Hello Formiculture!
After a long ant hiatus, I recently decided to start keeping them again. This friday, I received a new queen of the species Manica rubida. It's a species I've wanted to keep ever since I got into ant-keeping, so receiving the queen was obviously very exciting. I got her along with a small amount of brood.
However, I've never kept a semi-claustral queen before. Therefore, this colony is mostly a test to find out how this is done.
I've currently put down the test-tube in a small temporary outworld. I've built a better one plus made a nest, but the grout is still curing.
Since friday, I've fed her a couple of times. I gave her some honey diluted in water the day I got her, which she promptly drank. Since then, I've tried finding a source of protein that she will accept, as she has a couple of larvae that no doubt needs feeding. I've tried with a small moth, a crane fly and even peanut butter. She almost ignores it completely. Is it just a question about her needing to settle down?
There's also another thing that I have been wondering. I remember keeping Lasius niger queens a couple of years ago. They all laid eggs a couple of days after catching them, as far as I remember. I've given this queen lots of alone time, but I don't see any eggs as of yet. Is it perhaps too late in the season? Or does she just need more time?
Underneath is a picture of her current setup:
