ANTSTORE World of Ants

[mvegt19]

hi all, allready a big thanks for anyone who's gonna take the time for replying. going to post this message in english, dutch and maybe very bad german as well.

regular info:
ant: lasius flavus
colony: just 1 queen delivered 3 days ago.
formicarium: just a 30cm by 20 cm terrarium, mostly sand, and a bit of earth (u know, black sand stuff, good for plants) same word as earth in holland. (aarde)
anyway. i placed the tube inside the box. he was allready eating i guess from the water inside the testtube. altough i was not sure if enough water leaks trough the (white soft stuff) (dutch: watten) after 1 day, i think he allready had about 5 eggs. and the next day he had put some dirt and sand inside the tube. the third day he was gone. (out of test tube)
i can;t really see some holes in the ground where he is hiding.
questions:

in a box of 30 by 20. can the queen find back it's test tube for the water.?
also covered the plug which closed the test tube with honey and water.

the ant did not take the eggs with him, they are still in the test tube.
will they get them sooner or later? or will he just make new eggs somewhere?

now about 3 days have past without seeing him. we are with a family of 5 here. everyone looks once a while. should i be worried?

how long can a queen live without food? (when he was gone he was really fat!, so, that looked good.?

in how many months should there be workers back above ground? (just an aproximation for me to not worry so much as i do now?)

allready a thanks in advance everyone!, Greetings Martin

[JimmyVe]

I respond to your question in the dutch part of the forum

[mvegt19]

allready digged out all the sand and found him again, i guess he was looking for more food, as i think not enough fluid was running through the white soft stuff from the test tube. he's back now. in his test tube, allready playing with the eggs again, and eating fluid like crazy!...
thanks anyway people!

oh jeah, is it really necesary to let my ant sleep during winter? or not really? it is a lasius flavus.

[mpir]

I would really recomend it to you. After hibernating your ants will feel better and they will be healthier. Also their numbers will increese faster. If you want to have a big colony hibernating is a MUST.

[mvegt19]

ok, so how does this hibernating works? what temperature is good for them in hibernation? i can put them in the shed. about 5 degrees or something when it's -5 outside, good enough? need to put something over them, so it;s dark? i'm from the netherlands, how long should i let them hibernate? from which date to which date to be precise?
thanks in advance,
Martin

[mpir]

If you have them in the test tube then put them outdoors so that they get used to lower temperatures. Don't keep them on the sun but in the shadow. After a week or so you can just put them in the fridge. Temperatrue is constant there +5 C so that is ideal. Just make sure they don't run out of water. That is all. And when you want to put them out of hibernating do everytihng in reverse. Put them out for a few days to gradually warm up and then put them in a room temperature. I would hibernate them from late October till end of March.
Good luck.

[maxfly]

The question born spontaneus, how to provide water in nest-test-tube during the hibernation time?

--
Max

[mpir]

Make sure the coton is wet enough ... and make sure that there isn't too much water so that they don't drown. If there is enough water behind the cotton you shouldn't be worried. They are getting enough water.

Good luck

[JimmyVe]

Like there is already sad, Hibernation is a must for European ants.

Good luck.