Mold growth

[Dandolfi]

Hey there, i have been a fan of ant keeping for a long time, ant recently i decided to finaly try and start my own colony. I cought a fertile lasius niger queen ant tot het in my testube setup. Right now she has been in her testube for about 2-3 weeks and got a pile of around 6-10 eggs. But i have been starting to notice a black Mold growth on the cotton. After googeling a bit i didnt worry that much, except she starting placing the eggs basicaly on top of the mold. I have had her test tube connected to another, dark clean test tube. And have been shining a non-heat admiting light on the moldy test tube for about 5-6 days now. But she hasnt moved anythint. And the eggs are still against/on top of the black mold. Should i worry? Or just give her more time?

(Excuse me for the bad english, im typing this on my phone with auto correct on another language)

[Boomdale]

Heat is the key. Not a lot and make sure you watch her the entire time. My colony would not more at all with just light. As soon as I put a heat bulb in there and waited and watched for about 15 mins they were like screw this were out of here.

Make sure it’s not super hot and don’t leave it for a long time. It just has to be slowly more and more uncomfortable for her and she will move.

[Dandolfi]

I dont have any heater small enough to heat just the 1 testube, i can use like you Said a light bulb that does warm up and get it very close to her. Keep in mind tough that is only a queen with eggs. So im very scores of her eating her eggs

[JoeHostile1]

You should never really force a Queen in the founding stage with only eggs to move. Blackness on the cotton in a test tube really doesn’t matter at all. I’ve had queens in test tubes for over a year with the cotton being pitch black at the end, it’s caused no problems at all for me. What causes problems in test tubes is actual mold growth. Green 3D mold, fuzzy mold, white mold, that kind of mold can endanger a colony. I wouldn’t worry about moving her until she has workers that will do the work for her.