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[abz uk ants]

Hi guys I need help with my ants I have:
Myrmica rugnison
Myrmica ruba
formica lemani
Compontus cruentatus
lasius flavus

I need help with them as they are taking there time growing. So I bought meal worms 2 days ago. Then sliced some up but the ants only drink the liquid inside from them. Do they still get there protien?
My other quenstion is about my compontus, I got them with 5 workers now i am down to 3 workers 1 egg and 1 larve. This larve is there first larve they have had since i have had them witch is like 3 months. How do I get them to lay more eggs and get there eggs to hatch and get the larve to grow fast.

Thankyou for everything

Abdul aka Abz uk ants

[AntNoob]

About the myrmicas, if you look at the larvae and see a dark dot in the middle of them( there stomach) they should be fed, so that means they get the protein from the meal worms.

and Compontus take a bit long time to grow, that is what i have heard.

good luck tho

[bugsy]

Without heat your Camponotus will take months to develop from egg to ant. I have Camponotus ligniperda which are slow growing anyway, with additional heat and the correct conditions i can achieve egg to ant in 6 weeks. Give them a blue bottle or something similar, it will last ages as the colony is so small. If the queen knows protein is available she should start laying. Just leave them alone in the dark for a while and everything should be fine.

[abz uk ants]

They are in a testube in a sock ontop of my heat matt. should i put them into a nest or leave them in the testube for a couple of weeks and am i allowed to look at her or just put half a meal worm in there and leav them for 2 weeks and feed them again every fortnight.

[bugsy]

I would put them in a basin with a heat mat covering a section of the tube so they can move away if it gets to hot . Place some card over the tube to keep it dark. That way they can roam if they want and you won't disturb them every time you feed. Give them an option of a nest, like a y-tong, but don't force them to move, it may take a while. From my experience 3 workers and 1 larva will never eat half a meal worm every 2 weeks. Put them somewhere quiet and just leave her until the colony grows. If she isn't laying then the conditions are probably wrong.

[abz uk ants]

For a basin would a sandwitch box do or a fish tank

[bugsy]

yeah thats fine, there are more than enough threads on here with pictures to get info and ideas from. Just have a read, chances are someone has already asked it. viewtopic.php?f=194&t=5334

[abz uk ants]

Ok they have been in there basin for a week or so I think. there only larve is getting bigger but they still dont have eggs. They are rapped in a orange is rap i thourhg it was red it is is orage is but they seem happy in it when i take the film off the collony goes crazy so i think they think it is dark. How long do you think it will take for them to lay eggs again. The colloy seem to be taking insects everyday but they dont eat all of it only the bits they want. Is there any thing else they need they are at 26c at the moment.

[abz uk ants]

Hi guys my collony have 2 eggs now