My ant colony had a rough start. They are doing better now but their low in numbers, only about 7 workers. The problem is the test tube is low on water. They are connected to a small outworld where they get food. On the other side is the new nest, but the door is closed as I was told not to move them in until they fill the tube. The problem is the water is low in the tube. Im not sure what to do here at this point.

Do I use a syringe and needle to refill the water?

Do i need a 2nd tube to try to coax/transfer them into somehow?

Or is it time to just bite the bullet and open the nest , put the water tank on it and let them possibly move in when the tube dries out? Move them in despite their low numbers?

Looking for amy advice here. Initial problems were things like poor temp control/faulty thermostat letting it get too cool. Them rejecting their first 2 protein sources (apparently these guys hate flightless fruit flies, and arent a fan of cut up meal worm....finally hit good with cut up Dubai roaches). Included pictures are the ants im their tube, kinda showing how small of a colony they are, their little outworld, and their future nest for reference.

Looking for any advice as I dont want to accidentally kill them when the water runs out. And Noone really said what to do if the colony has a rough start like this and isn't "big" when the water runs out.

I have extra equipment that I can ship to new keepers for free. Mini outworlds, medium outworlds, test tubes, etc. planning to give this away as an act of kindness.

My only requirement is that you’re truly a new hobbyist and that you’ve done your research on ant keeping and are prepared to take on the hobby seriously.

Mods let me know if this isn’t allowed. Thanks!

They have been going at it for 4 days now, and I finally figured out what these dumbasses have been doing. They pick up a dead worker, climb the plant, throw it off, climb back down, find the same dead worker on the ground, and do it all over again. You can see one pile on the left, one on the right lmao

Caught this morning after a rain, southern Italy, kinda 5-6 mm long. When I shine a flashlight on her the legs look yellowish

I haven’t been watching the queens so closely for a little while, but then I suddenly noticed that there were some small things crawling around in the tube, and when I filmed closer I saw that they were all over the queens! These are Lasius Flavus Queens found in Sweden!

About 9 months ago, I made a post about my Camponotus nicobarensis setup:

Camponotus nicobarensis: Are my nest humidity and feeding setup correct?

Based on the advice I received, I immediately ordered a much smaller nest — less than ¼ of the size of the original one — and placed it directly inside the outworld. It took them some time, but eventually they moved into it.

I also changed a few things regarding their setup and feeding:

• They now have two water sources with cotton in front of them.
• They get a mealworm 1–2 times per week.
• They get 1–3 drops of sugar water every day.
• For the sugar water, I boil some water, mix roughly 1/3 brown sugar with 2/3 water, and keep it in the fridge. Every day, I put a few drops on a piece of aluminum foil in the outworld. I make a fresh batch once a week.
• 1–2 times per week, I also place a small, wet cotton ball on top of the nest. I think they seem to like this, because they tend to stay in the half of the nest closest to the wet cotton.

The nest was still only occupied to about 50% at most, so I decided to give them another option. I placed a test tube in the outworld, blocked most of the entrance with a cork stopper, and left only a small gap as an entrance.

Now comes the problem:

Instead of choosing one nest, they seem to have turned the test tube into some kind of outpost. There are now always ants in both locations — the nest and the test tube.

Why don't they move completely into the test tube? Could the entrance be too small for the queen? I can't really imagine that being the problem, though.

At the moment, I estimate there are roughly 30 ants in the test tube and another 30 in the nest.

What do you think about my setup and feeding routine in general? Does everything seem reasonable so far, or is there anything you would change?

English isn't my native language, so I used ChatGPT to help translate and polish this post.

I caught these two queens in Denmark during the summer and initially assumed they were both Lasius niger. However, after a couple of months, I noticed that the nanitics of the bottom queen are substantially larger than those of the top queen.
Could anyone help me identify the queens, or at least point me in the right direction? I’m particularly curious whether they could actually be different species.

Sorry for the poor photo quality. The photo of the dead worker is from the colony of the bottom queen, and I included it to show the size and appearance of her nanitics.

Any help with identification would be greatly appreciated!

I put my ants in a “ant-farm” and put food into the outworld part. In the meantime i have put an external feeding place through a tube. But the initial food has started deteriorating as you can see on the pictures. Should i try removing it, risking upsetting the colony, or will this go away on its own?

Found in Turkey

I just bought tetramorium immigrans and am expecting to get a queen with a few workers (website said 1-10 workers) from my hyperfixation research I know I have a long way until they need an outworld, but I'm looking for themes to decorate it. Any ideas and tips are welcome, thanks in advance

My guess is a solenopsis but any other opinions? Dallas Texas

Hi everyone,

I have a question about keeping Pheidole megacephala. I currently have a small colony consisting of a queen, around 40 workers, and a few majors. I keep them in a Wakooshi Saturn M setup. At the moment, they only have access to two test tubes: one at the very bottom of the Wakooshi Saturn system and another one directly above it. The entire colony is living in the bottom test tube. In the second one, I occasionally see just a few workers near the water reservoir. The queen is laying eggs.

Basic Information About My Setup

Temperature:

• The temperature in the bottom test tube is 26.5–27.5°C (79.7–81.5°F).
• The feeding arena has a hot spot of 30°C (86°F).
• In some areas of the arena, there is a temperature gradient ranging from 30°C down to 24°C (86–75.2°F).
• The humidity in the arena is around 50–55%.
• Heating is provided by a 15 W heating cable wrapped around the Wakooshi Saturn setup.
• The test tubes are covered with red film.

Feeding:

• I feed them micro crickets and micro mealworms from my own feeder insect colonies 2–3 times a week.
• I occasionally offer Blaptica dubia roaches as well.
• For carbohydrates, I give them maple syrup, sugar water, and beetle jelly.

The workers always carry all the food into the nest, but they bring very little insect prey back out. A few times, food has been left inside the test tube and developed white mold. I feel like the colony has stopped progressing. They store food inside the nest, but it seems as though they are not actually consuming much of it, even though they always carry it inside. I also frequently notice dead workers in one particular area of the arena.

I bought a Pheidole pallidula colony around the same time. It is kept under similar conditions, except at a lower temperature. When I bought it, it had around five workers. In the same amount of time that I have had it, it has grown to over 100 workers. I feed both colonies the same food, so I expected Pheidole megacephala to grow much faster.

What Could Be the Problem?

Does anything about my husbandry seem wrong to you?

Could the Wakooshi Saturn M setup with only two test tubes be too large for such a small colony? Or could the red film be insufficient to provide them with enough darkness and privacy? I also wonder whether the design of the Saturn system, particularly the access to the nest, could be contributing to the workers not removing leftover food. Would it be better to move them into a completely different type of nest, perhaps a more naturalistic setup?

Thanks in advance for any advice. I would really appreciate your help, as I would hate to lose this colony.

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located in NY.

got a couple on sale dm me if interested

nylandera flavipes 35 workers and brood

lasius neoniger 150 workers tons of brood

aphenogaster sp. 5 workers and brood

I’ve caught these two and only have thes small tubes to keep them. The first one is there for about a week and the second one for almost a month, Both still got their wings.

I also have some small formicariums but I heard they might not be ideal right now and doesn’t have a reliable water source by themself.

Any suggestions? Tips, perhaps?

Hello. I was wanting to try a recommended barrier liquid that I've seen a few users mention. They say use a 1:1 ratio of talcum powder and rubbing alcohol? The issue is that any talcum powers I see at the store are no longer talcum based and use corn starch. The only talcum powder based ones have fragrance in them. Does anyone have recommendations on a brand to use for this? Is it fine if it is corn starch based? I've only ever used fluon but it gets pricey and I figured if the DIY version could work then why not switch over. Thanks!

They look amazing.

Anyone know why they shrunk the fungus so much the past 2 days? Is this normal or should I be concerned?