darradar: Re: Camponotus cruentatus. (9. Mai 2010 11:06)

hello guys.....

just a lil advise needed please....i have a fascinating development with my colony...

i noticed the other day that my colony hada rather large cocoon....i thought blimey whats this.. :? forgot all bout it for a few days ive just this minute checked and saw what i think is another emerged new queen....being rather verociously attacked in the foroging area....was just about to grab her, when she ran down the nest hole....all i could do was sit and watch them all attack her....i pleaded for her to come back out, which she eventually did, so ive now got her seporated......but now i dont know what to do with her....and i have a few questions....
why produce another queen, only to attack it...? a new queen' is this good news or bad news.? do males follow queens? am i now gonna get more queens and males..? and finally what should i do with the rogue queen, she hasnt been mated, tho she seems to have gotten through the attack ok....? should i....blimey seems so evil saying the words, but should i kill her?

you can see she pretty fresh out in her colouring, and the wings they have bitten off....

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/darradar/ants/newqueen012.jpg

a mojor arrives..
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/darradar/ants/newqueen002.jpg

major takes up position ready to attack..
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/darradar/ants/newqueen016.jpg

opens jaws attack new queen..
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/darradar/ants/newqueen017.jpg

queen breaks free and makes her get away..
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/darradar/ants/newqueen019.jpg

only to be overcome again...
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/darradar/ants/newqueen021.jpg

shes dragged up to the entrance...
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/darradar/ants/newqueen022.jpg

where i finallt get her out...
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/darradar/ants/newqueen025.jpg

she looks a bit bedraggled, but seems ok....
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/darradar/ants/newqueen028.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/darradar/ants/newqueen029.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/darradar/ants/newqueen031.jpg

offered suger water wich she is lapping up.....
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/darradar/ants/newqueen034.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/darradar/ants/newqueen035.jpg

please help......and remember all you new keepers......even after all these years us experienced keepers ocasionally need help to....
:)

p.s my original queen is ok and looks very healthy....

Messorus: Re: Camponotus cruentatus. (9. Mai 2010 17:13)

Hello
It´s possibly ,,mikrogyne" - a type of smaller alate :)
But this is strange, I haven´t seen all photos before this last posts, but colonies which have age for being adult, usually produce males first, in one season, and than males with some queens.. Next seasons the number of produced alates queens just grow...

JimmyVe: Re: Camponotus cruentatus. (18. Mai 2010 21:12)

If the colony is big enough they will produce a next generation of queens and males. When the time is right they should fly out (like they do in nature) so the workers "attack" them so they will go and fly out. In captivity the queens and males stay in the colony and after flight time the workers see them as intruders. So they will kill them. Sometimes the queens stay in the nest and help the workers. (in rare cases)

darradar: Re: Camponotus cruentatus. (20. Mai 2010 16:05)

ok Jimmy, thank you very much, the rogue queen is still alive, do you beleive i should destroy her....

Gortello: Re: Camponotus cruentatus. (20. Mai 2010 17:24)

you can put her back in the nest than you can see a fight and they have some food to and you can film it I think i should do that if she isn't prenegant

aka ant: Re: Camponotus cruentatus. (21. Mai 2010 00:47)

Seems best to just kill her then feed her to the colony.

JimmyVe: Re: Camponotus cruentatus. (6. Jun 2010 21:02)

You could kill this one and next time just leaf them in the farm. There is not much you can doe about it.

abz-uk-ants: Re: Camponotus cruentatus. (4. Jul 2010 21:20)

Any updats

Jazz: Re: Camponotus cruentatus. (13. Sep 2010 03:16)

Hi darradar, first of all congratulations on your colony, it is beautiful.

I'm new in the forum and I am thinking of beggining a colony for this ants. I see you don't use any moisture methods in yours and use a heater.

I'm from Portugal and the winter is warmer here. Also the temperature is higher all year round and with less humidity. I also live in a very warm apartment, I only turn on my heating for a month or so every year.

So, do you guys think I need to moisture the nest, even if it is in low quantity, or there's no need for that?

Do I need a heating pad?

Thanks for all the help.

darradar: Re: Camponotus cruentatus. (13. Sep 2010 07:45)

Hello Jazz,
welcome to the forum,
I think that you should always keep plenty of water avaialble for this spec, I have two open bowls with cotton wool in, I think the open bowls allow a little humidity in the foroging area, but no I do not moisture the actual nest, and as u see in my case the colony prefer it.
As to if u should provide extra heat I would say yes maybe just in one small corner of the nest, but as too your warm winters, you need to pay attention to the fact the ants need to hibernate, and can only do so if the temperatures drop, mine go into the loft where it drops between -1-3degrees,
The ants tolorate this for at least 5mnths, end of sept to March, the queen needs this time to rest and recover from a hectic year of egg laying, so u need to think about how you can let your colony sleep as it grows in numbers....
Please let me know if u need any more advice ;-).

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]