ANTSTORE World of Ants

[kashmir79]

heya everyone

my new Camponotous ligniperda arrived today, all well, the queen is HUGE !!

now whats the best to feed them, ive tried a spider but they just stung it and then put it at the end of the testtube :S
ive tried Huny, but they wont touch it

any advice would be great

thanks alot !

[Purifier]

hmm...i believe its better when you lay the insects in front of the tube. When you put the insects inside the tube the ants may getting stressed.
Is it only a queen or with worker?

[kashmir79]

queen + 8 workers

[Purifier]

Maybe you should give them time. The long way from germany to you was hard and full of stress for them. Try to give them tomorrow again a spider or a fly.....

[kashmir79]

shall do

Cheers

[Flan]

Any eggs? Larvas?
Try water with honey.
Unfortunately, the colony may be preparing for hibernation.

In English stung=injured by stings

[badman]

stung = past tense of sting

my ligniperda liked to eat honey and fish flakes, before they went into total inactivity

[Flan]

stung = past tense of sting

But C.Ligniperda have no sting.

[badman]

yeah I thought that too, but didn't want to say in case I was wrong. maybe he means they bit it.

[kashmir79]

they do sting, they inject formic acid i think, i watched them jump on the spider and they brought their abdoman forward and did it stinging motion like a bee or wasp does, and i saw a little bubble of liquid too

[Purifier]

No...that doe every ant. But the most ants spray their acid on their victims....only a few ants sting their victims. But the action looks pretty similar.

[Flan]

they do sting, they inject formic acid i think, i watched them jump on the spider and they brought their abdoman forward and did it stinging motion like a bee or wasp does, and i saw a little bubble of liquid too

Camponotus(Formica and Lasius too) squirts acid into a bite. It looks like stinging.

[ducatiman]

hi ,does anyone have a big colony of Camponotous ligniperda,if so how long did it take for the colony to get big,i have a colony ,1 queen and 5 or 6 workers,how long would you think it would be untill there are 50+ workers then 100+workers

[kashmir79]

mine are begining to hybernate now i think, acting perfeclty motionless ( with their antennas moving still)

after hybernation the colony will have a massive boom in workers the queen lays lots of eggs in the spring, to get ready for summer and the swarming season

[ducatiman]

i am in the uk (birmingham), and i keep my colony in my house in an unheaed room,obviously it will be warmer that outside,i have a basement at about 13c and i will drop to about 5c over the next month or so and the stay at that temp through the winter,would this be a good place to hibernate my ants ???