I'm gonna try these again. I found a queen under a rock with no brood. She could have been foraging in one of her tunnels. I put her in a bead box with orange sand. Last time I couldn't get pictures because I used black dirt. There's a hole drilled on the roof that open up into a chamber. That's where I'll drop the food and any additional queens. (Every wild colony I've found has 2 or more queens even though they aren't supposed to be polygynous.) I also found a small red queen with her wings on. Could be Manica, Myrmica, or Stenamma. Fed both spring tails and the red alate some honey.
Edited by ponerinecat, December 31 2018 - 1:58 PM.
That proves they don't just eat spring tail sized animals. The stenamma has shed all her wings and may have laid eggs.The cardiocondyla are slowing down as well, and have a pile of large larvae. Monomorium are apparently resistant to drowning. All the larvae in the trash pile were just drying off. They rejoined the brood pile later on, and only one worker actually died.
I might use the bead box for apheanogaster.
