I haven't started yet but it'll soon be time to move my lasius niger colony into a larger home, they're currently happy with their environment (around 100+ workers from what i can tell with no escape attempts and little wall climbing) but i want to get them into my new larger terrarium before it becomes a problem.
I was wondering, what would be the best way to do this? I want to encourage my colony to move to their new home without much physical intervention and as little stress as possible. I have the space to "dump" the ants into their new environment but i'm not sure about stressing out the queen and damaging her egg laying ability. Is there a way to coerce them into their new terrarium without having to forcefully move them out? I have seen cases where lasius niger will happily move to or establish a new nest but i wouldn't know how to get them to leave their old one.
The issue being, it's an entirely natural set up. There's no man-made formicarium or nest so it's not as simple as moving them out from there.
What do we think, is it a lost hope? Should i just use this new terrarium as an expanded out world? Do i simply have to be patient and hope?
Thanks for the help in advance!
