ANTSTORE World of Ants

[trueviper]

17th April 2015



I received 1 Camponotus herculeanus queen with no eggs, larvae, or workers as ordered from Ants UK. I thought it would be interesting to start a colony with a queen only and watch it develop slowly over time and am prepared to be patient. The queen's test tube has been placed in a plastic tub within a glass vivarium with a hear mat under it and I have covered the back, sides,and top with cardboard to keep the enviroment dark and to keep stress levels to a minimum whilst ensuring adequate ventilation.

The vivarium is placed in a dark room which has no additional heating all year round so will also be used for hibernation as the temperature will rise and fall throughout the year matching the temperature outside but with protection from frost. Low temperatures in winter will be monitored and will be prevented from falling below 5-6 degrees centigrade. The room will also be free of any disturbances that could cause the queen any unnecessary stress as I have read that egg and brood eating is common with Camponotus spp. queens when exposed to stress.



Apart from her obvious large size, this queen is truly stunning to behold. I wasn't prepared for how beautiful she is, shiny jet black with red tones on her thorax. She appears to be very healthy and was monitored for a few hours after being placed in the vivarium and seemed to prefer the warmer half of the vivarium where the heat mat was placed, in fact she seemed to be warming herself, laying flat on the floor of the test tube for a few hours before returning to an upright position. She soon settled down and seems relaxed.

[trueviper]

19th April 2015


I have now attached a sheet of cardboard to the front of the vivarium taped to the lid so it opens upwards for easy access. The queen is now kept completely in the dark.
The queen is being kept in the vivarium on the left.


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[trueviper]

27th April 2015

Checked on the queen this evening and she has a clutch of eggs underneath her. She appeared extremely relaxed when I removed her tub from the vivarium and into the light considering she has been kept in total darkness for the last 8 days.

[trueviper]

1st May 2015


The eggs appear to have hatched and there are now app. 10 larvae being tended to by the queen.

[trueviper]

4th May 2015

Took a few shots of the queen today and managed a quick peak at her brood through the magnifying glass, she definitely has larvae although you can't make them out in the pictures obviously.


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[trueviper]

14th May 2015


There are now definitely 2 larvae with the pile of eggs. Thought I'd give her a bit of maple syrup for being a good mum, 10 mins later she was feasting on it. Well done queenie!

[trueviper]

18th May 2015


There are now 4-5 larvae present, 2 of which are quite large. Not bad considering she was a lone queen 4 weeks ago. The heat mat is definitely having a positive effect.

[trueviper]

23rd May 2015

The queen now has 2 cocooned pupa and about 7 larvae.

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[trueviper]

will post videos soon, could anyone please explain to me how to embed videos into your posts instead of just a link? Thanks.

[trueviper]

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[trueviper]

23rd May 2015

A quick video of the queen and her first brood.

[trueviper]

24th June 2015

We now have 4 pupae and 1 larvae so she must have eaten the rest which I've read is normal behaviour so I'm not worried. The pupae have been developing for 4 weeks now so should have roughly 2 more weeks to go before they eclose, I'm really looking forward to my first workers

[trueviper]

1st July 2015

At last the event I've been waiting for has finally happened!! My first C.ligniperdus worker has eclosed. I've been a bit worried that perhaps the developing pupae had failed somehow as they've took much longer then expected to eclose, 5 weeks and 4 days to be exact, but I was worried over nothing lol. I looked in on the queen yesterday and she looked busy over one of the pupa so I thought hopefully it was time and it was!

[trueviper]

2nd July 2015

Mother and daughter are both doing well

[trueviper]

9th July 2015

The 2nd worker has arrived! Camponotus ligniperdus was one of the first ant species I discovered when I first began my research a few months ago and ever since I've wanted to start a colony with a lone queen and just see what happens. I haven't been disappointed, this queen is so well tempered and is such an attentive carer to her brood and first workers and I think that is going to make all the difference to making this colony a success. Hopefully