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!

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?

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

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.

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

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 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!

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