My Formica Queen

[WiseHollow]

It's been at least 3 weeks since I caught my Formica queen. She has at least 8 eggs and are slowly growing and changing. I gave her a small amount of honey recently, hoping it will keep her happy. I'm going to post pictures as their development progresses.

[WillWithAnts]

Congrats and welcome!

[larynx]

cant wait to see pics. i cant get mt formicas to lay eggs.

[antscanada]

It's been at least 3 weeks since I caught my Formica queen. She has at least 8 eggs and are slowly growing and changing. I gave her a small amount of honey recently, hoping it will keep her happy. I'm going to post pictures as their development progresses.

Wow! Those actually are pupae/cocoons! Congrats! You should have your first nanitics in a few days. I love how quickly Formica develop. Keep up the great work!

Good luck on this colony. ☺

[WiseHollow]

My first worker ant has come out! I'm very excited and have not been able to stop myself from looking several times today. I bought a new heating cable to perhaps help give them the heat they normally have outside. Now that there is a worker, is it safe to put in a dead cricket?

[Carl75]

I think a cricket would be too big. You could try a fruit fly if you have some, small dead spider or a drop of sugar water.

Lots of people don't feed them until there are quite a few workers.

[WiseHollow]

There are now 4 workers total. I'm very surprised that 3 workers emerged in just one day. I also gave them a spider to eat, as you can see in the image.

[WiseHollow]

My 5th ant has come. I have a small Omni Nest and a foraging ground for them. Is there a certain amount of ants I should have before putting their test tube in (Encourage them to move to the new nest)?

[WiseHollow]

I heard from AntsCanada that their recommendation is 10-20 workers. I also have a formica queen like you and she's got 4 pupae that are close to hatching! I hope you have a successful colony !

Thank you! I believe we've got 6 workers now. I'll do my best to wait until around 20 workers are around. You should post a thread and pictures of your queen. I'd love to take a look.