44 replies to this topic

[Rstheant]

These need to hibernate? I thought Florida ants don’t need to hibernate, because it is relatively warm and humid. Or am I thinking of those vacations magazines?

[Aaron567]

These need to hibernate? I thought Florida ants don’t need to hibernate, because it is relatively warm and humid. Or am I thinking of those vacations magazines?

 

Florida's winter temperatures vary extremely depending on latitude. South Florida has pretty much no ants that exhibit a diapause period (it's in a tropical climate) but I'm in north Florida where we can get freezing temperatures every winter, so my local Camponotus all need a diapause of about a month or two. It's mainly Camponotus though, as some other ants like Crematogaster and Pheidole are active and they grow year-round. Camponotus will pretty much always go into diapause whether you want them to or not.

[ANTdrew]

Update?

I may be getting a young colony of these soon from another ant keeper.  Do you have any general tips for them?

[Aaron567]

Update?

I may be getting a young colony of these soon from another ant keeper.  Do you have any general tips for them?

 

They haven't progressed at all since the last update. Their larvae get to pupating size and then get eaten so I'm guessing their failing at spinning cocoons. I'm about to move them into a tar heel ants nest, so the rougher surface will probably get them back to normal again.

 

I unfortunately don't really have any tips as I'm still trying to figure mine out. They seem pretty basic to keep though, just extremely slow at growing.

[Acutus]

This is one of my target species this year! Hoping you get yours straightened out. I have a Queenless Colony and they  seem to do ok. Hoping to catch a Queen soon to start my own process.

Be sure to let us know about the Tar Heel setup and if it helps.

[TennesseeAnts]

Update?

[NickAnter]

I wish we had these in California! I love their color!

[ANTdrew]

I wish we had these in California! I love their color!

Yeah, you only have every other amazing ant species in California! Lol

[Acutus]

 

I wish we had these in California! I love their color!

Yeah, you only have every other amazing ant species in California! Lol

 

 

 

   

[NickAnter]

I wish we had these in California! I love their color!

Yeah, you only have every other amazing ant species in California! Lol

100+ miles away!

[Aaron567]

August 1, 2019

 

The first colony never gained any new workers after their diapause. The larvae kept dying once they would reach pupating size, and I couldn't figure out what was going on with them. They are now completely dead, sadly. Hopefully they were just a dud colony and I wasn't doing anything wrong. This year I have two new fertile C. castaneus queens and one just got her first nanitic. Like the queen from last year, neither of the new queens have shed their wings.

 

[Acutus]

Very nice!!! Pics are great too!

[FeedTheAnts]

What about the eggs... they're white

Are Camponotus castaneus eggs not always orange?

[Aaron567]

March 6, 2020

 

I still have this colony. After getting around 9 nanitics or so, they went into diapause and I put them in a closet where they were at around 70 degrees for a few months. I forgot about them sometime in November or December and accidentally let their test tube run dry. Only 4 workers were left alive by the time I got them in a new tube. I suspect that Camponotus castaneus from northwest Florida need cooler diapause temperatures than what I have provided them, because this colony never seemed to retain the carbohydrates I fed them and the survival rate of the larvae was low. 70-72F diapause probably only works well for castaneus further south. My Camponotus floridanus, however, had a very successful diapause at this same temperature.

 

One worker died recently so there are three left. I took them out of the closet about 2 weeks ago and they have just started to lay eggs. Only one of the five or six larvae survived the diapause and is now growing. Hoping I will not have the same problems with the larvae as I did with my old colony last season.

 

[HiddenAnts]

Hey! They doing alright?

[Aaron567]

Hey! They doing alright?

 

The colony in the last post is still alive but barely doing anything. I think their diapause wasn't cold enough. I'll be getting a wine cooler soon so I can diapause my ants at the proper temperatures, but I have several new C. castaneus colonies this year that are doing fine so far. Will probably make a new post on here once I have everyone in diapause in a few months.

[ANTdrew]

They’ll probably just do nothing even if you have perfect diapause temperatures. Such a boring species. I’m selling the few I found this year ASAP.

[FeedTheAnts]

They’ll probably just do nothing even if you have perfect diapause temperatures. Such a boring species. I’m selling the few I found this year ASAP.

Ouch! Harsh!! Dang, this species is awesome outside the founding stage, just give em a chance.

[Aaron567]

November 1, 2020

 

A couple of months ago I purchased a small Frigidaire wine cooler to diapause my ants in. It has a temperature range of 46F to 64F and can be set by the degree. This makes it extremely easy to diapause native ants in my climate zone, where regular refrigerators are too cold but garages or closets seemingly aren't cold enough.

 

 

Of course the main species I got the wine cooler for is Camponotus castaneus, because I want to keep attempting to rear them until I have a successful colony. This year I found four C. castaneus queens at my blacklight, which is fewer than I usually get, but better than nothing. They don't seem to be very common around my house. Three of the four queens made it to nanitics, and I still have that single colony left from last year (which looks terrible), making a total of four castaneus colonies at present. I'm assuming the colony from last year is completely burned out from not getting a cold enough diapause because they only gained three or four workers this entire year, and right now they have two left. The three 2020 colonies are looking okay, with the largest one at 10 workers. All colonies started diapause a couple weeks ago. A couple of them did not go into diapause automatically so I induced it by repeatedly putting them in and taking them out of the wine cooler (at 65F) over the course of a few days, and eventually all pupae and eggs hatched and the remaining larvae entered diapause. Now they're at 60 degrees F (15.6C) and I plan on lowering the temperature to be at about 55F (13.3C) at the coldest, by December. Mid to late February is when I will remove them from diapause, following a gradual rise in the wine cooler's temperature. That would be around the time wild colonies of Camponotus begin to wake up in my area.

 

Here they are right now. The colony on the right is the one from 2019 and the remaining ones are from this year. The 2019 colony may not survive but that's okay.

 

[Ants_Dakota]

wow. it is interesting that none of the queens shed their wings. i will take that note for camponotus now if i catch any with wings.