T.C.'s Camponotus Pennsylvanicus

This is a queen with larvae currently. Right now she is in hibernation! I will update in the spring or towards the end of winter!

Random Mid-Hibernation check up. Slow leg and antennae movement.

I was afraid she was not going to make it through hibernation by the looks of how skinny she was. So I gave her some honey, and left her alone. I believe she consumed a little of it. Here is a picture I took just before I put her back into hibernation. After hibernation, it will be About one more month until she should have her first workers.

I took her out of hibernation now. All the larvae and the queen are still alive. However the queen is getting skinny and I can't get her to eat nothing. Luckily with ants if she is about to starve she will eat one of her larvae. She sacrafices one of her larvae for the better of her, the larvae and the colonies future. Another month and the queen should have her first worker. The colony will grow from there.

Well from the help of someone I know on a seperate forum, I found they prefered sugar water over honey. Here is a picture and a video of her drinking away.

Is that a test tube she is in? Her babies are so little, are they in egg sacs or are they tiny larvae? Is she feeding them if they are larvae?

This is amazing.

Those are all larvae of different sizes. She feeds them and once they have grown large enough they then go into the pupae stage. Kind of like caterpillars they make a cocoon for themselves. Once they have developed they bust out as ants and begin taking care of the queen and other eggs, and larvae until the larvae they are caring for turn into workers as well.

Kind of endearing that she would care for them in that manner. What is she feeding them? Is it something she secretes or is it a regurgitation?

Ants have a second stomach called a social stomach which they use to feed other ants. Once this queen, has her first worker she will leave the taking care of larvae eggs, and pupae to the workers. They will feed and take care of the queen as well. Her only job will be to lay eggs. The workers will do everything else. This particular species, the queen could live up to 10 years or more. That probably won't happen but it's possible.

Taking care of a colony with a queen and workers that you are looking to grow into a mature colony can be difficult. But if you are interested in starting one check out Ants Canada and see some of his colonies. Then let me know if you want to start one.

UPDATE 1/16/17

Well, I came back to check on these guys to see if they were fine. Well, they were not, the queen and larvae were tangled up in the cotton plug. After a hour of careful work, I manged to move the queen and larvae safely with no casualties. However, I didn't have no where to really go with them, so I ended up putting them in a container I was going to use for my isopod's. However it will work for these guys too for right now. She found all the larvae I gave back to her that I had to take out one at a time from the tube. She now has all the larvae tucked in a corner.

Nice save! Glad they are all doing okay. Maybe she will like the new set-up better?