7 replies to this topic

[Jimmydave937911]

Hi all. I have a mixture of 7 Lasius Niger/Flavus queens all caught in the last month. The first queen I caught (Niger) laid eggs probably about 2 weeks ago but I really don’t think I’ve seen much, of any of change to them? Should they not have turned into Larvae by now?

[NickAnter]

You should see some in a couple days. Are they being heated?

[Jimmydave937911]

The are in a drawer which stays about 20 degrees. Is this ok? I do have a 5w heat pad if needed?

[NickAnter]

Maybe put the dry end of the tube on the mat. I think that would be highly beneficial.

[BugFinder]

Please let us know how that goes.

[CheetoLord02]

Lasius brood develops painfully slow. Somehow, even being tiny ants, their egg to worker is like, 10 weeks. Eggs can take up to 3 weeks to hatch into larvae, and even then the 1st instar larvae are extremely difficult to tell apart from the eggs, so you may not even notice the larvae until they've been around for like a week.

[Jimmydave937911]

Thanks guys. I fed them some honey a few days ago which they went mad for and the heat pad is on a steady 24 all day, I only unplug it at night (to simulate day/night temperatures).
I took one pretty bad photo of the queen who laid eggs first, ill try and get a better one when I remove the foil for the honey.
The stuff inside the test tube is dirt, it was my first ever queen I found and thought it would be a good idea 🙄

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[Serafine]

Lasius niger has a bit of a slow start but they will grow quite fast once they passed the first 100 workers. Mine made it to 300 (and a ton of brood) in about six months. They can easily grow beyond 1k workers within a year.