27 replies to this topic

[LowkeyLoaded]

Received a colony of 18 workers.

After feeding them and letting them stay in their test tube for a day, I then moved them into a THA mini hearth.
After moving them into a min hearth I went out and bought a macro lens 😏


This video was taken about 10 minutes after I got the colony and fed them. (No macro lens yet)



And here’s a nice shot of the queen! What a beauty, am I right?

Attached Images

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Edited by LowkeyLoaded, December 23 2020 - 9:53 PM.

[ZTYguy]

Where be the video.

[TennesseeAnts]

Where be the video.

Yas. I want da video...

[AntsDakota]

As do I. Also did you know that C. floridanus is one of the fastest growing Camponotus in the US? In captivity they're reached 1,000 workers in a year before.

[ANTdrew]

As do I. Also did you know that C. floridanus is one of the fastest growing Camponotus in the US? In captivity they're reached 1,000 workers in a year before.

Sounds like my kind of Camponotus.

[CheetoLord02]

As do I. Also did you know that C. floridanus is one of the fastest growing Camponotus in the US? In captivity they're reached 1,000 workers in a year before.

that's how the entire subgenus Myrmothrix is. My Camponotus atriceps colony is about 4 months old and they have several hundred workers. 1,000 workers in a year is standard for Myrmothrix, and they can easily get more with more aggressive feeding and whatnot.

[LowkeyLoaded]

Day December 16th 2020

Approximately 20 workers.

 

A nice advantage of my colony settling into their mini hearth, is that now I could power feed them quite easily.

And that is exactly what I intend to do. I want everyone here to see how quickly this species grows and how large the colony can get.

Today I fed them 10 fruit flies. After the feeding I saw a lot of worker - queen trophallaxis. 

Luckily for me this queen likes the spotlight and never has stage fright, so like a true movie star she posed for me while I got this incredible shot of trophallaxis between her and one of her workers. You will also notice that I now have a macro lens for my iPhone.

 

 

 

I also put together a short clip of a quick fruit fly hunt. Enjoy everyone. 

 

 

 

 

Also, check out that brood pile! Can't wait to see this colony take off!

Attached Images

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Edited by LowkeyLoaded, December 23 2020 - 8:56 PM.

[LowkeyLoaded]

Where be the video.

Video posted. One more coming tomorrow.

[CheetoLord02]

Going to preface this by saying I don't care if you got these ants from somewhere else, but your profile states you're in Texas. TX does not have C. floridanus, however it does have C. atriceps, the sister species to Floridanus. The populations of C. atriceps in the more northern parts of their range in Texas have a color scheme that is very similar to C. floridanus, and your colony appears to match. I'm just curious if this may be a mis-ID, since it seems likely to me, assuming your colony is from Texas.

[LowkeyLoaded]

Going to preface this by saying I don't care if you got these ants from somewhere else, but your profile states you're in Texas. TX does not have C. floridanus, however it does have C. atriceps, the sister species to Floridanus. The populations of C. atriceps in the more northern parts of their range in Texas have a color scheme that is very similar to C. floridanus, and your colony appears to match. I'm just curious if this may be a mis-ID, since it seems likely to me, assuming your colony is from Texas.

This colony was collected in Florida. Yes I live in Texas.
After examining them extensively I have concluded they are indeed C. Floridanus, however, corrections are welcome here. If you see something that makes you think otherwise please enlighten me.
I understand your assumption given I live in Texas, and I thank you for your response and interest in my colony.

Cheers

[LowkeyLoaded]

Day video was taken: December 22nd

Worker count: 21

Today I noticed a new worker in the nest and started filming. 

I have also been feeding them plenty of fruit flies and a few very tiny captive breed hornworms (caterpillars) as well as nectar and honey.

They go nuts over these hornworms, dead or alive. I believe it gives the colony a real boost of protein and it always seems like the brood is well fed after and the queen lays more eggs. I have seen her lay a couple of eggs and I have noticed two small clutches of 6-8 clustered together.

 

Here is a rather long video of my colony. You will see footage of the newly eclosed worker as well as the feeding response brought on by a small hornworm. Enjoy!

 

[CheetoLord02]

 

Going to preface this by saying I don't care if you got these ants from somewhere else, but your profile states you're in Texas. TX does not have C. floridanus, however it does have C. atriceps, the sister species to Floridanus. The populations of C. atriceps in the more northern parts of their range in Texas have a color scheme that is very similar to C. floridanus, and your colony appears to match. I'm just curious if this may be a mis-ID, since it seems likely to me, assuming your colony is from Texas.

This colony was collected in Florida. Yes I live in Texas.
After examining them extensively I have concluded they are indeed C. Floridanus, however, corrections are welcome here. If you see something that makes you think otherwise please enlighten me.
I understand your assumption given I live in Texas, and I thank you for your response and interest in my colony.

Cheers

 

If they're from Florida then they're definitely floridanus. Just curious since I haven't seen anybody keeping the northern C. atriceps variant and I thought it'd be cool to see. Floridanus are still one of the best NA Camponotus, so this colony should be a ton of fun for ya.

[LowkeyLoaded]

 

 

Going to preface this by saying I don't care if you got these ants from somewhere else, but your profile states you're in Texas. TX does not have C. floridanus, however it does have C. atriceps, the sister species to Floridanus. The populations of C. atriceps in the more northern parts of their range in Texas have a color scheme that is very similar to C. floridanus, and your colony appears to match. I'm just curious if this may be a mis-ID, since it seems likely to me, assuming your colony is from Texas.

This colony was collected in Florida. Yes I live in Texas.
After examining them extensively I have concluded they are indeed C. Floridanus, however, corrections are welcome here. If you see something that makes you think otherwise please enlighten me.
I understand your assumption given I live in Texas, and I thank you for your response and interest in my colony.

Cheers

If they're from Florida then they're definitely floridanus. Just curious since I haven't seen anybody keeping the northern C. atriceps variant and I thought it'd be cool to see. Floridanus are still one of the best NA Camponotus, so this colony should be a ton of fun for ya.

Yes, they should prove to be quite interesting and entertaining for all of us here. I chose this specific species because of their size and growth rate and I will provide a very dedicated journal on this colony for years to come. (As long as everything goes well for them)
I have THA formicariums of all sizes ready to go for this colony. They have a heat cable touching the corner of their mini hearth which they absolutely love. They definitely like to “cook” their brood next to the heat to speed up their rate of growth.
I am interested in C. atriceps though. How do they compare to Floridanus in terms of worker size and colony growth rate?
Since they are a sister species I would imagine they are similar.

Cheers

Edited by LowkeyLoaded, December 27 2020 - 1:27 PM.

[ArmansAnts]

That colony seems to be doing great, hopefully they grow really fast as usual for them.

[CheetoLord02]

 

 

 

Going to preface this by saying I don't care if you got these ants from somewhere else, but your profile states you're in Texas. TX does not have C. floridanus, however it does have C. atriceps, the sister species to Floridanus. The populations of C. atriceps in the more northern parts of their range in Texas have a color scheme that is very similar to C. floridanus, and your colony appears to match. I'm just curious if this may be a mis-ID, since it seems likely to me, assuming your colony is from Texas.

This colony was collected in Florida. Yes I live in Texas.
After examining them extensively I have concluded they are indeed C. Floridanus, however, corrections are welcome here. If you see something that makes you think otherwise please enlighten me.
I understand your assumption given I live in Texas, and I thank you for your response and interest in my colony.

Cheers

If they're from Florida then they're definitely floridanus. Just curious since I haven't seen anybody keeping the northern C. atriceps variant and I thought it'd be cool to see. Floridanus are still one of the best NA Camponotus, so this colony should be a ton of fun for ya.

Yes they should prove to quote a interesting and entertaining for all of us here. I chose this specific species because of their size and growth rate and I will provide a very dedicated journal on this colony for years to come. (As long as everything goes well for them)
I have THA formicariums of all sizes ready to go for this colony. They have a heat cable touching the corner of their mini hearth which they absolutely love. They definitely like to “cook” their brood next to the heat to speed up their rate of growth.
I am interested in C. atriceps though. How do they compare to Floridanus in terms of worker size and colony growth rate?
Since they are a sister species I would imagine they are similar.

Cheers

atriceps and floridanus are extraordinarily similar. floridanus is actually just a population of atriceps that was geographically isolated, and evolved enough to be considered a different species. The one thing I've noticed with my atriceps colony is that they seem to be far less aggressive than floridanus are. The majority have a distinct color difference, but certain atriceps population in Texas have the red/black color scheme of floridanus, and some highland floridanus populations are a more brown color, reminiscent of atriceps. It's all really interesting. I'll probably make a journal on my atriceps once I get home, since they're proving to be pretty interesting.

[LowkeyLoaded]

Going to preface this by saying I don't care if you got these ants from somewhere else, but your profile states you're in Texas. TX does not have C. floridanus, however it does have C. atriceps, the sister species to Floridanus. The populations of C. atriceps in the more northern parts of their range in Texas have a color scheme that is very similar to C. floridanus, and your colony appears to match. I'm just curious if this may be a mis-ID, since it seems likely to me, assuming your colony is from Texas.

This colony was collected in Florida. Yes I live in Texas.
After examining them extensively I have concluded they are indeed C. Floridanus, however, corrections are welcome here. If you see something that makes you think otherwise please enlighten me.
I understand your assumption given I live in Texas, and I thank you for your response and interest in my colony.

Cheers

If they're from Florida then they're definitely floridanus. Just curious since I haven't seen anybody keeping the northern C. atriceps variant and I thought it'd be cool to see. Floridanus are still one of the best NA Camponotus, so this colony should be a ton of fun for ya.

Yes they should prove to quote a interesting and entertaining for all of us here. I chose this specific species because of their size and growth rate and I will provide a very dedicated journal on this colony for years to come. (As long as everything goes well for them)
I have THA formicariums of all sizes ready to go for this colony. They have a heat cable touching the corner of their mini hearth which they absolutely love. They definitely like to “cook” their brood next to the heat to speed up their rate of growth.
I am interested in C. atriceps though. How do they compare to Floridanus in terms of worker size and colony growth rate?
Since they are a sister species I would imagine they are similar.

Cheers

atriceps and floridanus are extraordinarily similar. floridanus is actually just a population of atriceps that was geographically isolated, and evolved enough to be considered a different species. The one thing I've noticed with my atriceps colony is that they seem to be far less aggressive than floridanus are. The majority have a distinct color difference, but certain atriceps population in Texas have the red/black color scheme of floridanus, and some highland floridanus populations are a more brown color, reminiscent of atriceps. It's all really interesting. I'll probably make a journal on my atriceps once I get home, since they're proving to be pretty interesting.

Thanks for the info!
You should make a journal! I’d love to follow along and compare differences between our two colonies! And yes these guys are already aggressive and they haven’t even broken 25 workers yet. I’m very excited to watch this colony explode. I feed them fruit flies everyday and they aggressively hunt them down. Every ant’s gastor is swollen since they have a constant supply of two types of carbs (sunburst ant nectar and pure organic honey) and a steady stream of fruit flies to keep the brood coming. I really hope I’m over 1,000 workers this time next year. How large is your colony?

[CheetoLord02]

 

 

 

I have THA formicariums of all sizes ready to go for this colony. They have a heat cable touching the corner of their mini hearth which they absolutely love. They definitely like to “cook” their brood next to the heat to speed up their rate of growth.
I am interested in C. atriceps though. How do they compare to Floridanus in terms of worker size and colony growth rate?
Since they are a sister species I would imagine they are similar.

Cheers

atriceps and floridanus are extraordinarily similar. floridanus is actually just a population of atriceps that was geographically isolated, and evolved enough to be considered a different species. The one thing I've noticed with my atriceps colony is that they seem to be far less aggressive than floridanus are. The majority have a distinct color difference, but certain atriceps population in Texas have the red/black color scheme of floridanus, and some highland floridanus populations are a more brown color, reminiscent of atriceps. It's all really interesting. I'll probably make a journal on my atriceps once I get home, since they're proving to be pretty interesting.

Thanks for the info!
You should make a journal! I’d love to follow along and compare differences between our two colonies! And yes these guys are already aggressive and they haven’t even broken 25 workers yet. I’m very excited to watch this colony explode. I feed them fruit flies everyday and they aggressively hunt them down. Every ant’s gastor is swollen since they have a constant supply of two types of carbs (sunburst ant nectar and pure organic honey) and a steady stream of fruit flies to keep the brood coming. I really hope I’m over 1,000 workers this time next year. How large is your colony?

 

That feeding sounds absolutely perfect. My colony got nanitics in mid august and is now at a few hundred workers. I typically use crickets and sunburst as their main diet, with the occasional fruit fly.

[LowkeyLoaded]

Here's a quick update of my colony!
They have now started their first trash pile. Right now it only consist of fruit fly carcasses.
And I finally got to use my Bioquip battery operated aspirator!



Check out the new clutch of eggs in the back! Also, notice how bloated the gastors are on these workers, you can really see their gastor stripes much better after they have been feeding heavily! They look like they are going to burst!


A pic of the queen resting behind a stalactite on the ceiling.


A pic of some of the pupae. Most of these should be open in less than a week pushing the colony’s numbers to over 30! I think I have counted 13 pupae and a two large clutches of eggs I would estimate to be around 30 -35 eggs total and just a handful of small to medium larvae 5-6. Not that you can see all of that in this photo.


EGGS!!! and some larvae. Btw we are at 23 workers.

Edited by LowkeyLoaded, December 30 2020 - 10:44 PM.

[LowkeyLoaded]

Photos taken on January 6th.
Approximately 35-36 workers now.
Previous egg clutch has hatched and now there are many small larvae and another fresh clutch of eggs.

We’ve got our first major!

Another shot of the major.

Shot of the colony slowly starting to fill up this mini hearth.
In 2 months time or less I will need to move them to something a bit larger.

[Spazmops]

Those pics are awesome! Do you have any tips for getting the lighting so clear?