Transferring Queen Ant from Test Tube to Test Tube

[Nebushkow]

Hey guys. The test tube housing my queen ant and now eggs (Finally. So excited. Took a few months.) has dried up and I am now in the middle of transferring her to a fresh test tube (I have the two taped together with the dry test tube open and the fresh one covered). I also have an LED desk lamp shining on the setup (Not too close of course). The only thing that she has done so far is build up a wall (with dirt I have in there) and this has kept up for two days now. Is this normal or will it take a while for her to finally move out.

[AntFarmer7]

It may take a while or she may not want to move yet. Maybe try to make the new one look better than the old one(Food, Darkness, etc.). After all, the other one has been her nest so she’ll need time to adjust!
Hope this helps!

[MadVampy]

Hey guys. The test tube housing my queen ant and now eggs (Finally. So excited. Took a few months.) has dried up and I am now in the middle of transferring her to a fresh test tube (I have the two taped together with the dry test tube open and the fresh one covered). I also have an LED desk lamp shining on the setup (Not too close of course). The only thing that she has done so far is build up a wall (with dirt I have in there) and this has kept up for two days now. Is this normal or will it take a while for her to finally move out.

Ok the best way to make a colony or queen and youngen's move that are being hesitate to do so is make sure the second test tube is completely covered so it's pitch black inside, take a normal light (not LED begins they hardly put any heat out compared to a incandescent light bulb) and place it around 6"s (152mm) away from the test tube they are in and give it a little bit (say 6 hours) and see if they move. If not move the light a little closer to the test tube and try again. Big thing is that you want to warm the tube but not over heat it and kill your ants. A good rule of thumb is after the light has been in place for say 10-15 minutes place your hand on the tube and fell the heat of it, it should be a little warm but not hot.

Some time queens and young ants can take some time to decide to move, the young ants have to scout out an alternate place to go (the new test tube) and then after a few have found it they have to decide to move the queen and colony. In my experance the time to move can range from an hour to days, it's all up to them. Big thing with keeping ants if you have to have patients when dealing with them, they have to decide to do things as a colony one ant won't decide for all the ants it takes multiple ants to come to the same decision to do something to make it happen. Heck I had to move a colony from one nest to another and the final straw to get the queen to move (even after they had already move all the brood) was to basically grab her by her legs and antennae and drag her for a bit until she was about have way to the new nest before she would go on her own. And oh yea she lost one of her antennae in the process .

[Nebushkow]

I see. Thanks for the tips. I've put a tiny drop of syrup in the new tube. I have an led light shining on the setup now but I never thought to move it closer. Thanks you two.