Hello everyone! I am new to this forum(not to ant keeping), and I would like to share about my formica colony. I caught my queen in august but she never layed eggs until late september. I was going to set her free but when I went to do it she had an egg! So I kept her. The next month she raised 2 nanitics, and now she has survived hibernation and she layed 2 more eggs. I have been feeding the mealworms and cricket legs. But as seeing a lot of other ant jounrals( not all) the queens end up dying at the end, and the the keepers find a new queen next nuptial flight. I'm not saying that going to happen to my colony tho... I will include pics as soon as a can.

Hello everyone! I am new to this forum(not to ant keeping), and I would like to share about my formica colony. I caught my queen in august but she never layed eggs until late september. I was going to set her free but when I went to do it she had an egg! So I kept her. The next month she raised 2 nanitics, and now she has survived hibernation and she layed 2 more eggs. I have been feeding the mealworms and cricket legs. But as seeing a lot of other ant jounrals( not all) the queens end up dying at the end, and the the keepers find a new queen next nuptial flight. I'm not saying that going to happen to my colony tho... I will include pics as soon as a can.

formica are an easier species to keep AS LONG AS YOU FEED THEM OFTEN!!! that is the key. so i would get them a small outworld, and feed them like every other day.

Yes, a lot of people's queens die. This is can be for many reasons, but a big one is that common sense is not that common. Do your research and follow best practices for ant-keeping, and you'll do great.

Thanks for the advice. I have an outworld but my colony is only a colony of 2 so I wasn't sure if they were big enough for an outworld yet. And yes mine do eat a lot.

Edit: 2 workers and a queen and 1 egg.

I will post pictures soon.

Prior to this morning nothing new has happened, but when I checked on them today, they an picked up the tube, I noticed that they were rather more clumsy then my other ants. And shy.

And one question, how long does it take for a formica egg to turn into a worker?

Thanks for the advice. I have an outworld but my colony is only a colony of 2 so I wasn't sure if they were big enough for an outworld yet. And yes mine do eat a lot.
Edit: 2 workers and a queen and 1 egg.
I will post pictures soon.

Edited by MinigunL5, March 8 2021 - 10:06 PM.

Ok thanks. I want my colony to grow up big but I know that will take a while. Pheidole eggs turn into workers a lot quicker.

Five to six weeks, but it can even be faster.

I will post pictures today.

 Here are the pics of my colony.

There are eggs also, but you just can't see them in the pic.

Nice! The queen looks healthy and fat.

yup she is. I fed them a mealworm and some honey yesterday.

I am going to be catching a lot more queens this year so I will soon be starting more journals!

I am going to be catching a lot more queens this year so I will soon be starting more journals!

Good luck! I'm going to try to limit myself on how many I catch this year since half of them don't survive and I end up releasing some of the ones that do.

Well when I don't catch enough queens all of mine end up dying.

 

I am going to be catching a lot more queens this year so I will soon be starting more journals!

Good luck! I'm going to try to limit myself on how many I catch this year since half of them don't survive and I end up releasing some of the ones that do.

 

This journal is doing a lot better then my other one with the pictures.

This journal is doing a lot better then my other one with the pictures.

Well they are a much larger species. Even so, that picture is way better than the other ones.

Yes. If my other test tube had no dirt in the tube it would be easier. But they are so attched and settled into their home I didn't want to disturb them at risk hurting the queen or losing the brood.

Hi, Everyone - I’m so happy to see this particular topic. I expect to receive a Formica subsericea colony from Tar Heel Ants soon. I’m new to ant keeping as an adult, but had colonies when I was a child.

It seems a lot of people are now that he is selling them.