Trap-Jaw Ants: How to raise properly

[AntsAreCool715]

Hello everyone.
If I catch a queen of Trap Jaw species (Odontomachus Simillimus), how do I keep it? I once had 1 queen, it laid eggs, so I introduced some workers from the only Trap Jaw colony in the area. They got along well until the queen died and the eggs lay unattended. The workers died too. What did I do wrong and how do I keep them in the future?
Thanks!
Jasper

[BugBoy]

Hi Jasper

Firstly addressing your past experience. Please do not introduce wild worker ants to your queen as they are likely not related and may fight each other. Even if they somehow accept each other, in my experience it still does not work out as the queen's eggs are always eaten and they end up dying with no new workers to take their place, thus colony dies.
Think is best to let the queen raise her first batch of workers herself as she will then be more "independent". Not sure if this is actually true but from what I have observed those ponera queens raised without any brood boosting tend to do better in the long run.

For founding queens, can keep them in a test tube setup with outworld attached. They have "slippery feet" so best to provide substrate for them to walk on such as sand or soil, both in the test tube and outworld. Test tube must be of minimum diameter 15mm. Feed them protein such as small crickets or cut mealworms at least once in 3 days. I personally would feed daily. Can give around 1/3 of mealworm. The prey item should not be bigger than the queen. Honey can be given maybe once a week. I don't really see a need to as they can survive with a purely protein diet. Remove any uneaten food after 24 hours. If there is mould in the test tube, then change the test tube. Do cover the test tube with red film or something opague so that the nest area is dark.

Hope this helps!