3 replies to this topic

[Vendayn]

Bought a colony of Camponotus laevigatus yesterday from Drew. They are really awesome looking! They are a very large species, but they look really cool too. Plus, they seem pretty intelligent actually as far as ants go. They did something I never had a small colony of ants do (that I've personally kept anyway). I put the tube they were in, in a tarheel formicarium. One worker went out, went down the hole into the tunnels and explored each section of the tunnels. She went back into the tube and told her nestmates, then two more workers came out to explore (so three workers at this point). The first worker (the one that first explored underground) then darted all around the foraging area, walls and the lid to explore all the surroundings. That really surprised me! I kept a lot of ants, and never saw behavior like that.

 

The other thing surprising, is how fast they are. They are actually pretty fast, which is pretty unique as far as Camponotus go (which tend to be slow). I guess one worker got lost yesterday before Drew met up to sell me the colony, guess it darted out and got lost. Poor worker

 

Then this morning, despite the colony being pretty small...and which most of the time, (except my Acromyrmex versicolor)..small colonies of ants don't really do much. Even when they are new, most ants I keep (like my Solenopsis invicta I had) just sit underground barely coming out, despite having a nice sized amount of ants. Well, this morning one worker was active, looking for food and exploring. She took a piece of a small cricket into the nest, then went back out to explore more. Not sure if that is typical of this species or maybe just because its a new environment for them. But, most of my ants with a small colony, just sit underground barely being active lol.

 

Its nice though they are a diurnal species. A lot of Camponotus are only active at night, so its nice to be able to watch the ants while I'm awake. Plus I can put the light on them and they don't get bothered at all, but dunno how Drew was keeping them. Maybe they got adapted to light or something while he had the colony.

 

In any case, they are pretty awesome. I hope I get a good colony out of them.

Edited by Vendayn, July 3 2017 - 2:46 PM.

[dspdrew]

Right now all my colonies are kept in the dark.

[nurbs]

They develop fast. Have about 30 of these with over 10 workers.

[Vendayn]

Yeah, I can see that they would grow fast for Camponotus. The queen already has about 10 eggs+one large larvae (the one cocoon eclosed). That is a nice amount of eggs in just a few days. The larvae has grown pretty fast...guess heat really does work on Camponotus! I've been keeping them pretty warm, and this seems to boost the queen's egg laying a lot (or maybe its just the species or both). I kept Camponotus before of various species and they always grew slow as heck, but I always kept them at 70-75 and not 80+ that this colony is in. That and they never laid nearly as many eggs lol. At night it cools down for them though, dropping to the mid to high 70s.

 

Right now I'm actually keeping them in the garage, but I'm going to move them into the closet when I move my Acromyrmex versicolor into the tank. That way the closet I can regulate the temperature better, but I will still keep them pretty warm. In any case, the temperature seems to be working well for them and the queen is sure laying a nice amount of eggs. 

 

Though I actually more just like how they look. The workers are pretty big, despite the colony being young, and they look awesome. Probably one of my favorite Camponotus I've personally had in terms of how they look.