Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

Discussions about the care and keeping of ants

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ArizonanAnts
Posts: 309
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 8:16 pm
Location: Arizona

Re: Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

Post: # 65693Post ArizonanAnts
Fri Nov 22, 2019 8:41 am

Hawkeye, after reading your post, it made a lot of sense that I couldn't be temp. Obviously because if the larger mass is being affected then the smaller mass should be affected as well. So Rockster I agree with Hawkeye (Ignore what I said and do what he said). I'll keep my fingers crossed as well! :)
Keeper of

Nothing right now :cry:

Rockster
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:12 am
Location: Florida

Re: Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

Post: # 65697Post Rockster
Fri Nov 22, 2019 10:53 am

Hawkeye wrote:
Fri Nov 22, 2019 12:19 am
First of all do big headed ants hibernate? Second this doesn't sound like hibernation behaviour. Especially since her workers are still actively trying to take care of her by the sound of it.

Thought a bit more about this. If none of the other ants in the nest display similar behaviour, it would be logical to rule out a general environmental variable like temperature. Especially since you'd expect the smaller worker ants to be much more susceptible to it than the larger queen.

Since ants feed each other out of their social stomachs a contaminant in their food supply seems unlikely too, though it can't be ruled out all together.

So that pretty much leads me to either genetics or a disease. Your queen might simply be built very frail, in which case it makes sense nature wouldn't want her to spread her genes (through alates later on) as it would weaken the species. Which would unfortunately mean that she will perish at some point. However:

She might have been susceptible to a contaminant in the food supply due to genetics, to which her offspring are less susceptible since part of their genes come from the male alate the queen mated with. (Hence I can't rule out food completely)

Finally, she might just be under the weather, having caught a disease. Stopping egg production, and basically shutting down (temporarily) will give her a better chance to fight off the infection. (+ She wouldn't want to lay infected eggs)
Humans pretty much do the same thing, though we might experience it differently. Curling up under a warm blanket, not going to work and pretty much sleep as much as you can, it all comes down to an overriding biological function of maximising your body's ability to fight off infections, viruses etc.

So I guess my advice is to keep the colony at a steady, comfortably warm temperature. If possible make sure your food supply is 100% free of contaminants like trace amounts of pesticides in honey for example. I'd refrain from offering wild caught insects, but offer boiled egg whites instead for the time being.
Maybe switch to sugar water or maple syrup for a week or two. Possibly even better would be to offer small pieces of fruit, so your ants get a dose of vitamins, anti oxidants etc. along with their natural sugars.
Then it's a waiting game to see if she recovers.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
Hawkeye, thank for that very detailed analysis, This morning she is moving on her own, the workers dont seem as frantic around her as before, and I saw her take a few steps, whoo hoo! I really did not want to look in this morning as I feared the worst, but I am so happy now!
On another note, while checking in on all my queens, (7 total) 1 of my pyramid queens has moved from the test tube into the AC mini tower I set up for them, and while trying to locate her amongst the tunnels I found a black crazy ant queen walking around on top of the mini, I now have 8 queens :D This maybe the queen of all the black crazy ants that have invaded my ant desk for the past month. I have as many ants outside my setups as in them combined :lol:
Queens...
Camponotus floridanus- 1
Paratrechina longicornis- 20+
Dorymurmex bureni- 3
Colobopsis impressa- 2
Pheidole megacephala-1
Tapinoma Melanocephalum- 2

Rockster
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:12 am
Location: Florida

Re: Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

Post: # 65698Post Rockster
Fri Nov 22, 2019 11:03 am

Just in case anyone was wondering, I have actually more than 8
3 pyramid queens in 3 different setups each with 30 to 40 workers
2 cork head in 1 setup now up to 10 workers
2 ghost in 1 setup Ive lost 2 3rds of the workers due to the original setup that had opening to large and they escaped to never return
1 big head with 30 workers and 4 majors
1 camponotus with 3 workers
and now 1 black crazy ant queen, with workers wandering around the desk, however not 100% sure they are hers so I will not introduce any of the workers with her just to be sure
Queens...
Camponotus floridanus- 1
Paratrechina longicornis- 20+
Dorymurmex bureni- 3
Colobopsis impressa- 2
Pheidole megacephala-1
Tapinoma Melanocephalum- 2

ArizonanAnts
Posts: 309
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 8:16 pm
Location: Arizona

Re: Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

Post: # 65701Post ArizonanAnts
Fri Nov 22, 2019 2:35 pm

Hey Rockster would you be able to post a pic of your Pyramid Queens?
Keeper of

Nothing right now :cry:

Rockster
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:12 am
Location: Florida

Re: Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

Post: # 65702Post Rockster
Fri Nov 22, 2019 2:55 pm

Yes of course, soon as i figure out how to do it :D
Queens...
Camponotus floridanus- 1
Paratrechina longicornis- 20+
Dorymurmex bureni- 3
Colobopsis impressa- 2
Pheidole megacephala-1
Tapinoma Melanocephalum- 2

Rockster
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:12 am
Location: Florida

Re: Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

Post: # 65703Post Rockster
Fri Nov 22, 2019 3:00 pm

Holy Moly batman, I had an old gel ant farm(took out the gel put peat moss and sand in it)that was my first with harvester ant workers only, after they all died I just set it aside with the caps off the opening, I just noticed that my pain in the butt black crazy ants that invaded my desk have made it there home, there has to be at least 8 queens in it, I just sealed them all in, as soon as I figure out how to post the pics Ill post it :D
Queens...
Camponotus floridanus- 1
Paratrechina longicornis- 20+
Dorymurmex bureni- 3
Colobopsis impressa- 2
Pheidole megacephala-1
Tapinoma Melanocephalum- 2

Rockster
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:12 am
Location: Florida

Re: Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

Post: # 65704Post Rockster
Fri Nov 22, 2019 3:18 pm

pic 1
Queens...
Camponotus floridanus- 1
Paratrechina longicornis- 20+
Dorymurmex bureni- 3
Colobopsis impressa- 2
Pheidole megacephala-1
Tapinoma Melanocephalum- 2

Rockster
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:12 am
Location: Florida

Re: Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

Post: # 65705Post Rockster
Fri Nov 22, 2019 3:21 pm

I can build a space shuttle but I cant figure out how to post pictures :oops:
Queens...
Camponotus floridanus- 1
Paratrechina longicornis- 20+
Dorymurmex bureni- 3
Colobopsis impressa- 2
Pheidole megacephala-1
Tapinoma Melanocephalum- 2

ArizonanAnts
Posts: 309
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 8:16 pm
Location: Arizona

Re: Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

Post: # 65709Post ArizonanAnts
Fri Nov 22, 2019 11:33 pm

Rockster wrote:
Fri Nov 22, 2019 3:21 pm
I can build a space shuttle but I cant figure out how to post pictures :oops:
lol
Keeper of

Nothing right now :cry:

Rockster
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:12 am
Location: Florida

Re: Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

Post: # 65716Post Rockster
Sat Nov 23, 2019 6:07 am

Can anyone help me figure out how to post pics? i searched and found a post that said I need to use imgur.com/ so I have pics therfe but do I get them here?
Queens...
Camponotus floridanus- 1
Paratrechina longicornis- 20+
Dorymurmex bureni- 3
Colobopsis impressa- 2
Pheidole megacephala-1
Tapinoma Melanocephalum- 2

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