The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

First hunt! I added approximately 20 live and killed flightless fruit flies. It was so much fun watching them hunt.

April 16
I have over 25 workers now and many piles of brood at different stages. They seem to be moving them into smaller piles in different locations of the nest depending on their needs. Some close to a bit of bug protein, some close to a cotton plug and some over the heat cable or under the queen.

Looking good. Is there a major of sorts now?

CabboAntsGuy wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 19, 2020 8:56 am

Looking good. Is there a major of sorts now?

I believe I have 3 you can see in the last post the brown coloured ants and one black with the very big gasters and larger heart shaped heads.

Yeah, I didn't know that Campos had majors. I'm a little out of practice I guess.

CabboAntsGuy wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 19, 2020 9:00 am

Yeah, I didn't know that Campos had majors. I'm a little out of practice I guess.

Ya just not super majors from what I’ve read. At least for Camponotus Pennsylvanicus.
Just counted 29-30 workers and I believe 4 are majors.

Wow! I think I found a potentially good food source for my ants. I Ice fish up here, and we use what we call "wax worms", which are basically grubs. I hope the ants will like these, because we have a bunch.

CabboAntsGuy wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 19, 2020 12:41 pm

Wow! I think I found a potentially good food source for my ants. I Ice fish up here, and we use what we call "wax worms", which are basically grubs. I hope the ants will like these, because we have a bunch.

Yep I feed wax worms. Actually fed one today.

Update! Definitely over 40 ants now. Many new eggs, pupae of all sizes and larvae at all instar stages.

BIG UPDATE!

May 14 - It’s moving day!

There are 55+ workers now so I decided to give them access to their new AC hybrid Camponotus nest. Plus I needed to redo the PPTFE barrier as well because I could see it wasn’t working as well as before. During this process one got out. I was able to direct her back into the outworld without too much stress, however now she had a taste of freedom lol and for quite a while she checked every possible spot at the top to find an exit point.



Less than 10 mins they started moving in and within an hour almost all had moved minus the Queen, a few workers and a new batch of eggs. By morning they were all settled into their new home. I rearranged some tubes and connectors and I’m very pleased with how it looks.





Remember the little worker that was diligently trying to find a way out of the outworld? Well she was attempting to chew through the plug vent holes for a solid 10-12 hrs. I was forced to add another bit of tubing and a test tube at the end so she would stop. Man she was persistent. She seemed content with the changes and began foraging in the outworld.



I left an AC portal connected to the formicarium because they were throwing their garbage there and I was hoping they would keep doing that. They had other plans it seems and moved it all into their nest. Ugh Bad idea on my part I guess.
They have also dragged in soil from the outworld into the tubes at the entrances of the formicarium. They’ve done this before so I wasn’t surprised.