ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Martyn]

I have just started a colony of Camponotus ligniperda, i have a queen and a few eggs/cocoons which she seems to be movin to the end of the tube she is living in. from what i have gathered this is a good thing and she will hopefully not be eating the eggs for nutrition. For the moment i will just feed them honey, small insects and protein jelly, But i was just wondering will i be able to feed them larger insect like Live crickets ?

[matt-man123]

!!!!NO!!!!

When they have more stregnth in number then yes they will but if you give your queen a live cricket, more than likely it will kill her.

If you meant, when they were bigger than yes but just give your queen dead insects and honey at the moment


matt

[Martyn]

Thnx for the quick reply, Yea I was going to wait till the eggs at the moment turn into workers but iven then i will only have about 5 workers at best.
Will i still have to wait till the colony grows iven larger ?

Also can Camponotus ligniperda climb glass

[matt-man123]

Yes martyn i would wait until you have a really good amount of workers so that you have enough to over power the insect but maybe when you have quite a few workers i would give them an injured insect (wingless fly or a take a few legs off a spider etc).

all ants will attempt to climb out at one stage, most people use PTFE and put maybe a couple of centi-meters round the rim, i personally use 5 cm of vasaline with mine but either would work or of course get a lid.



matt

[SteveUK28]

What matt said is good.. as for feeding live crickets id say u have to have at least maybe 50 workers before trying it, and as ligniperda are pretty slow thats not gonna be this year. Best of luck with them and to the forum

[Martyn]

Hi, any ideas how long it would take for the colony of ants to grow that large ?

Thnx for all the info.

[matt-man123]

well starting from just a queen i would say 1-2 years ?? am i right steve???


matt

[SteveUK28]

depends on how well you do with them.. Camponotus ligniperda can be very fussy, i know myself and Jimmy have been having problems with out Camponotus ligniperda getting them to grow, I believe that Jimmy does not even have brood in his atm. But Yes matt.. i think around 2 years.. You def need patience with them.

[JimmyVe]

Yep, still no brood here. More people are having that problem with these ants, they are harder to keep than they look and grow very slow. Good luck with yours.

[insanebe]

my colony of 20 ligi's have no eggs and just 1 grub that has been a grub for a couple of months, not sure but they might be hibernating, they used to be very active.

[aka ant]

Boosting will help you get past the slow first year or 2. I suggest you boost the colony 20-25 late stage brood when the queen has her first workers. Do this 2-3 times the first year your colony may grow much faster the next year.
If You're new to Camponotus you should grow the colony the natural way to gain experience.

[Martyn]

Couldent reply any quicker been havin probs with comp

My queen must be doing well if what you say is true that Camponotus ligniperda are slow growers, she has moved all cocoons away from the back of the tube and closer to warmth and its hard to see because its so small but i believe she has laid another yellow egg. I must be feedin her well

hi jimmy, insane, aka ant.

aka ant, can you explain how you can boost your colony ?

thnx

[SteveUK28]

You boost your colony by providing your queen with more cocoons or larvae from another colony.

[Martyn]

ah ok, can you order some of antstore ? or ill buy some of you steve if ya got any spare lol
or do you know of any one who is willing 2 sell any ?

[JimmyVe]

Not many people have big colonies from this species so its hard to get cocoons from them. If you colony is doing well you don't need to boost them.