Population decrease *help*

[WM64ants]

Hello experienced ant keeper!
About 3 months ago I bought a Lasius Niger queen with 15 workers. The population was never growing and now it’s decreasing (it’s now 11 ). Does anybody know what could be happening? Below is a picture of the terrarium. (How do I include a picture btw?)

[SolenopsisKeeper]

Hello experienced ant keeper!
About 3 months ago I bought a Lasius Niger queen with 15 workers. The population was never growing and now it’s decreasing (it’s now 11 ). Does anybody know what could be happening? Below is a picture of the terrarium. (How do I include a picture btw?)

Link a post on imagur or google photos.

This is okay, as nantics may be dying off. Are these ants smaller than the other workers?

Terrarium? Are they in a test tube or nest or are they digging? Digging is not good for small colonies as it gives them too much room and they sometimes disappear.(In large enclosures)

[WM64ants]

Hey sorry for the late response. They have just this morning beheaded the queen… I have a few hypotheses why this happened: 1. They were not eating the fruit because they wanted meat (that might explain why some of them walked seemingly aimlessly through the terrarium… and the feasting on the queen) 2. They were unhappy in their desert enclosure and did it out of stress. 3. The queen did not lay eggs that was according to them “acceptable”. Do you maybe know why this happened..?

Here is a picture of the enclosure: https://imgur.com/a/GL44Sgk

[SolenopsisKeeper]

Hey sorry for the late response. They have just this morning beheaded the queen… I have a few hypotheses why this happened: 1. They were not eating the fruit because they wanted meat (that might explain why some of them walked seemingly aimlessly through the terrarium… and the feasting on the queen) 2. They were unhappy in their desert enclosure and did it out of stress. 3. The queen did not lay eggs that was according to them “acceptable”. Do you maybe know why this happened..?

Here is a picture of the enclosure: https://imgur.com/a/GL44Sgk

This happens with a pheidole colony this size, but what I think happens is the queen dies off(Some starter colonies queens have bad genes and since were caught as alates usually means you get alot of the bad genes of the gene pool that wouldn’t survive in the wild), and the workers chop her head off her to eat her organs and guts. But hey, now is the perfect time to introduce a parasitic ant queen.

[WM64ants]

I just introduced a queen I caught a month ago because I just couldn’t resist . Lucky that I did because now I actually need her. How big is the actual chance they will accept her?
Btw, do you think this terrarium is suited for Lasius Niger? Because I heard they like both sand and dirt, but I live in the netherlands so these might actually only like wet sand, problem is only the top of the sand gets wet and then it hardens up. Maybe it’s an idea to somehow connect it to a modular concrete nest, or should I wait for them to dig in?

[SolenopsisKeeper]

I just introduced a queen I caught a month ago because I just couldn’t resist . Lucky that I did because now I actually need her. How big is the actual chance they will accept her?
Btw, do you think this terrarium is suited for Lasius Niger? Because I heard they like both sand and dirt, but I live in the netherlands so these might actually only like wet sand, problem is only the top of the sand gets wet and then it hardens up. Maybe it’s an idea to somehow connect it to a modular concrete nest, or should I wait for them to dig in?

Don’t put Lasius in a terrarium until a good amount of workers, above a few thousand. They will probably not accept her. Just take the brood from your colony and give it it her, that way you will get workers quicker.

[WM64ants]

Do you think I should buy one of those concrete things? Because they ran out of water. (I have another small colony in a test tube from last year).

[SolenopsisKeeper]

Do you think I should buy one of those concrete things? Because they ran out of water. (I have another small colony in a test tube from last year).

What “concrete thing”?

[WM64ants]

One of these:

https://imgur.com/a/fa9yN5z

[SolenopsisKeeper]

One of these:

https://imgur.com/a/fa9yN5z

The acrylic version of that would work much better for hydration. That one needs hydration every few days.