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Despite the cool temperatures lately, the larvae have been developing rapidly. And I believe the queen may have laid a few eggs.

When I peeked at the colony today, the queen was laying partially on her side, apparently struggling. Her abdomen was balloted, and a worker seemed awfully interested in smelling the tip of her gaster. I believe she may have been in the process of laying an egg. She is fine now.

I moved them out of their moldy test tube and into a new one. However, the new one was too wet for them, as they moved into a cork nest that was attached to their new outworld. I originally had planned to move them in when the colony was large enough, yet I guess the ants had other plans.....

After observing some other Camponotus workers around, I found that my ants are still too large to be C. nearcticus (I found different ants that I'm almost certain are C. nearcticus). I am guessing C. modoc, yet I am still not sure.

Anyway, the colony is doing very well. The temperatures here have climbed into the 90s lately, giving the colony the opportunity to blossom. The eggs the colony originally had at the beginning of this year have developed into pupae. When I checked up on them today, I also noticed a monstrous pile of eggs and presumably small larvae (visibility is limited after covering the nest with sand). I would estimate that there is between fifteen and twenty young brood in that pile alone, which indicates the colony's population will explode in a couple months.

I was going around my yard collecting various insects to feed the colony. One of the food items was a fly. Yet when I crushed it, I realized it was apparently pregnant. Several dozen maggots then began crawling out of the fly's body and out into the container I was keeping the corpses in.

AntsDakota wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 08, 2019 4:55 pm

After observing some other Camponotus workers around, I found that my ants are still too large to be C. nearcticus (I found different ants that I'm almost certain are C. nearcticus). I am guessing C. modoc, yet I am still not sure.

I was reading various Camponotus journals on Formiculture, and came across a Camponotus modoc journal. After reading it, I recognized several distinct similarities with my colony.

1. They look exactly the same.
2. They eat A LOT.
3. Even at only a few workers, the queen lays dozens of eggs.

I believe I have confirmed their ID, and now have a guide in caring for this colony.

It has been a few months since the nanitics were born, therefore I believe they may be dying off. When I checked them last week, I could only see one worker with the queen. (There could be more; again, the nest provides poor visibility and has some hiding places, yet there’s definitely less than nine or ten.) But fortunately, they now have around ten pupae which will soon replace them.

Unfortunately, the workers all died. I then decided to move the queen and her brood into a test tube where I could view her more easily. I counted five pupae, and two larvae. All pupae had ant silhouettes showing through, so the workers should close in the next few days.