15 replies to this topic

[MichiganAnts]

Species: camponotus noveboracensis

 

Location found: In a fallen log near my swamp

 

Age of colony: 3+ year old

 

Workers: 500-1000+

 

Majors: 250+

 

Super Majors: 100+

 

Edited by MichiganAnts, January 5 2018 - 9:11 PM.

[MichiganAnts]

Well what can i say. This is my crowning achievement. My largest colony I will ever have i bet. I was in my woods with my son, chopping open small twigs/branches to find him bugs to play with. And i came up to a log that's been bark-less and laying there for over 10 years. I had checked under the log before and i knew it seemed to only house rolly pollies. The log its self was ~10-15 feet long and years ago chopped into 5 parts with a chainsaw. However when the log was cut they left the parts connected at the bottom and kept them touching. So I decided to take 1 of the parts and chop a little off to look for more bugs. Well when i chopped it with my hatchet i looked and saw ants..alot of ants...oh crap!! Lucky for me it was 34F outside and the ants barely moved. so I managed to use my aspirator and sucked them all up. I looked and I saw very little brood and no queen. I was confused. I saw that the chamber had only a few workers, but quite a few majors and even super majors. I looked and noticed i hit another chamber open aswell, i carefully opened it sucked all those ants up aswell. Over 2 days and 6 hours i managed to catch the entire colony (as far as i know, i've only looked in 3 out of the 5 logs so far) queen included!! After 24 hours she woke up. The last log only had 1 chamber in it so i think that was the end of the colony. I know for a fact they will fly this year aswell.

[MichiganAnts]

4/2/2017

 

This colony is amazing! I added a very large nest to the colony so they should be good all summer. (i hope!) The whole colony seems to enjoy the setup. I am now feeding them daily since all the eggs that were hibernated have turned into larvae. I'm expecting atates to eclose in the next couple months. The colony is so thirsty aswell. They drain a feeder every ~36 hours and a test tube full of my "ant juice" only lasts ~72 hours. They are hyper aggressive, to the point of just taking the lid off the outworld causes them to get agitated. The also LOVE to dig. All the dirt in the outworld has been piled up and they love to dig tunnels in the outworld. 

 

[Antking117]

I want to buy these xD but I'm in nebraska (and idk if you would sell) Move to nebraska catch ants and sell them to me

Edited by antking117, April 1 2017 - 10:29 PM.

[MichiganAnts]

I want to buy these xD but I'm in nebraska (and idk if you would sell) Move to nebraska catch ants and sell them to me

lol id sell them for 500$ but you'd have to be in MI hahaha

[thosaka]

Major Labor~

[MichiganAnts]

Major Labor~

huh?

[Alabama Anter]

Dang Cody! That's quite the colony!

[MichiganAnts]

Dang Cody! That's quite the colony!

thank you. it was well worth the 6 hours it took to collect them lol and yes i plan to let them have a flight later this year

[Californian Anter]

Lol when I first saw "Red Army" I immediately thought of Soviet Russia XD

[Alabama Anter]

Lol when I first saw "Red Army" I immediately thought of Soviet Russia XD

SAME! I also thought North Korea

 

Cody, show us a video on them having nuptials!!!

[MichiganAnts]

 

Lol when I first saw "Red Army" I immediately thought of Soviet Russia XD

SAME! I also thought North Korea

 

Cody, show us a video on them having nuptials!!!

 

i will hopefully livestream the flight when it happens. be sure to follow my FB page to see livestreams of this and all my other colonies

[MichiganAnts]

Update:

 

I am now seeing why people don't keep colonies after they get ~3 years old. these girls love to chew up tubing and are hyper aggressive. they also are currently eating ~2 super worms per day every day. I think that will slow down once all the overwintered brood has eclosed. I am also expecting a death wave within the next 1-4 months. I still don't really see the colony making a bathroom or a garbage area. there is a potential spot at the back of the 2nd nest that holds garbage however. I've also moved the colony onto a board so i can easily move them for flights.

 

[T.C.]

How are these guys doing?

[MichiganAnts]

They are doing amazing. First time logging on here in months. They are currently in a large natural setup and are refusing to hibernate.. yeap, they are still awake and taking food and sending out lots of scouts. Although finally as of last week they've stopped trying to have a flight lol. https://www.facebook.com/MichiganAnts/If you are curious about pics of them

[T.C.]

They are doing amazing. First time logging on here in months. They are currently in a large natural setup and are refusing to hibernate.. yeap, they are still awake and taking food and sending out lots of scouts. Although finally as of last week they've stopped trying to have a flight lol. https://www.facebook.com/MichiganAnts/If you are curious about pics of them

 

Awesome, and yeah. i was surprised by the speed of that response. lol  I'll check out the pics.