to pharaoh ants. Again, any help is very much appreciated.

StirTheFire
-Cabbo

[antnest8]

Any way few questions, does any one actually know the scientific name of pharaoh ants?

monomorium pharonis. The spellings a bit off on the pharonis part and i'm too lazy to look it up. Sorry

[CabboAntsGuy]

It's fine, thanks for the name.

[jakebachmann]

Thank you sartwell for this valuable insight! I have plenty of experience building bioactive vivariums for a variety of frogs, but that only gets me so far. I've been interested in ants for a couple years now but have never kept them until just last week or so. I dont have the hands on experience so I appreciate all advice and explanations. I definitely think I'll just wait until they all have 20 minimum before attempting to put them in a bioactive formicarium. I would like to be successful the first time around. Thank you as well for mentioning pesticides in honey. That wouldnt have occured to me right away. I am hoping the honey I gave my queens and their workers is safe. I haven't checked on them since friday. Is their a way to tell if honey has been treated?

The main issue is that unless the formicarium is built as a vivarium small colonies won't benefit from all the microbes and other cleaners (decomposers like springtails, nematodes) and the ants themselves won't be well equipped to manage a space like that. The other component is that in even if you get a vivarium going in that 10 gallon, you most likely won't be able to monitor your colony health or progress much.

You'll more than likely find yourself in a bit of a limbo waiting to see if the colony survived. It might work, but young colonies are more fragile than many realize. Without the abundance of life in bioactive environments it's unlikely they will thrive or even survive. Even in the wild where they are specialized for, most colonies won't make it. An easier to clean, monitor, etc. tubs and tubes setup will typically yield better results for new queens.

To more directly answer your question, I did introduce my first young queen to a super-micro formicarium (AntsCanada ant tower) the first time around and she and her colony all died. It could have been pesticides in the store brand honey, but it's hard to tell without having a handle on things like you would have in tubs and tubes.

[Beamersbbq]

Hi everyone new ant keeper here. I just got a queen and two workers yesterday. Not sure exactly but know it is camponotus. here is a picture of her maybe someone else knows exactly what she is.

Queen ant https://imgur.com/gallery/zLSUHII

i think that might be Camponotus cf. substitutus you can get them in orange with dark orange markings all the way to orange with black markings

Could it be Camponotus Castaneus?

[LasiusSapien]

hey guys hope all is well and congrats to those who have been catching queens

some quick questions 1 do campo queen's eat a lot my queen has made her way through 3 small hoppers in the last 2 days

2 are they know to lay majors in the founding stages as i have one really big pupa which doesn't look as if its quite ready yet, you think it might have a big head inside it

[Hawkeye]

Hi everyone new ant keeper here. I just got a queen and two workers yesterday. Not sure exactly but know it is camponotus. here is a picture of her maybe someone else knows exactly what she is.

Queen ant https://imgur.com/gallery/zLSUHII

She's a beauty that's what she is!

[Hawkeye]

hey guys hope all is well and congrats to those who have been catching queens

some quick questions 1 do campo queen's eat a lot my queen has made her way through 3 small hoppers in the last 2 days

2 are they know to lay majors in the founding stages as i have one really big pupa which doesn't look as if its quite ready yet, you think it might have a big head inside it

Nah your queen is just weird lol. I guess she's just stocking up food to lay her next batch of eggs? Still that is a lot of cricket steaks for one ant!