The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Ok, thank you. I will keep it hem in a ventilated box in the balcony and I don’t have a garden to keep them in. Can you tell me what temperature they should be kept in, as I will keep them outside when that is the temperature outside.

If you keep the nest in cooler places(not so cold that the queen dies). The queen lay less eggs. It also helps if the nest a bit drier as this means more workers spend time moistening the eggs, and less are free to tend to more eggs. Be sure not to overdo it though.

If you are going to relocate her when her colony is small, then she will get stressed and the bottle is good for a very large colony so u should not need to relocate her until you see that they have no space for the outer world. When this happens, you do not need to expose them to light, they will u...

It is normal for certain species to not hatch in the same year they were layed. This happens in some temperate species. I am not sure if it is normal for them to stop growing tho, especially if they are her first workers.

You could find queens there, but I think it is better to search another area, as there will be more queens in clean air.

That looks like a Lasius Niger(Black Garden Ant), or it may be a Tetramorium caespitum(Pavement Ant). It is hard to be sure, tho that is probably a L.Niger. It looks just like mine, and mine acts like a L.Niger.

Hope that helps.

How and when do I hibernate my L.niger colony? I live in the Netherlands where it rarely gets below freezing temperature so can I keep my colony outside?

Thank you. I also fed my queen and after she ate a bit and layed eggs, she did not touch her food.

Can you please tell me if L.Niger queens are semi, or fully claustral? My queen has some brood and no workers, so do I need to feed it?

How can u tell? I have a queen ant and she looks the same as these males.(Mine laid eggs so it is surely a queen)