Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

[CabboAntsGuy]

Hello Guys! Update:
My colony is doing good. No sign of the brood being hatched yet, and Im also worried that they aren't eating the worms I give them. I don't stay around to watch, bu tit seems like they don't even go out of the tube to get food or honey. I'm worried that because they don't want to go out into the outworld that they wont get the honey and protein.
My other colonies are doing ok. My formica don't have much up date. It's kinda hard to see their eggs if they have any.
I caught another campo penn queen yesterday and have her in a tube. We'll see how she does. My other two queens both still have eggs pupai and larvi. One has a nanitic that isn't moving yet but is very ant like just still white and clear.

That's pretty much it, hope you're all doing well.
-Cabbo

[CANant]

Hello Guys! Update:
My colony is doing good. No sign of the brood being hatched yet, and Im also worried that they aren't eating the worms I give them. I don't stay around to watch, bu tit seems like they don't even go out of the tube to get food or honey. I'm worried that because they don't want to go out into the outworld that they wont get the honey and protein.
My other colonies are doing ok. My formica don't have much up date. It's kinda hard to see their eggs if they have any.
I caught another campo penn queen yesterday and have her in a tube. We'll see how she does. My other two queens both still have eggs pupai and larvi. One has a nanitic that isn't moving yet but is very ant like just still white and clear.

That's pretty much it, hope you're all doing well.
-Cabbo

I found my C. Penn very picky eaters early on. It doesn’t seem like it’s anything you’re doing wrong. Some just don’t do well in captivity. Your other queens are doing great by the sounds of it.

Congratulations on your new find! Hope she does better for you.

[oreoisakitty]

Hopefully this works. Need an id. Found in Southern California. Late April, she's like 1.5 centimeters, a big girl. I think she's a C. Americanus not 100% sure. Tried to get the best pictures I could, need a better macro lens.

No idea why my bed looks better than the ant does...

[Hawkeye]

Hello Guys! Update:
My colony is doing good. No sign of the brood being hatched yet, and Im also worried that they aren't eating the worms I give them. I don't stay around to watch, bu tit seems like they don't even go out of the tube to get food or honey. I'm worried that because they don't want to go out into the outworld that they wont get the honey and protein.
My other colonies are doing ok. My formica don't have much up date. It's kinda hard to see their eggs if they have any.
I caught another campo penn queen yesterday and have her in a tube. We'll see how she does. My other two queens both still have eggs pupai and larvi. One has a nanitic that isn't moving yet but is very ant like just still white and clear.

That's pretty much it, hope you're all doing well.
-Cabbo

I found my C. Penn very picky eaters early on. It doesn’t seem like it’s anything you’re doing wrong. Some just don’t do well in captivity. Your other queens are doing great by the sounds of it.

Congratulations on your new find! Hope she does better for you.

The ants can certainly be picky with their food in the beginning, some have suggested it is somewhat based on the size of the colony too. A larger colony will attack/eat larger prey, while smaller colonies won't want to take the risk involved and prefer smaller prey. So offering smaller prey like fruitflies might be beneficial at this point.
Having said that, the ants are likely well fed already. At te moment they don't have much to do, other than caring for the brood. So your ants aren't spending a lot of energy and thus don't need to eat very much. Even catching a small prey will be enough to feed the queen and her nanitics and keep them happy for a while.
So have some trust in your ants, they will go out on the prowl when they think the time is right. Meanwhile they are guarding and caring for the brood.

[Hawkeye]

Hopefully this works. Need an id. Found in Southern California. Late April, she's like 1.5 centimeters, a big girl. I think she's a C. Americanus not 100% sure. Tried to get the best pictures I could, need a better macro lens.

Wow! Those are some amazing pictures! Camponotus americanus immediately popped into my head, before I even saw what you wrote. Yet before I jump the gun, it might be a different species.

I've looked at pictures of other C. americanus queens and in general she fits the picture, but there are some sleight differences. You'd expect her gaster to be 'banded' in stripes of black and orange, though this differs from ant to ant. Some have very distinctive bands, some have a color scale with bands starting of bright orange and turning black.


Furthermore the queens of that species have quite bright orange/red colored legs, whereas your queen has almost black legs. Now within any species some deviation of the norm is to be expected, so your queen could very well be a Camponotus americanus indeed. I'll have to do some research and get back to you. I remember there is a species that looks very similar, but I can't remember what it is called.

[Hawkeye]

Hopefully this works. Need an id. Found in Southern California. Late April, she's like 1.5 centimeters, a big girl. I think she's a C. Americanus not 100% sure. Tried to get the best pictures I could, need a better macro lens.

There is an unnamed species of Camponotus ants in California, refered to as Camponotus us-ca02 that bears a striking resemblance to the one you've got. Check out https://www.formiculture.com/topic/10730-finally-found-camponotus-us-ca02/ for more information on that species.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmcO1j3VNvg&feature=youtu.be

[oreoisakitty]

Hopefully this works. Need an id. Found in Southern California. Late April, she's like 1.5 centimeters, a big girl. I think she's a C. Americanus not 100% sure. Tried to get the best pictures I could, need a better macro lens.

There is an unnamed species of Camponotus ants in California, refered to as Camponotus us-ca02 that bears a striking resemblance to the one you've got. Check out https://www.formiculture.com/topic/10730-finally-found-camponotus-us-ca02/ for more information on that species.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmcO1j3VNvg&feature=youtu.be

Oh wow yeah that look exactly like her. That's amazing! I'll keep updates on her, since she is a fairly unknown species. Hopefully someone will soon give her a proper name. I can't wait to see the minors, I have a massive larvae she's been tending to, hopefully it hatches soon.

[Hawkeye]

Oh wow yeah that look exactly like her. That's amazing! I'll keep updates on her, since she is a fairly unknown species. Hopefully someone will soon give her a proper name. I can't wait to see the minors, I have a massive larvae she's been tending to, hopefully it hatches soon.

Happy to help! At this point it's kind of a waiting game, to see how her workers turn out.

For now try to resist the urge to check in on her. Just leave her be undisturbed in the dark

[oreoisakitty]

Oh wow yeah that look exactly like her. That's amazing! I'll keep updates on her, since she is a fairly unknown species. Hopefully someone will soon give her a proper name. I can't wait to see the minors, I have a massive larvae she's been tending to, hopefully it hatches soon.

Happy to help! At this point it's kind of a waiting game, to see how her workers turn out.

For now try to resist the urge to check in on her. Just leave her be undisturbed in the dark

Sure will, started up a journal for her. Can't wait to see how her workers turn out!

[CabboAntsGuy]

Hello Guys! Update:
My colony is doing good. No sign of the brood being hatched yet, and Im also worried that they aren't eating the worms I give them. I don't stay around to watch, bu tit seems like they don't even go out of the tube to get food or honey. I'm worried that because they don't want to go out into the outworld that they wont get the honey and protein.
My other colonies are doing ok. My formica don't have much up date. It's kinda hard to see their eggs if they have any.
I caught another campo penn queen yesterday and have her in a tube. We'll see how she does. My other two queens both still have eggs pupai and larvi. One has a nanitic that isn't moving yet but is very ant like just still white and clear.

That's pretty much it, hope you're all doing well.
-Cabbo

I found my C. Penn very picky eaters early on. It doesn’t seem like it’s anything you’re doing wrong. Some just don’t do well in captivity. Your other queens are doing great by the sounds of it.

Congratulations on your new find! Hope she does better for you.

The ants can certainly be picky with their food in the beginning, some have suggested it is somewhat based on the size of the colony too. A larger colony will attack/eat larger prey, while smaller colonies won't want to take the risk involved and prefer smaller prey. So offering smaller prey like fruitflies might be beneficial at this point.
Having said that, the ants are likely well fed already. At te moment they don't have much to do, other than caring for the brood. So your ants aren't spending a lot of energy and thus don't need to eat very much. Even catching a small prey will be enough to feed the queen and her nanitics and keep them happy for a while.
So have some trust in your ants, they will go out on the prowl when they think the time is right. Meanwhile they are guarding and caring for the brood.

Thanks for the info Guys!