ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Jacob]

Towards the end of the Summer I found a newly fertilised Lasius niger queen in the street and took her home. I put her in a jam jar with a cm of soil in the bottom and left her to it, sprinkling in a few drops of water every so often.

Since then I've been reading up on the topic on this forum and elsewhere and realised that clearly this arrangement wasn't ideal. So I got hold of a test tube and yesterday I moved the Queen, the three tiny ants that've so far hatched, the eggs and larvae into it, setting it up the water–cottonwool–ants way that appears to be the best way of doing things. Then I put the testtube in a tupperware box with a layer of sand/loam mix in the bottom of it.

I've searched the forum on the topic of hibernation and feeding but I've still got a couple of things I'm unsure about:

1 Feeding
How much does a colony of this size need feeding?
So far these guys have never really been fed (which maybe explains the small number of ants so far produced?), other than a bit of sugar I put in there right at the very beginning, and a small bit of honeywater-soaked cotton wool I placed in the tupperware box yesterday.
Now obviously such small things don't need a great deal of food, but perhaps they could do with a bit of protein pre-/during hibernation? What's the best way of supplying this? I'm not sure I can find insects tiny enough for them to deal with.
Which brings me onto my next question.

2 Hibernation
What's the best way to hibernate a colony of this size?
And how often (if at all) do they need to be fed over this period?
I've read about people putting the testtube into the fridge – in this method is food placed directly into the ants' chamber?

As you can probably tell I'm a bit confused! It'd be great if you could help out.

[hador]

The colony doesnt need feeding during its hibernation. Small flies and mosquitos are perfectly fine for them if they are already dead.
You can put the ants in the fridge for hibernation, but putting it on the balocony or somewhere else outside wont be a problem either in Uruguay, seeing as it never gets under 0°C there. You wont have to feed them during their hibernation.

[MorbidMike]

The colony doesnt need feeding during its hibernation. Small flies and mosquitos are perfectly fine for them if they are already dead.
You can put the ants in the fridge for hibernation, but putting it on the balocony or somewhere else outside wont be a problem either in Uruguay, seeing as it never gets under 0°C there. You wont have to feed them during their hibernation.

Indeed, they will not need to be fed. The only thing you have to make sure is that their nest is always a bit moist. Even in hibernation, the nest needs to be moist enough, or your ants will dry out.

Out of hibernation they will need some insects too, though. Honey alone is not enough to make the colony grow: they need proteins. Small bugs like mosquitos (especially the ones that have already sucked up blood, my Camponotus vagus LOVED these), flies, or bigger insects you have cut up first (such as crickets and grashoppers).

[Jacob]

Thanks for your replies.

Is it worth giving them a small fly to eat before putting them into hibernation? Or will they be okay hibernating for a few months never having eaten anything?

With regard to nest dampness: will the water soaking through the cotton wool in the test tube – Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar this is pretty much how things are set up although the tube is rather smaller – provide enough moisture?

[JimmyVe]

Normally they would be fine without food until after hibernation period, but it couldn't harm them if you feed them a little before.

The tubes seems fine by me.