Welcome to the Camponotus Crew!

[Hawkeye]

Hi, I caught a Camponotus queen las summer on a hike and I put her in a test tube set up. She was lost during a move and I found her test tube a week ago in my closet. She seems to have produced nanitics, but they died (presumably from lack of food. She is still alive, so I was wondering if she will produce new nanitics, and also if she will be fine waiting until fall to enter diapause or if I should induce it now. Basically what should I do to restart the colony? I offered her some honey which she ate.
Thanks.

She must be starving. She'll need access to fresh
Water, protein (for egg production) and sugars (like the honey). You might want to consider moving her to a clean tube too

[Hawkeye]

Hi, I caught a Camponotus queen las summer on a hike and I put her in a test tube set up. She was lost during a move and I found her test tube a week ago in my closet. She seems to have produced nanitics, but they died (presumably from lack of food. She is still alive, so I was wondering if she will produce new nanitics, and also if she will be fine waiting until fall to enter diapause or if I should induce it now. Basically what should I do to restart the colony? I offered her some honey which she ate.
Thanks.

Also diapauze? Where do you live?

[JDuke91]

Hello! I am from northern British Columbia and am keeping Camponotus Nova currently, when the colony grows a bit I intend to move them from their Hybrid Nest and AC Outworld to a natural setup. I really want to find a Formica Rufa queen and start a colony of them as they are my all time favorite native ant to where I live. Proving tricky to find one. I love the colours on campo nova though.

[Hawkeye]

Hello! I am from northern British Columbia and am keeping Camponotus Nova currently, when the colony grows a bit I intend to move them from their Hybrid Nest and AC Outworld to a natural setup. I really want to find a Formica Rufa queen and start a colony of them as they are my all time favorite native ant to where I live. Proving tricky to find one. I love the colours on campo nova though.

Welcome to the crew! I probably speak for everyone when I say we'd love to see some pictures!

[Hawkeye]

Hi all!

Since I was working in the garden, it was pretty hard not too notice that the local pavement ants decided to have their nuptial flights. So I caught a queen to replace the one at school. That was a different species of course (Messor Barbarus) but hey it's a potential new colony which can rapidly grow.
She's now sat in a small test tube setup, wrapped in dark paper, inside a cabinet in my spare bedroom. I'll just leave her be until the 2nd of June when we finally get to go back to school.

[SaturnsLastRing]

Hi, I caught a Camponotus queen las summer on a hike and I put her in a test tube set up. She was lost during a move and I found her test tube a week ago in my closet. She seems to have produced nanitics, but they died (presumably from lack of food. She is still alive, so I was wondering if she will produce new nanitics, and also if she will be fine waiting until fall to enter diapause or if I should induce it now. Basically what should I do to restart the colony? I offered her some honey which she ate.
Thanks.

She must be starving. She'll need access to fresh
Water, protein (for egg production) and sugars (like the honey). You might want to consider moving her to a clean tube too

I live in Seattle. I moved her to a new tube with fresh water. And offered her some honey which she accepted. I guess now I'll offer her a piece of a cricket or something so she can get some protein.

[Isoroku55]

Hi
Does anyone have any experience with Ytong nests for Camponotus Ligniperda/Heraculus? I've read that majors of some species can chew through it, so not sure, if i want to have it without glass/plastic enclosure.
I have a colony from last year, 7 workers and more on a way.
Thanks

[ridgewalker]

Took a peak at my Camponotus Queen. I know it not the best picture. Trying not to disturb her. Anyways, I think I can about 10 or more eggs/or larva. Not really sure what I’m looking at. Looks like grains of rice. Wondering how more weeks it will be before the first ants to start hatch?

[Hawkeye]

Hi
Does anyone have any experience with Ytong nests for Camponotus Ligniperda/Heraculus? I've read that majors of some species can chew through it, so not sure, if i want to have it without glass/plastic enclosure.
I have a colony from last year, 7 workers and more on a way.
Thanks

Your colony won't have any majors until it gets a lot bigger. So the nest will do for the foreseeable time.

[Hawkeye]

Took a peak at my Camponotus Queen. I know it not the best picture. Trying not to disturb her. Anyways, I think I can about 10 or more eggs/or larva. Not really sure what I’m looking at. Looks like grains of rice. Wondering how more weeks it will be before the first ants to start hatch?

That depends on a number of things. First of all it differs between species (the larger the ant, the longer it takes), next the temperature is a factor (the warmer it gets the faster they develop), the care the eggs/larvae receive (they need to be cleaned and fed) which is impacted by the stress levels of your queen. If she feels safe and is undisturbed she'll likely provide much better care.

In general I'd say you're looking at at least a couple of weeks. You can probably find a good estimate for your species on antwiki.