This is my C. pennsylvanicus. Colony, this journal at most will be updated every two weeks as Camponotus are very slow growing. This journal is a bit different as this is a almost 1 year old colony now, the reason I didn't start one back when I caught them is do to I was unsure of my capabilities of keeping them year round. I haven't had much luck placing ants in diapause via placing them in a garage or basement ( Garage too cold and Basement not getting cold enough). Either way I now have a minifridge dedicated to them and my other animals.
The start my colony started out in all the way back in May 28th 2021.
July 10th I moved the queen and eggs into a THA minihearth type 1. (I believe at this point and time she had 1 worker just not in photo.)
July 29th some more workers nothing worth really noting.
August 8th still not too many worker but a new batch of eggs.
August 31st pretty big gain in worker count the picture doesn't show them all but probably around 15-20 workers in total now.
October 26th around this time some of the original nanitics died they also weren't too keen on keeping the nest clean.
Now jump ahead to February 22nd 2022 out of hibernation and everything's still alive my first time being able to keep ants alive past winter. Needless to say I was excited though C. pennsylvanicus. Almost look as though they're dead once taken out of diapause took a few days for them to wake up. At first the only way I could tell the queen made it was that the antenna were moving every so often.
March 9th and a huge growth in eggs, larvae and cocoons. I also see that some of the larvae are much larger and haven't cocooned yet... first majors? I hope.
If you have any questions for me feel free to PM me. Diet wise for the first year was mainly honey, mealworms, crickets and the occasional house fly. Honey by far being the most preferred out of all those. Second year so far it's been Honey + Water, Fruit flies, Mealworms and freeze dried crickets. I didn't have them heated the first year this year I have a heating cable so I'll see how much that effects them.
Anyways that's it for now until the next update. (I also have decided that if the colony does die I won't just stop updating so if I don't post for awhile either nothing has happened or I am busy. I just don't like it when journals just stop and people assume the worst. But also it's a good thing to announce that they died and how as this will help people avoid these same mistakes, even if it was something simple it just makes it more apparent that people need to be more vigilante for it.)
, it's like a little timeline. Hope the colony does well!
