Plemon's Lasius Flavus

[Plemon]

I got this queen last year and she laid eggs but ate them but earlier this year she laid some more eggs and now has one newly hatched worker ;D

[TenebrousNova]

Hello Plemon, and welcome.
Hope your colony does alright.

[Plemon]

Thanks
The queen has 3 workers now ;D

[Plemon]

This colony has 6 workers but they still haven't eaten, am I doing something wrong?

[Wood~Ant]

Jun 17, 2012 12:17:29 GMT Plemon said:

This colony has 6 workers but they still haven't eaten, am I doing something wrong?

I have always found this species the hardest of any to get to feed or forage. So much so that I have released all of my flavus colonies back into the wild, as even those that started off well eventually began to decline.

I'm not trying to put you off keeping ants, but I really think ant sellers should stop selling Lasius flavus, as they are just so difficult to keep in captivity.

[TenebrousNova]

At this very moment in time, my own colony with three queens is munching on a cricket that I placed near the nest entrance earlier. They could smell the honey, which they were mostly after, but went for the cricket as well. Prior to feeding them there were six foragers.
So there must be a way of getting them to eat.

Try feeding them at night? When my queens got their first two workers, I put some honey in to start them off. The queens quite eagerly fed and the workers eventually started to do it as well. I didn't give them their first cricket until there were about fifteen workers when the colony was three months old.

Here's my journal if you fancy reading through, it might help?

[Plemon]

You have a very interesting journal Timenova ;D
There is now 8 workers. The set up is is darkness all of the time, spare for when I look at them, but I'm not there all the time so I suppose they could be eating when I am away/asleep.
I put in an aphid (live) that has just disappeared and a fresh cricket head.

[TenebrousNova]

Archived due to inactivity.