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Dspdrew's Camponotus laevissimus Journal [173] (Discontinued 12-14-2021)

dspdrew journal camponotus laevigatus little thomas mountain san jacinto mountains california

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64 replies to this topic

#1 Offline dspdrew - Posted May 7 2014 - 11:13 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

5-10-2014
 
On Saturday 5-3-2014 I collected three of these queens crawling on a giant rotted log up in a place called Little Thomas Mountain in the San Jacinto Mountains. It was a few hours after dark, and the temperature was in the 50's.
 
It's been a week now and all three of them have started laying eggs.
 
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#2 Offline dspdrew - Posted May 16 2014 - 6:57 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 5-16-2014
 
Last night, May 15th, I found another one of these queens up near Big Bear, California, in the San Bernardino Mountains. She was just walking around on a large rotted log. I now have four C. laevigatus queens.



#3 Offline dspdrew - Posted May 29 2014 - 7:58 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 5-29-2014
 
The queen I found in the San Bernardino Mountains died. One of the remaining three already got her first cocooned pupa just few days ago. That was only three weeks--very fast for a Camponotus.



#4 Offline dspdrew - Posted June 11 2014 - 6:50 PM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 6-11-2014
 
One of these three queens died yesterday, so I gave its brood to the other remaining queen that only had one pupa and a couple eggs. The pupae had gotten slightly wet, so the cocoon had sort of started to disintegrate. After about a day, it didn't look like this queen was accepting the pupae, so today I took one of them out and gave it to the third C. laevigaus queen, and took another and gave it to my C. semitestaceus colony to see if they would accept it. This third queen also just had two workers eclose today.
 
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#5 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted October 17 2014 - 8:27 PM

Gregory2455

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Update this! :D



#6 Offline dspdrew - Posted October 18 2014 - 7:22 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

I will when I put them in hibernation in November.



#7 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted October 18 2014 - 11:24 AM

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At least reveal how many workers they are at right now. :)



#8 Offline dspdrew - Posted October 18 2014 - 6:42 PM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Nothing's really changed.



#9 Offline dspdrew - Posted November 4 2014 - 7:23 PM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 11-4-2014
 
This colony hasn't really changed much at all. The other day I put it in the fridge for hibernation.



#10 Offline dspdrew - Posted November 22 2014 - 3:16 PM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 11-22-2014
 
The workerless queen in the test tube was found dead yesterday. :(



#11 Offline Chromerust - Posted November 22 2014 - 7:25 PM

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My Lavigatus are in the fridge and I just saw a worker out picking at a piece of mealworm



#12 Offline dspdrew - Posted November 23 2014 - 2:44 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Yeah I know... I found some Lasius roaming around in my fridge. I thought they were supposed to be sleeping. :P


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#13 Offline dean_k - Posted November 23 2014 - 5:56 AM

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Add Myrmica to the list of I-don't-care-about-cold spp.


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#14 Offline dspdrew - Posted January 16 2015 - 12:43 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 1-16-2015
 
I took this colony out of hibernation today. It looks like one worker died, and another might be dying, but the rest look healthy. They have one medium-sized larva.



#15 Offline dspdrew - Posted February 27 2015 - 10:00 PM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 2-27-2015
 
This colony lost three workers since taking them out of hibernation for some reason. They don't seem to be producing either. Since they might not have hibernated long enough, I put them back into hibernation the other day.



#16 Offline dspdrew - Posted May 5 2015 - 12:02 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 5-5-2015
 
I took these out of hibernation today. Only four workers lived, but it looks like the queen and one of those workers might be dying.



#17 Offline dspdrew - Posted May 28 2015 - 12:05 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 5-28-2015
 
Their only major has died, leaving just three minors left in this colony. But, the queen also finally laid two new eggs. :)



#18 Offline dspdrew - Posted May 31 2015 - 5:50 PM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 5-31-2015
 
I found five new queens yesterday in Angelus Oaks, California.



#19 Offline dspdrew - Posted July 11 2015 - 10:34 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 7-11-2015
 
One of the new queens died. The remaining four all got their first workers about a week ago.
 
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#20 Offline dspdrew - Posted August 27 2015 - 5:24 PM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 8-27-2015
 
The four colonies are all doing very well. The largest one now has thirteen workers, and the other three have either eleven or twelve. The largest also has the most newly laid eggs.
 
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Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: dspdrew, journal, camponotus laevigatus, little thomas mountain, san jacinto mountains, california

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