My camponotus novaeboracensis has eggs!

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timeshell
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:34 pm
Location: Port Hope

My camponotus novaeboracensis has eggs!

Post: # 80121Post timeshell
Sun Jul 25, 2021 7:33 pm

So, I picked up a camponotus novaeboracensis queen a few days ago, I think Wednesday last week. I noticed that she had a mite attached to her right back leg. I did some research and alot of results were saying that it's probably better to just release her. However, I did find a page that gave suggestions on how to remove it. Long story short, I decided to try one of the options that would encourage the mite to fall off. When I went to do so a couple days later, I discovered she already had 3 eggs! I separated her from the tube with eggs as I didn't want to hurt the eggs. I proceeded with the treatment. At one point I thought maybe she was dying, as she became very unresponsive after the treatment, but she pulled out of it. But it didn't seem to work as the mite remained attached. I was pondering leaving her for a few days to recover from the stress and then trying again. However, today I just came home and checked on it and the the mite was no longer on its leg! It was off at the end of the test tube. I don't know if it was dead or not, but I used a small piece of cotton with tweezers to pick it up from the tube and discard it. So, it appears that she is now mite free! I hope that there are no mite eggs left behind as I'd hate to see a repeat of it.

Today she now as 7 eggs in the tube. I have placed her in a drawer now with my tetramorium queen. She has been very good otherwise and hasn't seemed particularly bothered overall by being examined repeatedly. Ultimately, I don't think I'll be interested in keeping her long term and will probably sell her when she has some workers going.

LetFlygonsBeFlygons
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Jul 25, 2021 11:20 am
Location: Edmonton

Re: My camponotus novaeboracensis has eggs!

Post: # 80182Post LetFlygonsBeFlygons
Sun Jul 25, 2021 11:18 pm

I know, right. My parents aren’t really interested, they’re more worried about having pests in the house so all I can use is a small scale ant farm, but it’s really interesting. I’m awestruck by the dedication all of them have to their colonies. Sure, it doesn’t help that ants are really my only option to keep other than bees since I’d love to keep Mantises or Beetles but they’re both illegal to keep here which sucks because I wanted to breed orchid mantises or rhino beetles. I’ve always had a passion for entomology, but entomology here in Alberta is almost entirely limited to pest control for farming, but even if it doesn’t end up as a job, I want to never let it die. Just like a little ant, I’ll stay committed. They’re one of the most amazing species on earth. They’re definitely not all pests, despite what Google may have you think with all the exterminators that show up every time you Google a bug lol.

LetFlygonsBeFlygons
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Jul 25, 2021 11:20 am
Location: Edmonton

Re: My camponotus novaeboracensis has eggs!

Post: # 80183Post LetFlygonsBeFlygons
Sun Jul 25, 2021 11:22 pm

Congratulations. I myself caught quite a few queens of a species that nobody has IDd quite yet. If more than one produce workers, I might sell them. I’m just not quite sure how I’d go about selling them on the GAN. I don’t know if you’re able to sell single mated queens who have produced a couple workers in their test tube or how it works.

timeshell
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:34 pm
Location: Port Hope

Re: My camponotus novaeboracensis has eggs!

Post: # 80297Post timeshell
Wed Jul 28, 2021 1:55 pm

For whoever is interested, I used information about formic acid from this link to treat her mite:

https://www.formiculture.com/topic/5263-my-ants-have-mites/

A word of caution. Formic acid CAN KILL YOU if you inhale its vapors. Do your research and take appropriate precautions for hazardous substances. I am providing this for information purposes only.

timeshell
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:34 pm
Location: Port Hope

Re: My camponotus novaeboracensis has eggs!

Post: # 81457Post timeshell
Tue Aug 24, 2021 12:34 am

My camponotus novaeboracensis queen has only about 3 larvae that she's been working on for the past few weeks. Is that normal? They are progressing well and are all in the pupae stage with brown eyes. She doesn't get excited right away when disturbed for a short period, but the longer she is exposed it seems the more agitated she gets.

timeshell
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:34 pm
Location: Port Hope

Re: My camponotus novaeboracensis has eggs!

Post: # 81470Post timeshell
Tue Aug 24, 2021 7:20 am

Correction, she has 4 larvae...

timeshell
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:34 pm
Location: Port Hope

Re: My camponotus novaeboracensis has eggs!

Post: # 87405Post timeshell
Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:55 pm

So oddly not much has changed. She has only had 4 workers all this time. Only recently has she laid a few more eggs, but as far as I can tell there's only one left which one of the workers is taking care of. I'm not sure why there's no progress here but the queen and the current workers are very active when I check on them. They don't seem much interested in eating.

:?:

SolenopsisKeeper
Posts: 2402
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:41 am
Location: United States, Florida

Re: My camponotus novaeboracensis has eggs!

Post: # 87415Post SolenopsisKeeper
Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:09 pm

timeshell wrote:
Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:55 pm
So oddly not much has changed. She has only had 4 workers all this time. Only recently has she laid a few more eggs, but as far as I can tell there's only one left which one of the workers is taking care of. I'm not sure why there's no progress here but the queen and the current workers are very active when I check on them. They don't seem much interested in eating.

:?:
Hibernation may be difficult on them. Also, I have a Camponotus colony who’s worker just closes (2nd gen) who would have had 4 workers but I brood boosted one. They are trying to hibernate(yours) btw, as it is winter, and they do not want food, and they haven’t layed eggs. Putting them through hibernation stimulates an egg laying period according to people who keep Camponotus. Luckily for me, my Camponotus are one of few species that do not hibernate or go through diapause(well usually).
When you accidentally reply to yourself…

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AntsAntsAnts
Posts: 365
Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:10 am
Location: Australia

Re: My camponotus novaeboracensis has eggs!

Post: # 87543Post AntsAntsAnts
Mon Jan 31, 2022 4:27 am

timeshell wrote:
Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:55 pm
So oddly not much has changed. She has only had 4 workers all this time. Only recently has she laid a few more eggs, but as far as I can tell there's only one left which one of the workers is taking care of. I'm not sure why there's no progress here but the queen and the current workers are very active when I check on them. They don't seem much interested in eating.

:?:
oh no. I see a repeat of 'I-will-not-lay-any-eggs-as-i-want-you-to-be-sad' which happened to my carpenter ant queen who had workers. I think it is some trait of only camponotus
keeping:
all my queens died :(
got a sugar ant colony started :)

SolenopsisKeeper
Posts: 2402
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:41 am
Location: United States, Florida

Re: My camponotus novaeboracensis has eggs!

Post: # 87554Post SolenopsisKeeper
Mon Jan 31, 2022 7:18 am

AntsAntsAnts wrote:
Mon Jan 31, 2022 4:27 am
timeshell wrote:
Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:55 pm
So oddly not much has changed. She has only had 4 workers all this time. Only recently has she laid a few more eggs, but as far as I can tell there's only one left which one of the workers is taking care of. I'm not sure why there's no progress here but the queen and the current workers are very active when I check on them. They don't seem much interested in eating.

:?:
oh no. I see a repeat of 'I-will-not-lay-any-eggs-as-i-want-you-to-be-sad' which happened to my carpenter ant queen who had workers. I think it is some trait of only camponotus
I caught a queen with one worker and yea, she lays an egg a day(HOW FOR CAMPONOTUS)
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