How long do I keep the queen in the test tube until I can transfer her into her formicarium?
Ant keepers usually wait until she has several worker ants before transferring her into a formicarium. This ensures that she has a starting team of worker ants to help ease the process of moving the young and queen as well as the settling in process. We recommend waiting until she has at least 10-20 workers. Some prefer to wait until the test tube is completely full of ants before introducing them to a formicarium.
During this period where the new queen raises her first set of young, do I need to feed her?
Many say it’s not necessary to, as she has energy stored in her back muscles which powered her wings during the nuptial flight. However, you can choose to feed her a drop of sugar water every few weeks to fatten her up. Use a toothpick to create a small enough drop of honey she won’t be able to drown in. Some even choose to feed their queens crushed insects, however there is a chance the queen will get stressed when the food is introduced to her which can be counterproductive. A stressed queen may hold off from egg-laying or eat her existing brood. If you do provide your queen solid food, be sure to remove the leftovers asap, as it can cause a mold outbreak and even poison the queen/colony from the fumes emitted during decay. The only exception to all of this just mentioned is when you have a queen of a species that is semi-claustral, meaning the queen needs to feed during the founding stage. If you’re unsure whether your ant species is a semi-claustral species, contact us and send us a photo.
Whether you have a queen of a fully-claustral or a semi-claustral species, what we also recommend is when a few workers start to appear, place the entire test tube into a larger container and the test tube can act as a temporary ant nest while your colony gets to 10-20 workers strong. You can place food in the container and the workers will venture out of their test tube to forage for food to eat. At this stage there is no need to provide them additional water because they can get water from their test tube.
AC Test Tube Portal
If you’re using one of our AC-standard Test Tubes™ to house your new ant colony, feeding can be made easier by using our Test tube Portal™ found in our AC Gear Packs™ at our shop. You can provide your new ants with a miniature feeding area. Another thing you can do is attach a second AC-standard Test Tube™ full of sugar water to feed the workers. One AC Test tube Portal™ can accommodate up to 4 AC-standard Test Tubes™.
How do I move the colony to a new test tube if their test tube setup gets moldy?
You will need to do this by connecting two test tubes together. If you’re using one of our AC-standard Test Tubes™ to house your new ant colony, transferring can be made easier by using our Test tube Portal™ found in our AC Gear Packs™ at our shop. You simply connect the moldy test tube to the AC Test tube Portal™ then attach one or more clean test tube setups. The workers will eventually find the new clean test tubes and move on their own. We recommend that you allow the ants to transfer the brood and queen themselves, instead of using heat to force them out. As a general rule, most ant colonies will know when the mold will reach dangerous levels and will initiate the move to a clean test tube when it is the right time. One AC Test tube Portal™ can accommodate up to 4 AC-standard Test Tubes™.
If you don’t have an AC Test tube Portal™ you can try to simply tape a clean test tube setup to your current moldy one and allow the colony to move on their own. Only in extreme cases when it is absolutely necessary to move the queen and ant colony in their moldy test tube setup, should you consider using heat to force a move. Also, don’t forget to allow air to enter the test tube every now and then if you are taping test tubes together. Remember that some ant colonies are stubborn and will remain in their test tube setup as long as they can. Patience is important at this stage.
A little mold on the cotton of your test tube setup should not alarm you so much. When the mold grows to the point that you can no longer see white on the surface of the cotton in your test tube setup, that is when you know it is time to introduce the colony to a clean test tube setup.
How do I move the colony from their test tube into their new formicarium?
This process can happen immediately but it usually requires a few days, to weeks, to months. There are a few ways to do this. If you are using our AC-standard Test Tubes™ and are moving the colony into one of our Hybrid Nests™, you can simply attach the test tube with your ant colony directly to the formicarium. AC-standrard Test Tubes™ come with all of our Hybrid Nests™ and AC Gear Packs™ at our shop.
If not, another way to move ants from their test tube to the formicarium is to place the test tube directly into the outworld and lay the test tube opening close to the opening of the tube that leads to the formicarium. Shining a bright light into test tube from outside the formicarium and covering the nest area so that it is dark can help encourage the ants to move. If the species is a moisture-loving species you can attempt to moisten the nest area. Heating the test tube with a reptile heating cable also can encourage a move, but this can be a little dangerous for the ants if the test tube gets too hot too fast. Only a little amount of heat gradually applied is all that is needed to get them to move. The moving process from test tube to formicarium often requires patience, but in time the ants move out. When they make the move into the formicarium, there will be no more ants or young in the test tube at which point you can remove the test tube and begin rewarding your colony with some food!
How long does it take to farm a big ant colony from a single queen ant?
It depends on the species of ant and factors like warmth and temperature. Ant colonies that are fed well and are kept a few degrees above room temperature develop faster. A quality home is also crucial for the growth rate of a colony. The queen ant’s first worker ants, known as ‘nanitics’, usually arrive a few weeks after a queen is captured and stored, and it takes several months to a year for the colony to have a good number of worker ants. Some ants like those belonging to Camponotus take two months to get from from egg to worker.
Now that you know how to start your ant colony, feel free to read our helpful Ant Care section.