Starting Lasius Americanus colony

Questions from those who are just starting or considering getting into the ant keeping hobby. If you’re intimidated or confused by the in-depth posts of the other sections of this forum, feel free to post here, and we'll start from square one!

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Carlevan2840
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:52 pm

Starting Lasius Americanus colony

Post: # 65969Post Carlevan2840
Mon Dec 09, 2019 7:48 pm

New question regarding the queen I've asked about before: I'm 95% certain I have properly identified the queen as Lasius Americanus (thanks to you guys! 👍). I have a test tube setup (only it's a little smaller and clear rubber tubing instead of glass...plenty large enough that she can easily turn 360° around). I've had the queen since the first week of August. It's now the second week in December. So far I've only had one worker emerge back in October. I'm giving them water (obviously) in a cotton plug, honey and a fruit fly every now and then..maybe once a week. I try to only disturb them once every 3 days or so for only a couple of minutes when I need to add a little water, honey or a fly. She lays eggs and they do grow...I can see them in larval stage for sure and I'm pretty sure I've seen a few in pupa stage. I keep my place pretty warm...between 75°F and 80°F I guess. Obviously I'm doing something correct as one did emerge and is now helping the queen and most of the eggs do hatch, but do not fully develop into adult ants. But for sure, way more than one egg has hatched over this time. So....why don't more larvae fully develop? Will the queen eat larvae/pupae? Note: It IS nearly impossible to clean the entire tube setup. I've tried coaxing her into a new one by using light as a motivator but after a couple days I worried I was putting too much stress on her and just let her be. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! 😎

Carlevan2840
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:52 pm

Re: Starting Lasius Americanus colony

Post: # 66318Post Carlevan2840
Wed Jan 01, 2020 8:18 pm

2nd worker finally arrived today..January 1st. Now there's a queen, 2 workers and several eggs/larva/pupa. Why is it taking so long? Something must be right as it (the colony) IS growing, just very slowly.

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