new queen

[grimff5]

hello, im going to get a Tapinoma sessile Queen soon. and was wondering if i should keep the test tube in which temperatures?. and also the queens life span?. and if the colony is successful, would it be worth getting the Omni Nest™ Vertical Large instead of the Small?

[Rovvov99]

Hello, and welcome to the hobby !
I'm not familiar with Tapinoma sessile but I saw that they are distributed throughout the US and Canada so room temprature seems fine to me. The queen is first best of in a testtube, so I wouldn't worry about nests until the colony is at least 100 workers strong. Oh and queens can live up to 20 years (but you don't see that very often).
I hope that this answerd most of your questions.

Goodluck with your queen !

[grimff5]

also what are good ways to make homemade insect a slip for out worlds?

and if its a good idea to give them normal water or sugar water?

the queen i have has about 25+ workers and alot of eggs. there are all still in the test tube. so goes back to the question of, would it be worth getting the Omni Nest™ Vertical Large instead of the Small?

[Rovvov99]

The most used way for containing your ants in the outworld is applying a mixture of alcohol (ethanol) and baby powder. The alcohol will evaporate and when the ants try to climb over the leftover talcum they fall of because it's very loos. But Tapinoma Sessile is a quite small specie (I did some research ), so they have an easier time getting over the talcum. For small species it's best to use Fluon/PTFE, I know it's a little expensive but believe me it is the best. I Always use a two layer escape protection, first a layer of Fluon/PTFE and above that a layer of baby powder mixed with alcohol. They will drink normal water from the testtube that they're in, so you have to give them Sugar water in the outworld. I would take the small nest first, but again don't buy it so early, if the queen suddenly dies you're left with an nest that you can't use.