Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

[Dreadant]

coolfrood16

My best advise here is to stay calm and think about the problem pragmatically.

With one Nantic’s passing your ants are missing something. They have shelter (test tube) next they need food and water. I am not familiar with your species so I won’t be able to get into specifics I am sure there are care guides for your ants bookmark they cuz I am sure you will want to head back there and just remind yourself of the specifics of your colony.

So most ants need a sugar source (honey and the like) and a protein source for developing brood and egg laying. If your ants have eaten all the honey then you are fin but if they are not interested or if you feel the drop of honey is too large then clean it up. Any uneaten food should be removed after a while regardless. If your test tube set up has a portion of water behind some cotton then you already have the water source nailed down.

Now as far as moving your colony, unless it’s absolutely necessary I would recommend you leave them in the test tube. If you want I believe the hardware you are describing has a place to connect tubes you can use a short tube to connect the test tube to unit set it up like normal and use it has a tiny outworld. This will allow you to feed them via an easier to access port. And if they decide to move in on there own then they were ready.

[Dreadant]

Also with out seeing your dead worker myself it’s possible it was newly eclosed and not moving as it was a new “born” Dead ants have this fetal position curl with their legs sorta hold “hands”

[coolfrood16]

Thank you so much that helps a lot. Yeah it seemed to be in the dead ant position (I am familiar with what it looks from taxonomic images etc. but yes I think I will take that course of action.

[ArizonanAnts]

Hi guys!!

Ant Update:

I know I will usually do this on the Forelius Clan Forum. My forelius queen now started to have its second generation. I have 8 workers and 1 more on the way!!!! I think that giving them natural protein helped them a lot. By natural protein, I mean giving them insects that they would typically find or kill in the wild. I hope that this colony survives its first winter. The winters here in Arizona aren't that bad but it still can get pretty cold. I will most definitely try to keep them as warm as possible as well as fed. My other queen has its first nanitic so I gave them a drop of agave nectar to see if they would drink it. Well, the worker did but she got stuck! I had to go in there myself to get her out. I opened the test tube got my little wood skewer and poked her out. She immediately started cleaning herself so then I wiped the drop off and will now give them diluted agave nectar.

This is it for now and hopefully soon I will have some more great news!

-ArizonanAnts

[JustABitAntsy]

Hi guys!!

Ant Update:

I know I will usually do this on the Forelius Clan Forum. My forelius queen now started to have its second generation. I have 8 workers and 1 more on the way!!!! I think that giving them natural protein helped them a lot. By natural protein, I mean giving them insects that they would typically find or kill in the wild. I hope that this colony survives its first winter. The winters here in Arizona aren't that bad but it still can get pretty cold. I will most definitely try to keep them as warm as possible as well as fed. My other queen has its first nanitic so I gave them a drop of agave nectar to see if they would drink it. Well, the worker did but she got stuck! I had to go in there myself to get her out. I opened the test tube got my little wood skewer and poked her out. She immediately started cleaning herself so then I wiped the drop off and will now give them diluted agave nectar.

This is it for now and hopefully soon I will have some more great news!

-ArizonanAnts

betrayal just kidding

[ArizonanAnts]

Can anyone help me ID this ant species. I caught her mid to late august. I think she is some kind dorymyrmex native to Arizona.



This is the worker. Hopefully, this is a clear enough picture.



This is the queen to that worker. She is about 1 and a half centimeters.

Thank you in advance!

[jojofire12]

Do Camponutus Florida hunt or do they prefer/only eat dead insects?

[ArizonanAnts]

Do Camponutus Florida hunt or do they prefer/only eat dead insects?

From what I read they do not hunt.

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/ants/fl_carpenter_ants.htm

The info is towards the bottom

[ArizonanAnts]

Guess what! Right this second I am watching my ants tugging at a pupa so that it can come alive. This is SO awesome!!

[Kherafox]

Guess what! Right this second I am watching my ants tugging at a pupa so that it can come alive. This is SO awesome!!

That's amazing! I wish I could catch my next worker waking up. I think, though, my queen and her single worker are so weird in their brood-pile logistics. I just checked with a tiny flashlight light to see clearly, and they have at least one larva high up against the water cotton (if not more), a couple larva/pupa and eggs moved to the -middle- of the nest tube, and the food of the day (a frozen thawed tiny moth) where the brood used to be, right next to the water cotton. Now.. I know I saw a pupa that was darkening. I -think- they left it -under- the moth... is that normal?