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So basically i've been keeping a colony of lasius niger for about 6 weeks. My queen raised around 13 workers with another 30 or so on the way. I have the ant starter set which includes the forraging area and actual ant farm connected by a pipe. Last week i opened up the test tube and placed it into the forraging area. To start with i had a massive problem with them escaping because the lid on the top of the forraging area wouldnt sit flush with the glass......i placed the area in a small basin of water as a barrier to stop escape but the next day when i looked around 5 had drowned. I'm not entriely sure why because inside the forraging area there is a water hole with cotton wool in it. Next problem i had was that i went away for a few days and my sister moved the farm to the window sil to clean but left them there for a whole day.........i came home to find all but one worker and the queen dead. I presume this was because of the sunlight (greenhouse effect?). I swiftly moved the farm to a cooler area in the dark and placed some syrup in the opening to the test tube, the worker ate it.
Two questions really.....(1) What escape prevention can i use that's effective and (2) What should i do to help the queen recover...will she recover? (she has water and syrup....shall i give them an insect?)
Any help would be appreciated
well u should use PTFE or pretroleom jelly on the inside edges of the tank so that they cant go any further and for ur other problem is that if there are still larvae left then a small insect would do, and i think ur queen should recover if shes healthy and didnt get any side effects of that 'greenhouse effect'
But lasius niger are hardy ants so i think shel recover smoothly
hoped that helped :D
1. The only really 100% effective method is closing tight. Note that ants don't really want to escape. They were enclosed in the tube so they are now very curious and want to check what is outside. The scouts will return and if they won't find something interesting - like other ants territory, food source or more natural nest place (e.g. plant pot) - they won't wander so much, of course if they have enough food in vinicity.
2. If the ants were overheated by sunlight, you can do nothing - they will survive or die. If they survive a week, they will probably be ok. And of course you need to give insects to the ants, it is the most important protein source. If you don't give them any, they will try to search for prey outside, they will also risk drowning, because this is very important for the colony.
Sorry to hear your colony is in trouble! Unfrotunetly there is very little you can do except cross your fingers and hope, but unfortunetly its quite possible the farm hit 40-50C when the sun was on it, so dont get your hopes up to much
ok so can u tell me a large species. I want to use my ant farm i have already but require a large species as lasius niger are too small. with the messor barb be ok at room temperature?
Sorry to hear that, hope she will be okay. I think Tail answered all of you question very well so there is noting more to add. ;)
u could try a formica species
there bigger then lasius niger
If you think that your farm is to large for your ants, think again, Lasius niger have very large nests! I have a colony, in a farm which is 40x40x1cm, and it is full of tunnels and chambers, I think within another year I will need to add another farm to accomodate the colony :) the colony is only 18months old