Young ant colony

[Pengu900]

I have a very young Lasius Niger ant colony and I haven't seen them come out of their nest in a few days, I've looked into the nest and they seem alive but they aren't moving around very much, is there any need to worry about this or am I over stressing, this is my first ant colony so I'm not sure about anything. The thing that worries me is that when I see ants like Mikey's they are extremely active. I'd just like to know what normal behaviour for very young ants is.

[NKantsalberta]

That seems completely normal.

Remember that Mikey Bustos keeps tropical ants. They are explosive and extremely active. I have 2 lasius colonies that are 2 years old now with only 10 ish workers, and they still mainly stay in their test tube. They only venture out to feed every few days. They each have very large brood piles this year however. 3 years seems to be the timing for any genus i've kept here in Alberta before any major growth or activity.

[Pengu900]

Thanks, that's good to hear, so it'll be about three years before they grow massively? That seems like a long time, their brood pile is quite large, I would expect them to have about thirty ants in two months.

[Vincex]

They should grow rapid enough to be honest I have a colony of lasius and there growing rapidly but it is slow at start cos there needs are less

[NKantsalberta]

Thanks, that's good to hear, so it'll be about three years before they grow massively? That seems like a long time, their brood pile is quite large, I would expect them to have about thirty ants in two months.

3 years has been the average time I have experienced before large growth. Obviously it varies by species and how warm / how much they are fed. In my experience, large brood piles only appeared in the 2nd-3rd year of growth in all formica, camponotus and lasius I have kept. there have been a couple with large growth in the 1st year. Keep them around 30 celsius with indirect heat during the day, should speed up the growth period.