329 replies to this topic

[kiedeerk]

Native Camponotus update. They are all doing well mostly. The camponotus pennsylvanicus colony is doing the best. This is their 2nd year and they really flew off. They started the year with 15-20 workers but now are easily over 100 with massive brood pile and two full sized majors. I had to move them into a larger nest as well. The Camponotus chromaoides are doing just fine, I estimate them to have 50-60 workers as well. The castaneus are somewhat lagging behind but maybe they are just slower growing. They have about 25-30 workers. The Camponotus caryae are really slow but maybe that queen is just not great genetically. I have caught another of this species this year and will see if she does any better. The nearcticus and subbarbatus are growing steadily.

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[kiedeerk]

Some interesting observations for my Acromyrmex versicolor. They mainly take in dry flower petals and leaves and usually ignore fresh roses and flowers. In contrast my trachymyrmex will mainly go for fresh flowers. Acromyrmex like to grow fungus from the walls and ceiling. They seed the container surface with fungus then grow them outwards. This is something my trachymyrmex rarely do as they grew them from ground up. As my Acromyrmex colony matures they are starting to make large major like workers with bigger heads and jaws. The smallest worker is barely bigger than the head of the largest worker.

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[DudiGamer]

How do the Castaneus compare in size to the other Camponotus? Which of these Camponotus species are the largest?

[kiedeerk]

How do the Castaneus compare in size to the other Camponotus? Which of these Camponotus species are the largest?

Castaneus are one of the largest Camponotus species. They are similar in size to Pennsylvanicus, chromaoides, Americanus

[kiedeerk]

Pogonomyrmex badius has reach their 3rd year. Last year they made almost exclusively male ants. This year however they seem have reach maturity by making dozens of queen alates on tops of almost hundred male ants. For all ant keepers, raising your ant colony from a single queen to maturity is our end goal. In the last 5 years, I have raised quite a few colonies to maturity now I can check off one more.

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[OwlThatLikesAnts]

How beautiful those queen alates look! Having a colony reach maturity must have an accomplishing feeling.

[kiedeerk]

Trachymyrmex septentrionalis colony have been making massive amount of alates, both males and females.

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[kiedeerk]

Acromyrmex versicolor have been exploding in numbers and thriving. Honestly these girls have been very easy to care for and have started to grow exponentially. My largest colony is well over 100 workers now. Although, I had donor trachymyrmex fungus once they got started they were thriving very early on. The only time, they slow down was during their move into a bigger plaster nest. The fungus had to readjust to its new environment and we had some fungus shrinking but they recovered pretty quickly. I also started feeding them some fresh wild chicory flowers and stems which they seem to love. These grow everywhere on the side of roads.

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[kiedeerk]

Crematogaster ashmeadi are doing well. They are well on their way with their second and third generation workers.

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[kiedeerk]

Colobopsis Papago doing great. They are liking their wooden nest. I rarely have to provide water to these girls. They are dry loving and I just water their entrance a few times per week. Their brood pile is pretty big now.

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[Zhuge]

Are you ever going to keep Atta?

[kiedeerk]

Are you ever going to keep Atta?

 

Probably not. Atta need tremendous space and access to fresh leaves. they will not take dry flowers or leaves so they will likely suffer and die off during the winter months.

[AntsTx]

 

Are you ever going to keep Atta?

 

Probably not. Atta need tremendous space and access to fresh leaves. they will not take dry flowers or leaves so they will likely suffer and die off during the winter months.

 

 

You can limit their size at what you're comfortable keeping them at. Atta will accept lettuce during winter will accept and species like Atta texana and mexicana will accept dry leaves as long as the colony is big enough. 

Edited by AntsTx, June 22 2025 - 11:57 AM.

[kiedeerk]

 

 

Are you ever going to keep Atta?

 

Probably not. Atta need tremendous space and access to fresh leaves. they will not take dry flowers or leaves so they will likely suffer and die off during the winter months.

 

 

You can limit their size at what you're comfortable keeping them at. Atta will accept lettuce during winter will accept and species like Atta texana and mexicana will accept dry leaves as long as the colony is big enough. 

 

 

I have heard that they are picky in terms of leaves and its really scarce in the winter time here in the northeast. Winter is very long from November to March

 

Also its extremely hard to keep atta fungus alive during shipping in the summer time. I do have trachymyrmex fungus but I am not sure they will be able to use

[kiedeerk]

Camponotus socius continues to do extremely well. If i had to estimate their numbers, i would guess between 3-500 workers. Summer time, they can get abundant insects from my yard and a variety of different species. I do believe ants do better when they have a varied diet comprising of different types of insects and not just fruit flies or meal worms.

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[ANTdrew]

Try frozen bloodworms. My Camponotus go nuts for this extremely convenient food.

[kiedeerk]

Pogonomyrmex barbatus have totally overtaken their nest and outworld. They must be in the thousands now. They really need an extension nest and a new outworld.

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[kiedeerk]

Camponotus castaneus are doing well but growing much slower than their counterparts parts like pennsylvanicus. Still imo the best looking native Camponotus by a mile. Their orange queen and yellow/light orange workers definitely pops out at you.

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[kiedeerk]

Camponotus pennsylvanicus growing well and have at least 200 workers. They seem to be growing much faster than castaneus in the same environment.

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[kiedeerk]

My trachymyrmex staged another nuptial flight this afternoon. I saw the workers were going berserk and the alates were all out so I opened their lid and let them fly. I also switched their diet to steel cut oats from fresh roses because roses are starting to get scarce during the summer heat. Because oats are dry I have to water their nest more often. Fresh roses provide them with enough moisture for the fungus to grow so I didn’t need to water them. Because oats are white their fungus also turn white in color.

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