117 replies to this topic

[bmb1bee]

Glad you got sayi! I don't see see them on market that often. The quest for all the CA camponotus continues!

For sure! I was pretty lucky to get C. johnsoni by mistake too, since I haven't seen any official listings other than from Reign's shop. C. festinatus also seem to be uncommon. I plan to catch C. maritimus next spring, as well as C. laevigatus and dumetorum.

[bmb1bee]

Camponotus cf. essigi variant A (9/11/23):

 

Not much other than larvae. Worker count should go up soon. The two queens seem to be putting up well with each other. Just found out that I could fatten the workers up with protein instead of nectar by feeding them more insects than sugars. 

 

Edited by bmb1bee, September 12 2023 - 5:58 PM.

[bmb1bee]

Camponotus cf. hyatti variant A (9/11/23):

 

These have also gotten larvae. Can't wait for there to be a growth spurt in these C. clarithorax colonies...

 

Edited by bmb1bee, September 12 2023 - 5:58 PM.

[bmb1bee]

Camponotus ocreatus AZ variant (9/11/23):

 

This queen has been doing very nicely. One of the pupae has eclosed, with a pretty large worker even though it's a nanitic. There are some assorted brood as well, including a few eggs, larvae, and another pupa. I'll be feeding these protein when both workers have fully hardened.

 

[bmb1bee]

Camponotus ocreatus CA variant (9/11/23):

 

These lost another worker, but that was probably from old age. The 13 workers that remain, as well as the queen, seem healthy enough. There is a lot of brood, including almost a dozen eggs, a few larvae, and a handful of pupae. I've started using them as a source to boost my other sansabeanus-complex Camponotus with, such as my C. semitestaceus. These love heat and protein, which is why they grow so fast.

 

[bmb1bee]

Camponotus fragilis (9/11/23):

 

This is one of my favorite queens so far. Only been a couple weeks or so since I received her, but she has pupae already! C. fragilis sure grow fast. She's also pretty calm, in contrast to my AZ C. ocreatus queen that attacks anything close to her brood.

 

[bmb1bee]

Camponotus semitestaceus variant A (9/11/23):

 

Since she hadn't laid any eggs yet, I boosted this queen with a couple C. ocreatus pupae, which I hoped would induce egg laying. This queen doesn't seem to drink any nectar I offer, and also like to test up the cotton I plugged the tube with. Hopefully she doesn't eat her brood and ends up well. I've heard from some journals on Formiculture that late flying C. semitestaceus would likely wait until the following year to lay.

 

Edited by bmb1bee, October 10 2023 - 8:44 AM.

[bmb1bee]

Camponotus johnsoni (9/11/23):

 

This queen has been very mild in my care so far. She seems to be taking very good care of her larvae despite having no workers, which have gotten a bit bigger. I avoid protein and feed more sugar, since she may get stressed if I give  her too much food.

 

Edited by bmb1bee, September 12 2023 - 5:59 PM.

[bmb1bee]

Camponotus modoc (9/11/23):

 

Although they've completely fattened up from protein and nectar, they unfortunately don't have any more brood. They might've eaten their three remaining larvae, but it's possible they're preparing for hibernation or diapause.

 

[bmb1bee]

Camponotus cf. essigi variant B (9/11/23):

 

While catching a Hypoponera colony at a park, I came across the same tree where I found the two C. clarithorax essigi queens on Mothers' Day. Of course there weren't any queens at the time, but I found tons of C. clarithorax workers and one reddish one I couldn't ID. I'm pretty sure it might've been a C. essigi worker because it was mostly red and all by itself. After collecting her, I refrigerated her for almost an entire day and introduced it to the queen. Everything went surprisingly well. They've accepted each other and have been interacting while moving around the tube. This is pretty nice, since the queen lost all her workers during shipping.

 

Edited by bmb1bee, October 10 2023 - 8:56 AM.

[bmb1bee]

Camponotus festinatus (9/11/23):

 

Still chugging along rather quickly. They have lots of brood and will have another generation of workers soon. I absolutely love the color this queen has...

 

[bmb1bee]

Camponotus sayi (9/11/23):

 

Although still at two workers, the queen has been laying more eggs. Hopefully these survive to completely become workers.

 

[bmb1bee]

Today's update is done. I left out several species/colonies because there wasn't really anything new about them. Will update again in a week, it if I have anything new to report. Right now, I'm so tired and sleepy from staying up to finish this entry... The search for more species continues!

[Tanks]

Hey, when one of your camponotus queens lay eggs, (preferably the ones that are closer realated to hyatt and other small Camponotus) can you observe to see how long it takes for their eggs to hatch to larvae?

[bmb1bee]

Sure, I'll try my best. I'll do that with my C. essigi queen, since she laid eggs almost immediately after I got her and transferred her to a cleaner tube. Hopefully she does well with the boosted worker I introduced to her.

[100lols]

Awesome update!! How often do you feed your test tube colonies?

[bmb1bee]

I try to feed them around 2-3 times per week if possible. These are just for colonies or queens that have lost their workers though, and I typically don't feed founding queens.

[bmb1bee]

Also, I had a few of these species properly ID'ed earlier today by ReignofRage. The "C. cf. clarithorax variants A and B" turned out to be possibly C. essigi and C. hyatti apparently. I'll be correcting the entries for these species. It's pretty cool to have a darker variety of C. essigi, and have it also be polygynous. Now that I have those and the red NorCal variant, all I need is some of those SoCal C. essigi...

[Tanks]

Sure, I'll try my best. I'll do that with my C. essigi queen, since she laid eggs almost immediately after I got her and transferred her to a cleaner tube. Hopefully she does well with the boosted worker I introduced to her.

Thank you.

[bmb1bee]

Camponotus fragilis (9/20/23):

 

She finally has her first nanitic! It's only been a bit over a couple weeks since I received her, and I'm astounded by how fast this species grows. A few more workers should be closing around this weekend; this colony will probably have a pretty decent set of first generation workers.