86 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). 

[Ernteameise]

My order from Foranto would actually be finished and ready to ship...

however, due to the "incident" with the Russian drones and the closure of the Polish airports and all the male cattle poo going on, plus me going on a holiday till the end of September, I have decided to write an email to Foranto to delay the delivery. Not sure if they sent the parcel today, it would make it here in time, and then the parcel would sit at the post office and in the worst case they send it back since I did not pick it up (because I am in Croatia on holiday). So Foranto will send the order to me in October. Yes, that might be a bit late for the girls to move house, but we will try anyways. 

Foranto is a great company, they answered immediately to my email, I can only comment their customer service! 

 

Anyways, when I am abroad in Croatia, I will also keep my eyes open for ants. As a fun fact, the very Camponotus lateralis colony I am keeping (and which is getting the new Foranto home!) is originally from Croatia! I am curious which ants I might see there. 

[ANTdrew]

Sounds like an amazing trip! You should also look for the clown isopods while you’re there. My great grandfather immigrated to the US from Croatia about 120 years ago.

Edited by ANTdrew, September 10 2025 - 2:31 PM.

[Ernteameise]

Right, I am back from my holiday and I checked up on the girls.

Many of my colonies are now slowing down with their protein intake.

The Camponotus lateralis however are not yet ready for diapause- they still have some larger larvae and I will wait till these have hatched.

Also- Foranto has sent the parcel with the new nest and outworld for them yesterday, so the delivery will come next week.

I will transfer them into their new digs then. 

It is absolutely necessary, because these little piglets have completely messed up their TarHeel nest.

These are the best pictures currently possible:

 

Here you can see that they still have larger larvae

 

They hibernate with the smaller larvae, in comparison have a look at the new pictures in my Camponotus piceus (they are closely related) who are already ready for diapause:

[Ernteameise]

The Foranto delivery is here!

 

 

They even sent me some FREE Foranto ant nectar to test out. Yes, they now seem to produce their own ant nectar, probably a direct result of Sunburst Nectar becoming unaffordable and uneconomic to import due to all the political male cattle poo going on. Previously, Foranto was one of the few European shops selling Sunburst nectar. I also bought some of the last available bottles this time. Oh well, I hope my ants also like the new Foranto nectar! 

 

The new wooden nest

 

The new fancy outworld

 

The entrance to the nest

 

Connecting tube

 

Placement

 

Re-arranged ant shelf:

 

Now I need to entice the colony to move in!

I opened up all openings of their TarHeel Mini Hearth and placed it upside down into the outworld.

 

I also applied the heat cable to the nest and switched it on.

I had good success using heat as a lure, so I am hopeful that they will take the hint.

 

Right now, the colony is still in shock and trying to figure out what is going on and where they actually are. 

Even now, after 1h, they have not found the entrance to the nest, yet. 

They have started to construct a bivouac under the piece of wood in the outworld, they even have started digging in the wet sand (I had moistened the sand since fine particles can cause breathing problems). So right now, they are camping out in the outworld.

I am curious how long it will take for them to find the nest, then discuss the issue and hopefully, they will decide to move in. 

Oh well, democracy takes time, might take them a few days. Or maybe they stay in the wood bivouac in the arena out of protest. 

Watch this space. 

[Ernteameise]

I added a piece of string to help them climb up from and down to the nest.

Still no visitors to the nest (2.5h later). 

Edited by Ernteameise, October 6 2025 - 11:09 AM.

[cooIboyJ]

The Foranto delivery is here!

 

 

They even sent me some FREE Foranto ant nectar to test out. Yes, they now seem to produce their own ant nectar, probably a direct result of Sunburst Nectar becoming unaffordable and uneconomic to import due to all the political male cattle poo going on. Previously, Foranto was one of the few European shops selling Sunburst nectar. I also bought some of the last available bottles this time. Oh well, I hope my ants also like the new Foranto nectar! 

 

The new wooden nest

 

The new fancy outworld

 

Beautiful nest! It looks very nice and also looks of high quality. Might get one of these when my colonies get big.

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

I'd bet the humidity makes some difference for them. If the heat alone is not enticing them to move, i'd imagine the extra humidity of the moist sand is what's keeping them where they are.
If conditions are good enough, then they are. They may need explicitly poor conditions to want to take up the risk of moving brood to a new better location. To move the brood to a new nest is a maximum risk, that needs a pretty compelling reason to take.

Really like the outworld style you got, it is what i am moving into eventually. Walls just tall enough and a good amount of inner lip to help keep the ants in better, without needing a sealed top to do it.

Also that's just a totally neat shelf setup you got going there. I'd suggest a "full tour" post of that shelf and how it is all configured would be interesting. As you've clearly got a good bit of customization going on there.

Edited by Full_Frontal_Yeti, October 6 2025 - 12:23 PM.

[Ernteameise]

I'd bet the humidity makes some difference for them. If the heat alone is not enticing them to move, i'd imagine the extra humidity of the moist sand is what's keeping them where they are.
If conditions are good enough, then they are. They may need explicitly poor conditions to want to take up the risk of moving brood to a new better location. To move the brood to a new nest is a maximum risk, that needs a pretty compelling reason to take.

Really like the outworld style you got, it is what i am moving into eventually. Walls just tall enough and a good amount of inner lip to help keep the ants in better, without needing a sealed top to do it.

Also that's just a totally neat shelf setup you got going there. I'd suggest a "full tour" post of that shelf and how it is all configured would be interesting. As you've clearly got a good bit of customization going on there.

Yeah, I had been thinking of doing a "shelf-tour". Might do one next year, when they are all back from diapause. Right now, most colonies have moved out. 

 

Well, now, after 4 hours, the colony has finally moved out of the TarHeel nest. They have established that bivouac in the wood decoration. But at a guess, the colony is too big to all fit there. 

 

Concerning the moisture- in the TarHeel nest, they actually settled as far away from the water tower as possible. They are not a species that craves too much humidity (as opposed to the Camponotus piceus who camp on top of their water tower). Camponotus lateralis are arboreal. 

But we will see how this develops.

As experienced people on this forum always remind us: Patience is key. And ants will do as they like. 

 

A picture of right now:

For reasons unknown the queen and her closest court have moved to the top left corner of the arena, probably to surveil the proceedings from above. 

 

Well, this is good news, the queen is alive and well.

The colony has to settle down for the night now and hopefully they will start to figure out what their next move is. 

[Ernteameise]

Oh, and by the way, this is their bivouac in the wood decoration in the arena

 

I am off to bed now and look forward to the coming days, to see how the girls will be doing in their new home. 

[ANTdrew]

If you periodically blow air on them with a straw in the bivouac, they’ll give up on the location. Myrmy’s Law in full effect right there.