Camponotus Barbaricus - Beginner
"The Careful Colonialist"
 
Camponotus Barbaricus - Beginner Species Barbaricus are some of the largest species or carpenter ants in Europe. Big and bold workers have a luscious rusty orange colouring to their thorax which has much more orange tones than a Ligniperda.
 
Found in the West and South Mediterranean Barbaricus like to build their nests in the soil underneath fallen logs, branches and or stones.
 
Barbaricus differ from other large carpenters as despite their large size they can grow rather fast in the right conditions. You can expect around 1k workers in just 18 months if you get their setup "just right" "Timid Giants" is the perfect term for Barbaricus, they are primarily nocturnal and are rather slow if un-threatened.
 
Being quite shy you can easily handle a worker or guide an escapees path back to the test tube. But aggravate at your own peril, making them feel threatened will result in an aggressive defence of their land. Barbaricus are cleaver, they may be slow but they are the tortoise in the race. Moving efficiently they will lay claim to any profitable resource and send out the larger workers to keep guard of it. This becomes an "outpost", be it water, food or aphids their outposts are quickly turned into satellite nests for the colony.
 
You will regularly see your camponotus "basking" in their outworld around resources, seemingly relaxing and taking a break. They will happily scavenge proteins, something they need in abundance for their large broods. But these ants love sugar too, boy do the love sugar!
 
Colony Size
Up to 10,000 workers
 
Queen
Age Up to 21 years
Fully Claustral - No food until first workers
Monogyne (single Queen per colony)
Temperature & Humidity 
Nest: 22 to 25 degrees | 18 to 28 degrees in Outworld
50% to 60% in Nest | 30% to 50% in Outworld
Hibernation 
November to March at 15 degrees
Polymorphic (Different size casts) 
Yes - Very polymorphic with Minor, Media and Major workers.
Sting | Bite
No | Yes - Majors can Pinch
Diet
Protein, Lots of Sugars, Lots of Water
Nest Type
Natural, Acrylic, Sand, Earth, Glass, Plaster, Ytong
Size 
Queen - 15mm-17mm
Worker - 8mm-12mm
Major - 13mm to 17mm
Development 
Egg to Adult Worker - 7 to 10 weeks