Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

[ellie5010ml]

Thanks! I removed the mat and will give her some space.

Hello! I'm new to ant keeping and recently caught a Camponotus Pennsylvanians queen. I have her in a test tube set up and am trying to leave her alone. I have part of the test tube under a 7-watt heating mat that I'd typically use for my snakes, as I read an increase in heat can encourage laying. I'm now learning that this can overheat or kill her... should I remove the mat?

Hi and welcome,
I personally wouldn't use it, since the danger outweighs benefits. Camponotus ants are about patience, I myself have moved my colony from last year to ytong formaciarium yesterday, there are about 15 workers now.
I've found that after 1st workers arrived it's easier to put test tube (nest) inside another container (outworld) and leave it open. really easy to feed them without stressing them. (If you use raw honey it will last for really long time, I'm using parts of pill plates for honey, works well)

[jojofire12]

I have recently seen this brownish liquid with the consistency of honey inside of my nest. It's also caused my nest to be a bit humid which the ants have embraced. What is this liquid? If I have to do something how should I go about cleaning it?

[jojofire12]

I think I might have just made a mistake, I fed my ants a beetle (100% not a stink bug) but it stinks. Like, bad. The smell is contained to the container but I'm not sure what to do

[Hawkeye]

I have recently seen this brownish liquid with the consistency of honey inside of my nest. It's also caused my nest to be a bit humid which the ants have embraced. What is this liquid? If I have to do something how should I go about cleaning it?

Might be antpoop?

[TomvANTol]

My first colony has its first workers!

[boosterman]

I am excited to give an update so soon! It's only been 5 days since I caught my queen and she already laid eggs. I cannot count how many but seems like a decent amount.

Hi Boosterman,

I know it's hard, but you should really just let your queen be for the time being. Put her tube in a cupboard somewhere and don't check up on her for about three weeks at least. Each time you check on her, you risk stressing her out. Which can even cause her to eat her own eggs.
She won't need any food until her nanitics have eclosed, what she does need is peace and quiet.

Sounds like a plan. I'll wait about 3 weeks to check up on her again!

Providing a quick update on my colony. We now have 2 nanitics! I have a test tube portal. Should I feed honey directly in the test tube or connect the test tube portal and provide honey in there?

[ManikClub]

hey guys, just got my hands on my first camponotus pennsylvanicus and I'm looking for a Discord to join to talk and ask for tips and whatnot... are there any out there?
I had found one but it asks for a valid mobile number, which I don't have, so there's that...
thanks

[BlueLance]

Ello all, I am new here and thought I should come say Hi and ask a few questions!

My mum bought me an ant queen and brood a while back as a b-day gift, Camponotus Barbaricas, Sadly all the workers bar 1 died, and shortly after receiving the present she also ate the brood, I have had them in a cupboard in a small box with the test tube open since and eventually I noticed they had 1 egg (Unsure of the stage) but about 2 weeks later I checked on them to see how they were doing but I noticed their test tube was mouldy, the worker had died, and the egg also gone, the queen just kinda sitting near the entrance of the tube.


So I have now moved the queen to a new test tube setup, but I am unsure if it is now too late at this point for the queen? I have put some fruit flies and sugar water at the entrance and plan to leave it alone for another 2 weeks, can a queen recover from such set-backs?

Also, can you feed them boiled egg white and boiled yolk?

Also, unrelated to Camponotus, but in general, is it better to have less space in a test tube or does it not matter? I have some pretty long test tubes so the ants have about 3 inches of space in-between both cotton balls

And thank you for any help I get!!

[Hawkeye]

hey guys, just got my hands on my first camponotus pennsylvanicus and I'm looking for a Discord to join to talk and ask for tips and whatnot... are there any out there?
I had found one but it asks for a valid mobile number, which I don't have, so there's that...
thanks

Not sure if there is a specific discord for antkeeping, but I'm sure we'll try to answer any and all of your questions on this forum lol.

[Hawkeye]

Ello all, I am new here and thought I should come say Hi and ask a few questions!

My mum bought me an ant queen and brood a while back as a b-day gift, Camponotus Barbaricas, Sadly all the workers bar 1 died, and shortly after receiving the present she also ate the brood, I have had them in a cupboard in a small box with the test tube open since and eventually I noticed they had 1 egg (Unsure of the stage) but about 2 weeks later I checked on them to see how they were doing but I noticed their test tube was mouldy, the worker had died, and the egg also gone, the queen just kinda sitting near the entrance of the tube.


So I have now moved the queen to a new test tube setup, but I am unsure if it is now too late at this point for the queen? I have put some fruit flies and sugar water at the entrance and plan to leave it alone for another 2 weeks, can a queen recover from such set-backs?

Also, can you feed them boiled egg white and boiled yolk?

Also, unrelated to Camponotus, but in general, is it better to have less space in a test tube or does it not matter? I have some pretty long test tubes so the ants have about 3 inches of space in-between both cotton balls

And thank you for any help I get!!

Sorry to hear about your dying ants, the journey might have been too stressful for them. Some ants are very susceptible to vibrations and this causes stress for them. After all in the wild it might mean that some predator is digging into their nest.
Your queen should be able to recover, but this could take some time. She will need to replenish her resources for producing eggs again. Furthermore she will need to get settled in the new tube, so I wouldn't check on her for at least 3 weeks.

Boiled egg white is a valid source for protein, but ants are picky in what they eat, so you'll just have to wait and see if they accept it. I would refrain from using the egg yolk though, as it crumbles and spreads everywhere and then goes moldy.

The amount of space in the tube depends on the species of ants as larger ants need more space. But in general this space shouldn't be too generous as it mimics the claustral chamber that a queen would dig for herself.