ANTSTORE World of Ants

[aka ant]

I have better pic's for the Ponera.

Queen? She is larger than any other worker and looks slightly different

pon2-1.jpg (6.25 KiB) 7082-mal betrachtet

My formica colony munching on food. Notice to the right some black and tan spots, I have been seeing them pop up all over the nest.
Any idea what they are, maybe ant crap?

[JimmyVe]

Nice pictures, could be ant crap or leftovers from the insects you are giving.

[Messorus]

Yes, this on your photo is Ponera queen. A bit bigger and more robust than a worker... Nice, but Ponera in the test- tube isn´t best idea... They need humus soil

[aka ant]

I may move them into a small tank but not untill spring. Any tips on food they may like to eat? I have been giving them spiders and crickets.

[SteveUK28]

Just try them with everything aka.. Mine have just about everything from garden peas to steak!!

[Messorus]

Just try them with everything aka.. Mine have just about everything from garden peas to steak!!

Hmm... Steve, this is Ponera, primitive Ponerinae, no Formicinae like your Camponotus, which can eat everything! I had tasted apple slices or slices of other fruit on my Diacammas, they can realy eat everything.. But this is Diacamma, higher Ponerinae, not small Ponera

Ponera is eating small soil Collembola animals, white worms of Enchytraeus genus and Drosophila flyies. They need much proteins and they can drink honeywatter too, but just in really small parts and they can´t get honeywatter like head type of their food culture in formicarium. Some of my queens are eating heads of normal flyies easily, but I m portioning it, before the feeding... I´m forward that your Ponera is eating spiders, but when is Ponera already in colony, feeding is easyier I think...

[aka ant]

I have had a hard time with a single Ponera queen. Small colony seems to be doing well and easier care for.

[Messorus]

I have had a hard time with a single Ponera queen. Small colony seems to be doing well and easier care for.

I have it too. I have few Ponera queens, their keeping isn´t very easy.... But I´ve caught other 3 queens and gived them one worker(also from nature) and they behave better than single queens...

[JimmyVe]

It is always easier if you can start from a small colony.

[Messorus]

Hey ya Jimmy, you have experience with Ponera´s?
When you put one puppae to young queen of Lasius for example, you didn´t won with the keeping of young colony from the queen....
But when you do it with Ponera, it´s more possible that you will keep a colony from them, than if you do with some Formicinae.....
I think you know this.... it´s just about social mentality of the species and things....
But really, Ponera with queen is doing better than single queen.. I will try to get some Ponera brood from nature and I will give it to some of mine queens.. I also don´t know how Ponera´s mated queens keeps their first brood, if they have cell like other ant species have, where they are coming with hunted food to feed them and brood, or if they moves their brood... Cause Ponera lives in small ecosytseme of soil... but I think it is also too big for them, that they can lost their pheromone tray..... I don´t know, I m not myrmecologiest, just amateur myrmecologiest.. but Ponera is really interesting for me....

[JimmyVe]

I'm not sure i kept Ponerinae species before, there are so many different Ponerinae species and i have kept a few species.
Good luck with your queens.

[Skippy]

European Ponera species (coarctata etc) are much harder to keep , be sure , and to make colony from queen you have to got more skill ... , I am keeping polygyn colony myself , I´ll be happier as never before when I´ll see first worker , and I kept lot of species in my life

[aka ant]

I took both of my Camponotus colonies out of hibernation a few days back. Both colonies had 2-3 deaths and some of the eggs are missing (eaten ).

I'm happy with the results this year and hope to keep having successful hibernations in future years.

Camponotus chromaiodes



Camponotus pennsylvanicus

[JimmyVe]

Nice to hear that, looks like they had a nice hibernation and the brood seems fine to. 1 or 2 deads, that is not bad. Hibernation is always a difficult period.

[aka ant]

Camponotus chromaiodes colony is doing great. Most of the brood are in mid to late stages of development and, the queen laid a new batch. I hope to get my first majors this year!





Camponotus pennsylvanicus is doing good but I lost some workers when I moved them.