Diamond ~ Lasius Niger

[diamond]

These ants came on the 19th July 2011, with] about 12 workers and a clump of eggs.

I am hoping I will be third time lucky with keeping ants, as the two previous years were unsuccessful.
I have put their test tube in a small glass tank with white loam sand.

There is a nest in my garden which have thousands and thousands of pupae, so I thought pinching around 10 wouldn't do any harm, they quickly managed to find all of them that I had put in their home. They have placed them in a pile near the queen.

[diamond]

ALREADY I can see an empty pupae case dumped at the end of the tube, obviously from one of the boosted brood

[diamond]

This colony are doing great so far, something strange has happened though.

I went to have a look at them to find a winged male near the brood, how has this happened? what shall I do?

[Wood~Ant]

A male ant would be from an unfertile egg laid by either the queen or a worker. Don't worry, just leave it as it will either die naturally or be killed later by the workers. They may even use it to feed larvae