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hello,
i have been looking on here reading articles and posts for a long time and as some of you will know i have been wanting a colony for a long time now, then one warm summers night i caught 3 queens.
one turned out to be a male with no wings !?!? or it may have been a queen?, because it only survived 2 nights. that was 2 weeks ago and now both my queens are in small tubs with cotton wool and water and thriving, for the 1st week the two lived together and then after the 1st week i sperated them. (just a little expirement but they were fine).
this week my excitement was getting the better of me so i did the usual, topping up the water and chaning the cotton wool but i decided to put a dash of honey (about the size of a pea) in each of the tubs and after an hour the honey was gone. now since then they have been given a dash each every 2 days, my smaller queen has stopped eating it but the bigger of the two still loves it.
so a few questions to make sure the next stages are right:
1) Will it harm the queens giving them that honey each 2 days?
2) Is it ok if i put cotton wool pile in the corner of the tub for them to lay eggs/sleep under/on?
3) Cotton wool wont harm them?
4) At the moment they have small dishes of water but would soaking cotton wool be ok?
5) One final thing, if i put the ants in the fridge and add a few workers into the queen would that be ok???
thanks in advance, matt
i dont think the honey will hurt them no, as long as they dont get stuck in it. They dont need cotton wool to lay eggs under or sleep on.. Cotton wool will not harm them, and yes i think soaking wool would be ok. Adding ants is not a good idea, and i wouldnt do it.. but it is up to you.
Also... why have you not got them inside a test tube?? You can pick them up cheap in lots of places including ebay.. or maybe even your local chemist will sell them.
If you want to speed things up a little, I'd recommend to add a few pupae to your queen, instead of adult workers. Remember to keep the numbers small, 5 to 10 should be fine, while 20 would already be quite many for a single queen. And make sure the pupae and the queen are of the same species, to avoid trouble later...
By the way: What species did you catch?
Many species don't need any food (beside water of course) until the first workers have hatched. Although, as Steve already said, it won't do any harm, if you feed them anyway... ;-)
Yes what species is it? I assume Lasius niger? Yes cotton wool is fine and you are right to keep changing it or is will mouldy and horrible. New queens normally wouldn't eat until their first workers hatch out but if they will eat that is no problem and it is impossible to overfeed ants, just don't forget to remove uneaten food quickly. Yes I suggest you find some coccoons and give them to one of your queens, I would say as many as possible, but cocoons only, not eggs or larvae as she will not have enough protein stored to feed them all and would just end up eating them.
@ steve- steve i was merely just enquiring and have not made a decision yet :)
@ cordovan- i have L asius niger and i may add some pupae.
@ highered- i will continue to feed them because its fun to watch :)
oh and steve i thought tub would be just ok aswell :)
Well from experience a tub isnt the best idea.. my nephew kept a colony in a tub.. and they died.. so not the best of ideas bud
yes but its too late :)
i have collected so pupae :)