Myrmica Rubra help

[antsnewbs]

Hi everyone,

I just dug up an entire colony of myrmica rubras including their queens, approx 600 or more workers and at least 4 queens, hundreds of eggs, larva and pupae. This colony's nest was dug up under my kids play structure, nested in play sand. I assume this is just a satellite nest as they usually have trail of ants coming from the lawn.

Currently I have them in a large clear plastic container and I put fluon barrier around the sides. Took them a couple of days to get settled (tunnels and chambers done).

First couple of days they weren't very interested in any protein foods (bugs), mainly just interested in honey water. Been hydrating their nest with water every few days.

About 2 weeks later I added a few grasshoppers and some honey water, and they all seemed to be very interested and preying very actively. It seems like most of the pupae has turned into young workers and there is hundreds more small larvae which means the queen has laid eggs recently. I am able to see this as the container is clear and I see it from the bottom (container is on a glass table).

My question is how much food and how often should I feed a colony this size?

Also I am thinking of somehow moving this colony into some kind of nest from AntsCanada shop so I can view everything more easily. If someone could maybe give me some idea as to how I could move them into this type of nest setup, and what type of nest should I be using for this species, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Bin

[Angelants2012]

I would suggest feeding them once every other day. Also, I recommend you put them in a few ac hybrid nests.