ANTSTORE World of Ants

[phers]

I've had my colony of Lasius niger for a month or so now and absolutely love them. So i'm thinking of getting another farm up and running. I'm looking at Camponotus Herculeanus.. does anyone have any experience with these bad boys?

cheers

Phers

[Skippy]

Hi Phers

Camponotus herculeanus or ligniperda is very good ant to keep. If you have experience with Lasius niger ,It will not to be hard for you. It is very nice coloured and big ant. They need only ytong nest and many insects with honey water. Nothink more. I think ,this specie is the best ant for beginners ,maybe batter like Lasius niger ,because it is very big ant and it is good to looking on - you can see comunication of ants very nicely.

Greetings

Skippy

[Kale^^]

Camponotus herculeanus is good species, only that a beginner might loose fascination fast; brood developes SLOWLY.

[JimmyVe]

That is true, Lasius niger is one of the best species to start with because they easily adjust them self and the colony grows very fast. Faster then any other species i have. That is way they are the best to start with.

Camponotus herculeanus are not so difficult but like Kale^^ said, the colony grows very slow.

[Kale^^]

Hehe. That's true. But, well, i think leptothorax acervorum atleast grows faster; i have one colony and they doubled very fast, couple of weeks.

One way to get colonies going, is boosting them with cocoons or other brood, i found a nice C.Herculeanus nest today and i took some; ~20-30 larvae (small), some giant larvae, cocoons (~5). And i will put them for the young queens, so the colony's get's going fast.

[sithmaster676]

i boosted my formica fusca colony with lasius niger brood and today i have found one of the lasius niger workers has hatched
Sithmaster676

[Necturus]

Im a big friend of slow growing colonies. That way, you dont have to expand the nest area all the time, neither does the colony reach its maximum "keepable" size as fast as others.
Necturus

[Lowth01]

I recently recieved a queen and some eggs of the Camponotus herculeanus. They are carpenter ants right? do they have to nest in wood? can they nest in soil?

[Lowth01]

I recently recieved a queen and some eggs of the Camponotus herculeanus. They are carpenter ants right? do they have to nest in wood? can they nest in soil?

[JimmyVe]

I'm not so found on boosting, i only do it when it is needed.

Hi lowth01 and welcome.

They are in deed carpenter ants, in nature they often live in wood but you can keep them in a soil nest as well, maybe better a plaster ore a y-tong nest.

[sithmaster676]

im not a great lover of boosting either but in this case it was necessary because the colony lost a lot because of disease and were down to there last 2 workers, but now they have 2 formica fusca workers and 1 of the lasius niger workers which hatched from the brood i gave them.
Sithmaster676

[Skippy]

Hi owth01 and welcome in this forum!

Yes ,like Jimmy said ,it is better to get these camponotus to ytong nest. In nature it have nests in old wood and also under stones ,so in soil ... it can be ,but ytong is better ,plaster is not good for big Camponotuses ,because they can to make emental (cheese with holes) from your nest very quickly like my big colony of Camponotus vagus 1 year ago and run away ,so first one is : ytong material

Skippy

[Lowth01]

thank you, thats helped alot

[Biolog1]

I´m looking for them too. It´s a pitty, than In my ,,living area" , they aren´t ...

[JimmyVe]

If it wash up to me i would like to live in the rain forest, then the most interested species just live in my garden.