The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

MorbidBugg wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 09, 2018 4:59 pm

Well because I house them in my indoor greenhouse I try to keep it set to a more American side of the border temperature. I usually stop my veggie production near the begining of November so I'm hoping I can keep the room warm enough without extra heating til mid October then begin the starting processes to put them to hibernation... but that's assuming they don't decide to do that on their own. Which would be totally cool regardless.

Wish I had a green house to keep ants in.

I wish mine was bigger XD it's like 10 by 3 by 8 ft. It's a little tight. And now with housing ants it's even tighter.

As someone requested, here are some photos of the colony.


(one of the smaller majors trying to photo bomb)

First off, I would like to congratulate you on the fantastic progress/success you have had with this particular Camponotus pennsylvanicus colony. I am very jealous. They have always been my favorite. I have a colony as well but did not heat them. As a result they have underperformed. I wont hijack your thread by posting a few of my many questions. Would you mind if I pm'ed you regarding a few of them?

Looks awesome. I'm a first time ant keeper that has three yet unidentified test tube colonies. I notice you are located in Ontario, what is your preferred source for different supplies (food, housing, etc).

So when do majors usually start to arrive?

Ninefingers wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 12, 2018 8:53 am

First off, I would like to congratulate you on the fantastic progress/success you have had with this particular Camponotus pennsylvanicus colony. I am very jealous. They have always been my favorite. I have a colony as well but did not heat them. As a result they have underperformed. I wont hijack your thread by posting a few of my many questions. Would you mind if I pm'ed you regarding a few of them?

You can ask them all here, I don't mind I created this thread to document Camponotus Pennslyvanicus in as much detail as I could in hopes that it helped someone out. A question you might have could apply to many others.

EssPea wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 12, 2018 2:14 pm

Looks awesome. I'm a first time ant keeper that has three yet unidentified test tube colonies. I notice you are located in Ontario, what is your preferred source for different supplies (food, housing, etc).

Hello,
In terms of food I regularly frequent my backyard as a primary food source. It's quite sufficient but some days I can be searching for hours. I normally feed my ants crickets, moths, mealworms, beetles and spiders. This particular colony is strict with their protein and almost always prefer crickets alone. Although I did realize every time I feed them beetles every once in awhile, I got a lot larger workers then if I didn't. Since I am not getting it from a store I do take precaution before feeding. I normally pour boiling water (the most humane way to my knowledge) on the crickets, beetles and spiders burning their nerves and giving a swift death. Moths I freeze for about 4hrs and then 'defrost' before giving them to my colonies. In my experience, these species love these insects:

Camponotus
Tetramorium
Formica
Myrmica

Will All Accept Crickets

Tetramorium
Myrmica

Will All Accept Moths

Formica
Tetramorium
Myrmica

Will All Accept Beetles

Now, in terms of housing I normally just stick to test tubes. Although, I am noticing that a lot of my colonies that have pupa which spin cocoons cannot do so in a glass tube. I now almost always add substrate into their tubes when I initially catch queens of species that require substrate to spin. Almost all Canadian species can live in tubing for up to a year easily. The only exception is Camponotus because all of our genera here are large. If you're looking for nests for Camponotus or Formica I would highly recommend AA (AntsAustralia) ytong nests. Although expensive, it works for dry loving species and they don't need any substrate to spin. All of my Camponotus have done exceptional in theirs.

Hope you found this helpful.

AntsDakota wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 14, 2018 5:29 pm

So when do majors usually start to arrive?

Honestly, I am thinking there is no set date. It seriously just depends on how successful your queen wants to be. I noticed with this colony they weren't afraid of protein like most young Camponotus colonies are when they just start out, (1 - 5 workers). I've been feeding mine an entire medium cricket everyday since then and that could be the reason for their growth. I also keep them at 29 degrees (84F) almost always. It's far too hot for me but they seem to love it

I've actually got another colony of this same species and it just goes to show some queens are different. This colony is only at 6 workers and she got her first on August 3rd. I have hardly fed them so her egg production has also taken a toll.

I would just experiment to see if they'll accept different proteins because I noticed that when I give mine a variation I see a lot more majors then if I didn't. (My colony is up to 4)

I wish you luck

AntsOfOntario wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 15, 2018 6:05 pm

Ninefingers wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 12, 2018 8:53 am

First off, I would like to congratulate you on the fantastic progress/success you have had with this particular Camponotus pennsylvanicus colony. I am very jealous. They have always been my favorite. I have a colony as well but did not heat them. As a result they have underperformed. I wont hijack your thread by posting a few of my many questions. Would you mind if I pm'ed you regarding a few of them?

You can ask them all here, I don't mind I created this thread to document Camponotus Pennslyvanicus in as much detail as I could in hopes that it helped someone out. A question you might have could apply to many others.

I have a Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen I caught approximately the beginning of June. She laid eggs approximately June 6th/2018. I kept her in a standard test tube set up. I kept her in a dark closet in my air condition house. Temperature stayed at a constant 20 degrees Celsius. To date she only has 2 workers and a pile of eggs. At the beginning of Sept I moved her to the garage and increased *** SPAM *** to about 25 degrees Celsius in the hopes of helping her get a few more workers before the winter. They never leave the test tube to forage. Every couple of days I insert a que tip just inside her test tube and give them a sugar water solution garnished with either pieces of a store bought cricket or meal worm. I have only seen them take the protein offered on 2 occasions. Occasionally one of the workers can be seen on the carbohydrate I provide. Temperature has started to become fall like here in niagara falls canada. I have never hibernated a set of ants before.

Should I continue to feed until the end of October then hibernate them?

Should I attempt to increase temp by way of a heating cable or lamp for the next month?

Should I attempt to have them relocate to another test tube with a greater water supply before hibernation by removing wrapper on test tube to add light while providing a darker alternative?

What will happen to the eggs that dont (eclose?) And become workers before the winter hibernation?

Sry for all the questions. I'll post a few simple pics of my meager set up for clarification shortly.