Hey everyone,
My anting season is underway with my colonies coming out of hibernation strong with a clutch of eggs for a bunch of them; namely being my "established" Formica argentea colony, which went into hibernation with five workers. I proceeded to heat their closet with a heating cable wrapped around the coat hanger bar, which heats the closet to 70-75 f. I put the test tube containing my Formica colony into the same set up as last year so that I could easily feed and clean up after them, which is a clear tupperware with a tight lid, Fluon, and air holes. I fed them a meal worm and some sugar water and the workers were quick to take it up.
Here comes my question/intriguing ant behavior. When I got to check on the colony (once a week to change out mealworms), the queen and usually one worker are in their tube while the other three to four workers (one died recently so actually three workers now 
) are out running around the tupperware. The strange part is, one working is carrying the small pile of brood/eggs the queen put out this year. Before I go about agitating them to much and making them scatter, the worker with the brood is typically in the corner opposite of the test tube, far away from the queen. At first I thought the worker is trying to keep the eggs away from the heat for whatever reason, but when I checked them again later that night, all of the workers, the queen, and the brood are back in their tube...
So here I am, asking what you guys think/what your experiences are. Are the workers just trying to keep the brood in the ideal area? Should I move the test tube to that far corner and see if they prefer that? I appreciate any thoughts you guys may have on this behavior as well as welcome any stories/experiences about your ants odd behavior. I attached some pics of the situation below if you want to look.
Answered
