ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Kaja1974]

Last year i bought 1 queen and 10 workes of Lasius niger.
This is my first try of having an ant colony.

Last year in November i stored the nest in my refrigerator until February this year.

I bought a sugar-honey-fluid 10ml but they dont want to eat that.
I offered them fresh fruit: orange, apple, different sorts of melon, different sorts of dry fruit, peach and my own mix of honey/water. But they do not want to eat any of it.

Protein i gave them cat food and tuna from a can witch they seem to like for a while and then they done want that anymore.

So no i dont know what do feed them anymore and i fear they are starving and the colony does no seem to have grown much.

Now i am considering starting a new colony but i dont want to give up until i tryed everything.

Anyone got any idea what i can do? and what is happening to my colony?

/Kaja

[Shiver]

They are very small and you can't see them 24 hours a day, so you don't know they aren't eating if you are leaving the food in for them

If they don't have many larvae they can last for months without needing to eat, so have you got any brood?

I have had a colony since August last year with Queen and 10 workers, until the last month progress has been pretty slow, but they've dug a lot recently and I can see a good pile of cocoons so I'm hoping for a big increase in activity soon, just be patient.

[Kaja1974]

What is a brood? If you mean a queen then yes.
In the beginning there was alot of activety in the arena and i was able to open the side of the nest and look at the queen and the ants.
They were very interested in orange and tuna in the beginning, not sure if they ait any of it but at least 5-8 ants was allways moving around on the food.
but the last few month there has been absolutly no activity in the arena and i lost sight of the queen and i cant see any ants in the nest at all.

I am home 90% of the time so i look at the arena 10-20 times a day. but of course i cant watch them at night when i sleep.

I spend alot of time sitting looking at the ants walking around in the arena exploring but now there is no life at all.

[Shiver]

Brood = eggs/larvae etc.

I guess you can't answer anyway as you say you cannot see them... Really, and I know it's too late, you should have kept them in the test tube for longer until they had more workers then they'd be more active and take better to moving "home".

Not a lot you can do if you can't see them, they might be dead but if they are alive and you try to get them out you might kill them anyway

I think if you have space at home and enough money, start a new second colony (maybe with more workers to begin with ) and leave this colony for a few months in peace just to see what happens, if anything.

[Kaja1974]

Thank you for your reply.

Brood=eggs/larve, okey i would not have guessed that.

You are telling me what i feared allready and i think i will take your advice and start a new colony and just leave this one alone and see what happens.

But i will do that next year since it is soon refrigerator time for the ants.

Should i refrigerator this nest or just leave them out in room tempeture? (when the times comes that is)

Also i am considering making a Ytong nest for my next colony so i have a bigger chance to sit and watch them.

[El Nafti]

My colony of Lasius niger that started with around ten workers and a queen is growing fast. My experiences with insects, especially spiders and flies as a protein source (instead of cat food and tuna - mine don't take any protein except for fresh insects so far) and honey to which I add one or two drops of water daily (instead of the sugar-honey-fluid) as nourishment are very positive. It seems though that my ants loose interest in any food that exceeds three days. However, I cannot be sure if the food is considered to be bad after a couple of days or if they already "extracted" all the protein. Additionally there is fresh water for the ants.
BTW: Best result in colony growing after one week of being away from home. Apparently they enjoyed my absence a lot and now the tube is full of cocoons and at least seven new workers appeared. Maybe we just have to leave them alone from time to time.

Good luck!

El Nafti

[Shiver]

If they are alive they will, most likely, hibernate anyway. Mine seem to know when hibernation is due even when the room temp is fairly constant 20-22c year round. If you can hibernate, you should.

Also as El Nafti said, always offer food and water, and be patient

[Kaja1974]

Thank you for the reply from both of you!

I will do as you say and be more patient and try to leave them alone. Of course i will keep offer them food and hope that they will some day return to the arena.