ANTSTORE World of Ants

[JayB1983]

Are you sure there are no eggs? They are very small and cannot be seen very well in the cotton. Use a magnifying glass, perhaps there are some...

Good Luck

[Wallboy]

There are non what so ever...I already have two small but succesfull Lasius niger colonies and one Lasius flavus colony...I check every day for eggs but see non. Any idea what could be wrong?

[Azzer]

There are non what so ever...I already have two small but succesfull Lasius niger colonies and one Lasius flavus colony...I check every day for eggs but see non. Any idea what could be wrong?

Just for now, try covering the test-tube in complete darkness (not just a red filter), and do not disturb them (eg do not keep checking for eggs every day). Leave them for a couple of weeks un-disturbed in the test-tube, just make sure you supply adequate food, proteins, honey & sugar water etc. in the basin (and do not keep re-sealing the test-tube if you are - give them freedom to go around the basin whenever they may wish). It could be the fact some light will get through a red filter and the constant checking for eggs that is disturbing/paniccing the queen too much... better to cut out all possibilities before worrying right?

[ashhad1]

this is for your myrmica rubras:
just leave them for a while as this may be a small colony which dont easily move out, offer them dead insects infront of their test tube which might help the queen produce eggs. The queen might already keep laying eggs but the queen and ants eat them, just be patient .
My ants also huddle together after hard days of working, by the way mauybe there are some eggs under the huddled ants.

[JimmyVe]

Myrmica sp. keep there eggs most of the time underneath themselves. In small colonies it is possible that you don't see the eggs they are probably underneath a worker(s). In my colony i did not see any eggs the first 2 moths.

[sithmaster676]

ant eggs are very small (about 0.5mm in diameter) so it is likely that you wont see them until they grow larger, also because this is the first batch of workers the queen will lay it means that the eggs are going to be even smaller. i did not see any of the eggs my queen laid until the workers had placed them in a pile by which time they were larva.
a lot of patience is required to keep ants so don't worry.
Sithmaster676