The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Aaron567 wrote:I found a better and easier way to house this colony. I found a small plastic critter keeper so I put in rocks as the substrate and I set the test tubes (The old one and the new one) inside. I put a piece of grape in there and a few of them sat on top of it and drank the juice. I spread Vaseline around the sides of the container, put a piece of cling wrap over it, and put the plastic critter keeper lid over that. These ants are great climbers and also pretty small so I just want to make sure they can't escape. I think they are back at about 6-8 workers, but one of them just eclosed:D

So now I can just set their food inside the container next to their test tube and they can also move into the clean test tube whenever they want!

That's great news! Looks like they'll be fine. Have fun keeping them!

First let me start by saying, you may want to remove the cling wrap, they still need air and if you put that on top they wont get enough air.
Second, That's what I did with my Crematogaster Queen. I got her June 2015 and she was in a small test tube and before hibernation she had 6 workers then I took her out of hibernation Feb/March 2016 and gave them a drop of honey, some mealworms, and Lacewings. When the test tube started drying out I put the it in a plastic box with a new large test tube and put Vaseline along the top to keep them in. I didn't cover it b/c it's easier to clean without a cover. I guess with all the food I fed them they grew fast. Now she is well over 100 and in a Solinopsis hybrid nest. They are doing awesome, last night I got home and found a yellow/orange ant with yellowish wings and a large gaster in the outworld. At 1st I thought it was a termite but after closer inspection it was an ant but still not sure if it belongs in there. My ants didn't bother it at all. I watch it go all around the out world. I can't really see any others though.,and according to some of AntsCanada's youtube vids, the males always have another worker with them to feed them when they are hungry. Sorry no pic yet. I took some with my phone but didn't come out well. I'm going to look for a magnifying attachment for my phone then I will send pics.

martinnate wrote:First let me start by saying, you may want to remove the cling wrap, they still need air and if you put that on top they wont get enough air.

I thought about that, I will be lifting up the cling wrap every day/every other day to make sure they have oxygen. And maybe the light colored alate could be a newly eclosed female?

Aaron567 wrote:

martinnate wrote:First let me start by saying, you may want to remove the cling wrap, they still need air and if you put that on top they wont get enough air.

I thought about that, I will be lifting up the cling wrap every day/every other day to make sure they have oxygen. And maybe the light colored alate could be a newly eclosed female?

IDK what the light colored alate is but I haven't seen it for a day or 2 but I have been leaving my door open when I'm home b/c the weather has been nice so maybe it flew out or it went back in to the nest, (I'm about to go take a picture of the colony in the Solonopsis Hybrid). I caught another Crematorgaster Queen yesterday between 11am and 2pm. I was checking on a potted plant on the sidewalk and she walked right up to me and said hello lol I didn't have my test tube with me but I did have a plastic pot that I put over her before running into the house to get the tube. She is now in the closet with the water heater. Maybe she will grow faster in there. I also got to watch a male take off yesterday. It was cool.

It has been over a month since the last update on this journal. The colony hasn't grown much at all, a couple workers died and a few more eclosed. There are 8 workers and 2 pupae. They never moved into the new test tube because apparently they would rather die than have to move. The test tube got extremely dry and I don't know how they are still alive honestly. But today, after picking up the workers, Queen, and brood individually with a q tip to put them in the new test tube, they are all good now. Back to the normal test tube setup finally! Now that they have a good water supply and I will feed them a lot more protein, this colony should finally start to grow.

Glad to hear, I know how frustrating it can be when the ants dont want to move, but given time they would have moved on their own lol. U should hibernate them soon and next spring be ready for them to explode in numbers. Good luck with ur queens.