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Hi I am Theodore. My wife and I are new to ant keeping and this forum. We currently have a camponotus pennsylvanicus colony with a small brood, 6 minor workers, and their queen. We just received our omni nest vertical small in the mail today. Our camponotus have already started moving their trash from the test tube into the out world. We are very excited to see them move into their new home.

Neo82172 wrote:Hi I am Theodore. My wife and I are new to ant keeping and this forum. We currently have a camponotus pennsylvanicus colony with a small brood, 6 minor workers, and their queen. We just received our omni nest vertical small in the mail today. Our camponotus have already started moving their trash from the test tube into the out world. We are very excited to see them move into their new home.

Welcome and congrats!

Slow starting species,but great starter colony. Congrats and good luck on the great hobb6 of ant keeping .

Hey Theodore! It is great that your wife and you both like the ant keeping hobby. I foresee great things coming from Sainte Genevieve Missouri

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome. Our camponotus pennsylvanicus have yet to leave their test tube does anyone have any tip on getting them to move?

actually, I would not suggest moving your colony into such a big space until they are at least 20 workers strong. It may lead to the death of your colony

Neo82172 wrote:Thank you everyone for the warm welcome. Our camponotus pennsylvanicus have yet to leave their test tube does anyone have any tip on getting them to move?

I agree with idahoantgirl. I know we all want them to move from a test tube into a new setup, but it is best to keep them in a test tube as long as they fit comfortably. I had a colony in a test tube for over a year before moving them out. I have lost small colonies by being impatient and "forcing" a move into a larger space too soon.

ooper01 wrote:

Neo82172 wrote:Thank you everyone for the warm welcome. Our camponotus pennsylvanicus have yet to leave their test tube does anyone have any tip on getting them to move?

I agree with idahoantgirl. I know we all want them to move from a test tube into a new setup, but it is best to keep them in a test tube as long as they fit comfortably. I had a colony in a test tube for over a year before moving them out. I have lost small colonies by being impatient and "forcing" a move into a larger space too soon.

I was wondering, does this depend on the size of the species? Say I had found new founding solenopsis molesta queens. Because they have tiny workers would you leave them in the tube set up longer so they get a bigger workforce going? I have an established colony I found and in the very small formicarium I made them they still only occupy one chamber.

nightxwolf88 wrote:

ooper01 wrote:

Neo82172 wrote:Thank you everyone for the warm welcome. Our camponotus pennsylvanicus have yet to leave their test tube does anyone have any tip on getting them to move?

I agree with idahoantgirl. I know we all want them to move from a test tube into a new setup, but it is best to keep them in a test tube as long as they fit comfortably. I had a colony in a test tube for over a year before moving them out. I have lost small colonies by being impatient and "forcing" a move into a larger space too soon.

I was wondering, does this depend on the size of the species? Say I had found new founding solenopsis molesta queens. Because they have tiny workers would you leave them in the tube set up longer so they get a bigger workforce going? I have an established colony I found and in the very small formicarium I made them they still only occupy one chamber.

Yes, I would probably leave them in until they got a little cramped, or at a minimum, offer them a new space, but don't do much to encourage the move. I recently sold a Monomorium minimum colony, which is a very small species. They had around 100 workers and were still in a test tube setup attached to a Test Tube Portal.

idahoantgirl wrote:actually, I would not suggest moving your colony into such a big space until they are at least 20 workers strong. It may lead to the death of your colony

Thank you for the advice we thought about that which is why we bought the omni vertical so we could limit the size by closing off the upper floors. They do seem pretty cramped in the test tub our test tubes, we have "SEOH 16 X 125mm Plastic Test Tubes" and between the water and cotton balls they are on top of each other.