ANTSTORE World of Ants

[dodgydogman]

Cool, thanks for the info. A couple of Q's tho ^^. When you said honey suckle, did you mean the flower, the leaves or both? Also, does grass mean any grass, like off the lawn?
What will you do for humidity when the fungus get too big and you cant removethe lid without millions of ants swarming out and do you treat the leaves, eg boil them to remove bugs etc.

[Phasmid]

Both leaves and flowers from the honeysuckle are sometimes taken.
Any grass as long as its not treated with anything.
I moved the colony recently into two smaller containers that are easier to move an can be given extentions more easily, I put the whole nest box in a tray with PTFE round the edges so when I took the lid off the ants swarmed out but couldn't escape the tray. From there I just moved the nest and workers out the tank in the new containers.
As for additional moisture I just pour water in via a hole in the lid.
I don't do anything to the plants I feed them with.

[Messorus]

Ok, bigger colony will be able to live without slaves, but at first F.sanguinea queens need slaves to help start that colony. I had few and without slaves they didn't bother to lay eggs. And i had them like that for about month, and they were hunting for small bugs and eating honey etc. alone. Few days after haching of the first slaves they lied their own eggs. Conclusion: F.sanguinea do need slaves.

Hello
F. sanguinea make slave expedition for new slaves just if their colony really need slaves, slave making isn´t imperative for them

[gabranth]

i think it is possible to start a new colony from queen without slaves but it would be very difficult

[Messorus]

i think it is possible to start a new colony from queen without slaves but it would be very difficult

Skippy did

[JimmyVe]

It is possible but like you said; very difficult. And why make it hard when there is a easy way.

[Messorus]

Also, F. sanguinea with slaves, is laying also poor numbers of eggs.... Keeping first generation of her own workers was very hard, like Skippy said to me.... I´ve read, that in nature young queen visit other colony of Serviformica fusca and they will accept her for some season... Than she left their nest with some workers... The same think as with F. rufa, F. polyctena and other ,,Wood ant" species

[Lewis]

Phasmid how did you get the camponotus colony did you go away and did you get permisson?
i also live in east sussex

[Phasmid]

I bought the big colony from antstore, about 7-10 workers. It was my first colony that had a queen. The other colonies (I have three small colonies) are from queens I collect when I go to the French Alps for the summer.

[Lewis]

cool i have a queen of camponotus ligniperda but i'am not getting much luck she lays loads of eggs and they nevver turn into larvea
all that happens is they go brown or just eats them got any tips

[Phasmid]

Try giving her a small fly or something. Keep her warm, dark and don't disturb her more than once a week. These ants take forever to develop but they are realy worth it, just be patient.

[Lewis]

that is very helpful thanks would it be a good idear if i put another queen in with her to bost the egg laying and if i got one with brood it may already have some cacoons. i read that they can have two queens but in much larger colonies they have their own part of the nest and if one queen leaves the part/chamber the other would get very agressive. i would add one queen by putting them inthe fride for a few seconds.i gave here a cricket today.

[Phasmid]

Many ants are ok founding the colony together, however it is later in the colony development that that the queens fight to the death, adding a queen does not always increase the chances of having a successful colony, chilling them won't help. You could try adding one or two cocoons to the queen and see if she accepts them.
Make sure she has every thing she needs and leave her alone for a week, then check her to see if anything has happened and leave for another week and so on.

[Lewis]

thanks, but i don't have any ligni cocoons so would i add l. niger?!

[Phasmid]

You could always try but it is very unlikely she will accept, I have never had a Camponotus ligniperda queen accept brood from another sp.
The best thing you can do realy is leave her be.