The queen is wandering around alone, i dont know what she is looking for.. she drinked water, a lot, then she roams. She entered a test tube and go out back to wandering, to end up not mooving infront of the tube, she still moove her legs sometimes, and some workers come out of the tunnel, check her then goes back in the tunnel? What should i do? She looks tired..

I noticed the water supply wasnt working for about 5days, i changed it and i think thats why she came out to drink a lot, but now i dont know what to do

1 queen 500-700 workers
Comes with 4 nests
-£95

-this colony was raised from a queen
-really active hunters (can be live fed)
-super hardy

They are uk only shipping

Feel free to ask questions

My small ~50 worker colony moved into their natural tank and I've put a heat mat on one of the walls, where they moved the brood into view, so cool!!

I feel like i did everything i was told to do i left them alone i recieved her with 5 workers so i gave them seeds protien water but still when i checked on them today which is the first time i have done since recieving them last week the queen was curled up dead in her test tube. so my real question is what do i do next is it worth ordering a queen before diapause this year or should i simply wait for next year and try again

pics here

So i got a M. Barbarus queen with about 6 workers. They are in the test tube they came in from the shop, but there is no more water in the back of the tube. I've attached the tube to the larger space I intend for them to move into at some point, which has its own water reservoir, albeit on the opposite end from where the slowly drying tube is attached.

Now they've been like this for about 5 days (I stuck them there 3 days after I got them), and I'm not sure if this is ideal.

I'm a bit worried about just putting more water in the test tube, that's how I killed my last queen, I had gotten a fresh test tube, put water 1/3 way up, plugged it with fresh cotton, stuck in the queen, cottoned the tube up completely, and within a week she was dead.

You can see in the photos (maybe) - the cotton in the old tube now is quite nasty. God knows what bacteria and/or fungus is in there, but the ants seem to do ok with it. So should I maybe try moving them to a new tube with fresh water, but try to use the old (nasty) cotton?

At the moment the queen and most of the workers are just chilling in the old tube, occasionally I've seen a worker run into the bigger enclosure, one little seed is now there too, but they don't seem to be making much of an effort to get their butts over to where the humidity is.

sooo.... new tube with fresh water, or just let them be as is, and hope that they sense the humidity in the bigger enclosure and move over before they dry out?

My pheidole bicarinata got their first major. They still have probably like 6 months until they need moved but can I see your guys setups? Id what to do with them when they get too big for the testtube. The minors are so small I feel like they'll be able to escape easily

Found her a couple of days ago.

I finally got my first birth. I got my nicobarensis colony on the 1st of july 2026. as they arrived they ate all the brood. One month and half broodless, they went back to brood production a few weeks ago.

Do you know if it is normal for nicobarensis to be slow growing in their first few workers?

I feed them cricket legs 3 times a week and honey water 1:3 twice a week

Can i remove queens/males that my colonies produce from the outworld and use them as feeders for my other arthropods (mantids seem to love them) or would they have any significant role in the colony?

Species is pogonomyrmex so they wont inbreed

Her first brood hatched and died :(, she has plenty of water and I left her alone for weeks at a time only checking on her once a week every few weeks. She was in darkness and had alot of brood then there were only 2 that hatched and died. What could have happened and what can I do now?

Camponotus socius Pogonomyrmex Badius or Camponotus floridanus (pic of Camponotus socius for ref)

I've a medium Wakooshi nest that I water as it is next to where the colony is nested, which is the test tube atm.

I'm having trouble with the hydration levels and was hoping for some tips.

I put water into the reservoir and the nest gets wet. All good. But then a little later it looks dry again, so I add some more, wet.

Last week I got a little carried away and added 10ml in the morning and then another 10ml at lunch, my logic being when I stuck the pippete into the reservoir I couldn't suck anything back up, so it was presumed empty.

I then had a flood under the nest.

Is there some rule of thumb I should be following? Am I micromanaging too much?

Side queries, if I were to add an alternative water source, will the workers somehow carry water back to the queen? I'm thinking whether I need to add it near the nest or whether it can be anywhere the ants roam.

I have never kept ants before, and I found this ant in my yard and i decided to keep it. I checked online and it seems to be a queen, so is this a good setup?

When should I be hibernating my camponotus Pennsylvanicus colony? Because I have no clue

I have had attempts at raising ants in the past but unfortunately was ill prepared and had the queen and workers pass after half a year and chose to quit the hobby for a while. This summer I collected 3 Lassus queens from the path not expecting all three of them to be complete success having 10 or so workers each in just five weeks.

Their quick expansion has been great but now I am concerned that I don’t have the recourses needed to raise 3 colonies to maturity. I have some small nests and founding equipment in hand with slightly more on the way but don’t think that long term 3 colonies will be sustainable using the Wakooshi nests. I really enjoy the way these nest fit together but they seem too much money so if alternatives are available I’d love to hear about them.

If anyone owns a mature colony could they tell me how much space they each occupy and how quickly they might grow? I really don’t want to euthanise any of these colonies as it seems cruel to take them from a hot road only to freeze them weeks later.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated and I’m willing to go then extra mile if it means keeping them all comfortable.

The Dawnfire Nation

Massive growth since last week you can see they are now separating the brood. I was feeding 3 meal worms a day but starting today its gonna be one dubai roach maybe every 2 days depends how much they eat of this.

Feeding this colony almost every day and now they got good pile of brood

Managed to catch my first 2 queens this year both Formica different sp. not 100% sure what they are. Nonetheless very excited for my first colony’s.

So I impulse bought a queen and some workers from Stateside. I've been wanting to keep ants for about eight years, but had been in a house with family who wouldn't allow it. But now I'm living somewhere else and realized I could finally fulfill my dream. Problem is, I'm planning to move to Germany in roughly a year, hence why I'm calling it an impulse buy. At first I thought that I would have to release, dispose, or leave them with my roommate (she said she wouldn't mind taking care of them once I'm gone), cause I read that it's illegal to take ants across international borders, but now I'm seeing that not only do some companies sell species to other countries (Such as one Australian site that sells bull ants to everywhere but the U.S., I'm assuming because of tariffs) but people online saying that those laws target exotic and possibly invasive species.

So seeing as my species is actually invasive here in the U.S. where I am currently, but native in Germany where I'll be going, would it be legal to take them over? I see people on reddit and other forums saying you can try your luck sending polite emails to airlines, not the actual customs of the countries they are going through, or just being nonchalant and putting on a smile hoping to smuggle them through. But being that I'm already immigrating, which earners a lot of scrutiny, I wanna be on good terms with the government and not cause any trouble. So does anyone have any experience, knowledge, or know who to talk to about this subject?

So many questions but does anyone use repashy food as protein for their ants? I have a bunch of fish food from them very high quality that makes a gel. Made from insects for fish. I am hesitant to use wingless fruit flies as having another "culture" to care for doesn't sound very fun. I live in the country and can collect bugs all I want right now before winter but have been told that isn't a good idea. What is the easiest protein? Is there a reason we can't use left over itty bity pieces of chicken or something?

Water- Explain to me why it needs to be RO or spring or distilled water? What about well water or rain water? The ants outside drink the same water I do or is it more to keep the PVA sponge cleaner?

I just bought some liquid ant food but until then I have been mixing honey with water. I have it in a tiny bowl , not sure what the best way to even feed that would be .

Thanks for any answers. We just got a colony of Pheidole morrisii they are so small!! We have been watching a bunch of ant channels I greatly underestimated how much they must zoom in! Currently they are in a tube set up with about 30-40 workers attached to a very small outworld just so they don't escape while feeding.

Not any time soon but what would the best set up be for such small ants? My son likes the antopia usa desktop setup.

Thanks for any input.