69 replies to this topic

[Ernteameise]

Little update on some of my colonies.

All of my girls are well and are in their strongest growing phase.

 

The Camponotus lateralis grow extremely well and I think they are nearly ready for an upgrade and the connection to the XXL Mini Hearth extension that is waiting for them.

Sadly the colony has grown so much, the glass to the nest is dirty, so the pictures are not that good / blurry.

But I think one gets the point that this colony is growing well.

 

[Ernteameise]

This colony is growing, and I am debating with myself when it is time to attach the XXL- Minihearth extension.

I think they still have room in the old nest, though.

[ANTdrew]

As long as the outworld is still manageable, I think they still have plenty of space in this nest.

[Ernteameise]

As long as the outworld is still manageable, I think they still have plenty of space in this nest.

Outworld is fine, they are Camponotus so prefer to hang out in the nest and mainly come up top to drink and eat. And when I open up, they run away and hide, and do not come swarming like my large Messor colony is doing. 

[Mushu]

 

As long as the outworld is still manageable, I think they still have plenty of space in this nest.

Outworld is fine, they are Camponotus so prefer to hang out in the nest and mainly come up top to drink and eat. And when I open up, they run away and hide, and do not come swarming like my large Messor colony is doing. 

 

My Camponotus sansabeanus  are a bit more active and will always call the majors when I open the outworld. They don't panic but it does apper they treat the event(opening outworld top) as dinner time!

Edited by Mushu, June 24 2025 - 1:36 AM.

[Ernteameise]

 

 

As long as the outworld is still manageable, I think they still have plenty of space in this nest.

Outworld is fine, they are Camponotus so prefer to hang out in the nest and mainly come up top to drink and eat. And when I open up, they run away and hide, and do not come swarming like my large Messor colony is doing. 

 

My Camponotus sansabeanus  are a bit more active and will always call the majors when I open the outworld. They don't panic but it does apper they treat the event(opening outworld top) as dinner time!

 

My Camponotus piceus definitely do this! Me opening the top of their mini-hearth is like ringing a dinner bell, they are my fastest ants at the food. They come running in anticipation. It is so cool to see the differences in behaviour even in these closely related species. 

[Ernteameise]

Right.

Since this colony is outgrowing their mini hearth, I decided to go big with these girls.

I have seen that they do not really need a water reservoir since they are not sitting on the water reservoir like the Lasius or the Camponotus piceus are doing. 

In nature, these ants live in trees and are a facultative parasite of Crematogaster scutellaris. 

So I decided to really splurge out and order them a fancy wooden nest from Foranto (the Polish company who does these wonderful wooden nests).

This is what I decided on:

https://foranto.eu/p...glass-included/

 

I also ordered them a small arena / outworld to go with it:

https://foranto.eu/p...nt-arena-small/

 

I had long wished for one of these awesome wooden nests, but they are expensive works of art. But I think my beautiful girls are worth it. 

I hope they will like it! 

[ANTdrew]

I should save up for one of those for my rapidly growing Camponotus pennsylvanicus colony.

[Ernteameise]

I should save up for one of those for my rapidly growing Camponotus pennsylvanicus colony.

These nests definitely make for a great show-piece for your ant collection. 

One day my dream is to get a large Camponotus colony and a large unique Foranto wood nest. They can even do custom nests and even wall-mounted ones. 

[Ernteameise]

Right.

Foranto just contacted me that they are unable to produce small outworlds at the moment- so they will send me a bigger version for the same price. 

I love this company.

They provide very good customer service and support and good communication. In my books, they are as good as Tarheel ants. 

With a bigger outworld, I will need to squeeze abit more on my ant shelf, but I think the girls might appreciate it. 

Also- while online and in books Camponotus lateralis supposedly have small colonies of only around 100 workers, several ant keepers (including another German member on this forum) report colonies of several hundred workers.

In my own colony I estimate they have about 200 workers now which fill out the XL mini hearth- so this species definitely forms larger colonies as previously assumed (but I think they still won't grow as big as my several thousand workers Messor colony).