von El Nafti » 18. Mai 2011 08:55
Hello Bjarke,
though I am everything but an expert on ants, I've read about similar problems in other parts of the forum or somewhere else.
It's possible that you woke up the colony too early. Other users reported problems with "inactive" Lasius niger after not letting them hibernate at all or waking them early. February seems kind of early too me.
Anyway, as long as the queen is ok and as long as there are eggs that are taken care of you shouldn't worry too much. Normally they leave their nest once it's not appropriate for them or not comfortable anymore. Users report up to 200 lasius niger in a test tube. I'd suggest to offer them food and if they need it they will come out and get some. You can try to put some honey, honey-water, sugar-water in the entrance section of the test tube. Small colonies tend to be afraid of leaving the safe nest.
Keep in mind that I'm not an experienced member, so if anybody else gives you different advice....
Good luck!
El Nafti
PS: Temperature, size of the colony, age of the colony might be helpful for other users.