Tom's Lasius Niger A Colony

[Thomas]

Hey guys!

Welcome to my Lasius Niger A colony! 

They are a colony of around 20-25 workers that are kept in one of those Alpha Ants Starter Set A thingys! 

Today, I set the farm up and placed the tube inside, immediately foragers were sent out to explore, and after fetching a drink, I have seen that some of the workers have queezed out the fine mesh and are running around my bedside cabinet which is concerning for me. How can I keep them in?! 

One worker has been spotted in the farm area, and I hope they start digging and get moved soon! 

Feel free to reply direct onto my journal! 

[Thomas]

I estimate that around 4-5 workers are out of the set-up, and one or two may have hurt themselves as I tried to put them back in. I have fed them some ant jelly from antstore, and I hope that they are only foraging so far out to find food, and that this will settle their stomach!

[Thomas]

Okay, the Orange Protein jelly is a hit! 4 or 5 Ants are eating from it now, and only 2 ants are sort of patrolling the lid, I haven't seen any long range scouts for a while, so I assume they did an initial scope and have now settled into a smaller area?

[Antkeeper]

Great to see other members Lasius niger journals. Keep the updates coming!

[Deleted]

Aug 28, 2015 18:39:43 GMT Antkeeper said:

Great to see other members Lasius niger journals. Keep the updates coming!

Totally agree. Lasius niger are such brilliant ants!

[Thomas]

I agree! Placed a plastic bag over the grate and weighted it down, not seen any ants roaming for a good 6hrs so I think I grabbed everyone! Hopefully they find the nesting box soon!

[Thomas]

Swapped my temporary plastic bag weighted down with some paper and used some surgical tape to secure it down, the foragers seem to know they can't escape and have remained off the lid.

Still loving the Ant Jelly and I got a good look at the 8 or so Larvae and a ball of eggs today when the queen did a shuffle around the tube. No sign of any foraging tank digging.

[Thomas]

This colony still shows no interest of leaving the tube, and only forages in pairs or 3's. Any way I can help show them the promised land?

[Antkeeper]

Aug 31, 2015 12:45:41 GMT Thomas said:

This colony still shows no interest of leaving the tube, and only forages in pairs or 3's. Any way I can help show them the promised land?

Hi Thomas, they will move out when they are ready. My Lasius niger colony took a few weeks to move out to their nesting area. They do feel safe in their test tube! 

[Thomas]

This colony hardly forages, and still have not been seen anywhere near the nesting box. They always have fresh food avaliable, so they are either eating at night or are just full!

[Thomas]

This colony forages in very small numbers, and has not yet found the nesting box still! They enjoy the white protein jelly! I think I need to move them somewhere like my windowsill so they get proper sun and feel like they are outside and want to move.

[Thomas]

This colony just simply refuses to move! I ideally need them out before they hibernate!

[Deleted]

Sept 18, 2015 21:14:27 GMT Thomas said:

This colony just simply refuses to move! I ideally need them out before they hibernate!

Lasius niger do as they please

[Thomas]

Still see very minimal activity and they won't move. Probably will have to hibernate them inside the tube.