Lasius Niger

[af4545]

Hi everyone,
I currently have a Lasius Niger queen in a test tube setup. She has laid her first batch of eggs and I am wondering how long will it be before they hatch. Also, when they do hatch, would it be ok to straight away move them into a soil formicarium or do i wait a while? And lastly, about how long would it take the colony to each 100 workers or so?
Thanks

[tiger01vincent]

First question: I dont know, maybie 3 weeks or so

Second question: NO, Let her have at least 20 workers before you move them.

Third question: Have NO idea sorry...

GL!

[af4545]

Hi there,
Thanks so much for the response but I also have another couple of questions. Do I need to do anything at all to the queen as she produces the first workers in the tube (e.g. Feed her, warm her up...etc). My second question is will the queen physiciaally grow in size once she's in the formicarium. And lastly once the colony is settle into they're formicarium, is it only them I attach the outworld. Thanks.

[AqdasHassaan]

Let her have some more workers roughly about 8 to 10 and then start of by a drop of sugar water or a honey drop. As far as the moving of the whole colony to a formicarium is concerned, I'd say its risky to let them or any founding colony of ants loose in a formicarium due to their less number because they can easily get lost in a big enclosure that will be harmful for the whole colony because at founding stages, each worker is important and you certainly don't want your colony to die because of the shortage of the workers.