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Post by trueviper on May 4, 2015 21:14:52 GMT
17th April 2015
I received 1 Camponotus herculeanus queen with no eggs, larvae, or workers as ordered from Ants UK. I thought it would be interesting to start a colony with a queen only and watch it develop slowly over time and am prepared to be patient. The queen's test tube has been placed in a plastic tub within a glass vivarium with a hear mat under it and I have covered the back, sides,and top with cardboard to keep the enviroment dark and to keep stress levels to a minimum whilst ensuring adequate ventilation.
The vivarium is placed in a dark room which has no additional heating all year round so will also be used for hibernation as the temperature will rise and fall throughout the year matching the temperature outside but with protection from frost. Low temperatures in winter will be monitored and will be prevented from falling below 5-6 degrees centigrade. The room will also be free of any disturbances that could cause the queen any unnecessary stress as I have read that egg and brood eating is common with Camponotus spp. queens when exposed to stress.
Apart from her obvious large size, this queen is truly stunning to behold. I wasn't prepared for how beautiful she is, shiny jet black with red tones on her thorax. She appears to be very healthy and was monitored for a few hours after being placed in the vivarium and seemed to prefer the warmer half of the vivarium where the heat mat was placed, in fact she seemed to be warming herself, laying flat on the floor of the test tube for a few hours before returning to an upright position. She soon settled down and seems relaxed.
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Post by trueviper on May 4, 2015 21:15:23 GMT
19th April 2015
I have now attached a sheet of cardboard to the front of the vivarium taped to the lid so it opens upwards for easy access. The queen is now kept completely in the dark.
The queen is in the vivarium on the left.
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Post by trueviper on May 4, 2015 21:18:03 GMT
27th April 2015
Checked on the queen this evening and she has a clutch of eggs underneath her. She appeared extremely relaxed when I removed her tub from the vivarium and into the light considering she has been kept in total darkness for the last 8 days.
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Post by trueviper on May 4, 2015 21:18:33 GMT
1st May 2015
The eggs appear to have hatched and there are now app. 10 larvae being tended to by the queen.
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Post by trueviper on May 4, 2015 21:22:32 GMT
4th May 2015 Took a few shots of the queen today and managed a quick peak at her brood through the magnifying glass, she definitely has larvae although you can't make them out in the pictures obviously.
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Post by trueviper on May 11, 2015 16:30:45 GMT
11th May 2015
I think I might have been a bit enthusiastic thinking this colonies eggs have hatched, on closer inspection they are actually still eggs. I've read that Camponotus species can take 15-21 days for the eggs to hatch into larvae.
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Post by trueviper on May 14, 2015 19:16:09 GMT
14th May 2015
There are now definitely 2 larvae with the pile of eggs. Thought I'd give her a bit of maple syrup for being a good mum, 10 mins later she was feasting on it. Well done queenie!
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Post by trueviper on May 18, 2015 17:15:34 GMT
18th May 2015
There are now 4-5 larvae present, 2 of which are quite large. Not bad considering she was a lone queen 4 weeks ago. The heat mat is definitely having a positive effect.
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Post by trueviper on May 23, 2015 21:13:00 GMT
23rd May 2015 The queen now has 2 cocooned pupa (thank god they're not naked considering my previous experience) and about 7 larvae.
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Post by trueviper on May 23, 2015 21:14:09 GMT
A quick video of the queen and her first brood.
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Post by trueviper on Jun 24, 2015 18:54:50 GMT
24th June 2015 We now have 4 pupae and 1 larvae so she must have eaten the rest which I've read is normal behaviour so I'm not worried. The pupae have been developing for 4 weeks now so should have roughly 2 more weeks to go before they eclose, I'm really looking forward to my first workers
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Post by trueviper on Jul 4, 2015 12:01:29 GMT
1st July 2015
At last the event I've been waiting for has finally happened!! My first C. herculeanus worker has eclosed. I've been a bit worried that perhaps the developing pupae had failed somehow as they've took much longer then expected to eclose, 5 weeks and 4 days to be exact, but I was worried over nothing lol. I looked in on the queen yesterday and she looked busy over one of the pupa so I thought hopefully it was time and it was!
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Post by trueviper on Jul 4, 2015 12:03:16 GMT
2nd July 2015 Mother and daughter are both doing well
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Post by trueviper on Jul 9, 2015 20:27:48 GMT
9th July 2015
The 2nd worker has arrived!
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Post by trueviper on Jul 11, 2015 13:22:41 GMT
11th July 2015 Some bad news I'm afraid. Last weekend, a couple of days after the first worker eclosed, I noticed that a cocoon which had failed had been dumped outside of the test tube. And then yesterday when I checked on the colony I discovered that the first worker (the 2nd is still slightly smaller) had died during the night. I've given it some thought and can only assume that both events are possibly down to dehydration that may have been caused by too high a temperature from a combination of the heat mat and the recent warm weather. C.ligniperda are a Northen European species after all and can be kept at room temperature. The water reservoir in the test tube nest is almost depleted and I've been waiting for there to be at least 2-3 workers before I offer them a new test tube with a fresh water reservoir. The heat mat has now been switched off and I've placed a damp piece of cotton wool at the entrance to the test tube, in addition to the drop of water I offered the queen yesterday which she drank, to ensure the colony is adequately hydrated. Lesson learned and this colony will now be kept at room temperature only. I feel very sad and disappointed that this has happened, I so want this colony to succeed
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Post by trueviper on Jul 18, 2015 10:36:06 GMT
It has become apparent with the help of anthill members that this queen has been wrongly identified as C.ligniperda when in actual fact is C. herculeanus. The title of this journal has been corrected, along with the posts and videos. My apologies to members for any confusion.
Of the 4 recent pupae, 2 failed due to possible dehydration and of the 2 workers that eclosed 1 died for unknown reasons although admittedly that may have also been due to the same problem. I have now removed the heat mat, which was cooled slightly with 3 pieces of cardboard and was placed under the floor of the vivarium, and out of direct contact with the test tube nest. Even though the heat was low and was only heating a quarter of the test tube nest it was still obviously too warm for this colony resulting in lost workers. The eggs and larvae however were evidently unaffected by the assumed high temperature. The heat mat is now placed outside of the back wall of the vivarium, as advised by a forum member, and is now heating the air instead of the floor. The temperature is roughly 23-24 degrees and the colony seems to be behaving normaly. There is a pupae present and small larvae and both the queen and worker tend to them constantly. The test tube nest has been replaced and stopping the fresh water reservoir is a piece of aqua filter cotton instead of ordinary cotton wool. I've had good results using this in my C.vagus colony, the aqua filter cotton doesn't go mouldy and allows for very good prolonged evaporation making the water last longer without going bad.
The C.herculeanus is in the test tube at the top, the one below it is C.ligniperda.
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