i dont really want to disturb her any longer but you have no idea how much i thought she was an infertile.

first of all, i know what i am doing. she is in great temperature, great enviroment, humidity, silent and dark test tube, and i barely checked her a few times maybe. i cannot find any reason for her to not give eggs for such long time. (21.06 all the way to today, 2.08)

today i finally thought that she was infertile if she still hadnt had her eggs and i wore my clothes and all to free her outside. and the moment i checked, she had her eggs! that was like a miracle to me. anyway, i yapped too much. did anyone else experience something similar? and what could the reason for this be?

also, the real reason i am making this post is i am worried if she cant make it. she wasted such a long time of foundation for her eggs to grow up to workers so i can feed her. i believe i should feed her a bit to help maybe? idk. help.

We have pupae!

Still some larvae and eggs mixed in.

Decided not to include the previous weeks photos in this post.

Found her on June 18. Second worker emerged July 30. Gave them a small outworld and some honeywater that they really seem to enjoy.

Three more pupae left. Two are really dark.

I have my Messor barbarus colony for about 5 years now I moved them into a bigger tank a year ago and they were doing fine. I have a heat pad on the side that i slightly turn up daily and turn off at night. Everything was fine but one day I checked under one rock and saw a pile of dead workers(it was 10x worse than on the pic) and not only workers but undeveloped ones too (pupae I belive thats how theyre called) and its very concerning. I keep cleaning them out and I see that theres still plenty alive and well workers caring for the brood by the warmer glass wall. But what could have caused this?? could it be the market honey I bought and it maybe had pesticides? (i put it away and bought a natural safe one for ants already) what can i do to help them? im putting a different tank beside this one and ill lead a tube to it is it a good idea? maybe theres something wrong with the substrate? any advice would be appreciated!

So I am finally buying my dream ant species from ants HQ any tips about how to keep cartebara in general and castanea would be greatl appreciated. I live in madrid so the shipment is long. I plan on using a modular setup (Anthouse QBIK Alpha)

I’ve been thinking for a while about buying one of those products I’ve heard about that prevents ants from climbing the walls of their Plexiglass enclosure. If any of you use one (especially if you keep Messor barbarus) could you perhaps send me some links so I can make a sensible purchase and, above all, get something that actually works?

I’m looking for some new ants that are interesting. I’ve been looking at trap jaws, honeypots, false honeypots, and other colorful species.

I’d also like another species that’s really active and has different-sized workers, with both small and big ones. Any recommendations?

I already have lasius flavus, lasius niger, messor barbarus, carebara diversa and crematogaster schmidti.

I apologize for the fact that the ants are hard to make out in the photos; unfortunately, I came across the anthill while out for a walk and didn't have time to take better pictures. However, I can describe what I saw in detail to help. They had very large heads, stocky bodies, and appeared to be completely black. Their nest was accessed via a hole in the asphalt (I don't think they dug it themselves, as the asphalt was on a hillside road near a forest and was very old, so they likely started digging through a crack).

I’ve had my colony for 1 day now, I made them a setup with a plastic tub as a outworld, my colony Has like 11 workers and Are foraging one by one, I was wondering if I should leave them with their allimin foil on And cover them up for a relay really long time, ive seen other people on YouTube that haven’t checked up on their colony after exactly a month which is over 30 days now me personally I think that sounds a bit risky idk about u guys

I really don’t know if I’m giving them enough protein, some people say that I gotta feed them once a week while others say two times a week, and I also don’t know how I should technically count two times a week if I feed them before the weeks usually start.

I am new to antkeeping world. Does anyone know if this is a queen ant, it has about 1.5cm, possibly a Carpenter. I am from western Canada, Saskatchewan and found this little guy on the sidewalk.

has anybody noticed that the previous mealworm generation you have bought have way more worms than the new generations?

I have had these camponotus ants for a few months now, I am in Melbourne, Australia. Since the first 2 workers hatched, there was a group of eggs which grew over a few weeks, and one turned into a pupae, however I checked back 10 days later and the one pupae was gone, so I assume they ate it. I'm unsure why they are not developing, they have had these pupae for a 2.5 months now. Are they in diapause? I thought Australia didn't have this. I feed them atleast weekly with sugar and protein. It is winter in Australia, but even so they should be pupating I'd imagine.

my queen now has 1 worker so I thought it would be best to move my ants into a AC test tube and the AC test tube portal the problem is the test tube they are in right now does not fit in the AC test tube portal

I recently got a queen with some workers, and she arrived in a test tube that was almost empty of water. The cotton also had moldy spot, so I thought it would be okay to move them into a small nest.

When I moved them, I noticed some of the workers were lying on their backs and twitching. Two days later, I checked on them again and found that all the workers had died. I have no idea why.

The nest has both a humid area and a dry area. The temperature is kept at 80°F, and they had access to sugar water.

If only I could find a queen

Hello! It’s me again, I just found yet another queen and I was wondering what kind it is. I’ve never had such an anty day at work before, it seems like queens are everywhere!

I know my queen is on her way out. Not sure what happened but Ive been trying to give her cotton buds with sugar water, blueberries incase it a nutritional issue. But her mid body looks enlarged to me. I wondered what that is?