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I had an interesting amount of births two nights ago. 11 workers within 2-3 hours which was exciting to see and I managed to video a bit of the action.
Watch in HD and subscribe!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGtkh7RCyOg
80-100+ workers were born in about 2 weeks or so. I'm happy to see 2 rather huge new majors.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/P10009261.jpg
Super major(top) major (bottom) ,media (left),right (minor)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/P10009831.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/P10009781.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/P10009711.jpg
After the great boom in population things still haven't died down much due to the huge larvae numbers and foraging. I estimate well over 100 larvae but it seems the queen is done laying eggs. I wouldn't be surprised if I have alates in spring.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7gERNHcbQ8
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/P10103711.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/P10103701.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/P10103951-1.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/P101038611.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/P10103901-1.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/P101022611-1.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/P10103911.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/P10102271.jpg
I took my 3 larger colonies out of hibernation yesterday. C. chromaiodes had a few deaths but overall the colony is great. Workers started venturing out for food in small numbers. I can't wait till the population starts booming.
Enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/user/alexuks#p/a/u/1/8_iN1fUC4_I
Since my last post the colony is teaming with activity. Most days I find 50-100 workers active and often sun bathing due to the cool weather. Their appetite is unquenchable and brood are growing at a fast rate. The queen started laying eggs a few days back but only a small amount. I'm quite excited about how well they progressed and can't wait till they fill up the nest.
New eggs.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/aaa030.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/aaa024.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/aaa009.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/aaa020.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/aaa017.jpg
My last post lacked a video so I added one focusing on the brood. As always watch in HD!
http://www.youtube.com/us...mhum#p/a/u/0/qiiMlU-Dykg
Much growth and prosperity of the colony pleases me to no end. Not long after my last post the queen started laying eggs, roughly around 50-65 and more on the way. Most of the brood are in the pupa stage but very few are destined to be majors. After watching both my Camponotus colonies I come to the conclusion that the less I heat them the better chance I will get more majors but I'm sure other factors play equal or greater roles in caste development or I'm just dead wrong. Anyone care to give me better incite on factors that determine caste development of Camponotus.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/qqq015.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/qqq014.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/qqq016.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/qqq021.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/qqq022.jpg
I'm happy to see my first worker of the year born today! Most of this generation of brood are pupae now and the next generation of 120-160 eggs and larvae or growing fast. The next few weeks will be exciting to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN_MMpCC24g
The colony broke out recently making several small holes in the nest. The nest was my first attempt at building a large nest which didn't come out as I wanted and created a few weak spots. I couldn't find all the holes forcing me to move them into a back up nest intended for my C. americanus colony. I used the heating method to force them to move because they are used to the light. It took them all night to fully move into the new nest. Unfortunately I didn't give them enough water resulting in a few deaths from dehydration. With all the runaways I may have lost 50-75 workers which was a small loss soon to be replaced by 100's of new workers. The good news is that the brood count is very high making this incident insignificant.
These video/pics were made just before I decided to move them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRJzr3wNq0Y
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/001-1.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/006.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/oooool003.jpg
pic's taken today.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/002-5.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/003-3.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/004-4.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/005-2.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/006-1.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/akaant/001-5.jpg
The colony is a drinking machine building up a food supply for the winter. I can't keep up the supply without them trashing the foraging area for every scrap of food. Their large numbers and aggressive behavior makes cleaning difficult. I'm surprised that the colony didn't reach maturity this year but definitely will next year.
Vids.
http://www.youtube.com/wa...x8Uc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAKwH5t_PBg