ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Someguy]

Right, the other day i caught my first lasius niger queen. Very pleased, named it blackberry.

Firstly it started living in a jam jar with some cotton wool, and now i've moved it into a test tube.

It's started to settle in, it cleans itself regularly etc.

however i'm worried about a few things:

1: it doesn't eat, i gave it a nice battered spider (like 3mm long) that should of been plenty of food for a little snack, yet it's not touched it.
However it IS drinking.
2: when will it lay eggs? It has lost its wings which apparently is a tale tale sign its been fertilized
3: should i give it some sugar?
4: shall i keep it continuously dark?
5: when do i move it? when there's a few workers? i think i'm having a fairly small tank

help will be appreciated

[jeoff82]

Give it a small amount of honey and move it somewhere dark. Try not to disturb her, maybe check her once a week. Don't try move her out of the test tube. Give her a few days and she should lay some eggs. Bear in mind the eggs will be tiny and you might not be able to see them, especially if she has them on the cotton wool.

[SteveUK28]

You can just leave her be in the dark mate.. she does no need feeding or anything else.. out in nature she would bury herself in a hole and would not eat untill the new workers go out and actually get her food... so trust she is fine without.. in fact you pushing things in front of her will be stressing her out and can do her more damage... So.. leave her be.. when you then have a few workers.. put the test tube into a icecreamtub... add some food and some honey... then when you have like a good 100+ workers.. put them in your desired setup

BTW

[Someguy]

does it have to be 100+ ? i'm not too sure what to have as a set up yet, so i've got time to choose yes?

i'm slightly worried because i'm going away for a week or so but my parents will be here, and then i go away again with my parents for 2 weeks.
Would it be a case of just someone slipping a bit more food in and they'll be fine?

do i keep it dark when i get workers?