Hello everyone!
Lasius niger
The queen made more than 10 cocoons. But there are still no workers.
The development time from eggs to worker is near 30 days, so the first worker would be in the beginning of September.
I tried to give her a small mealybug larva, but she ignored it. This queen drinks sugar syrup. Only.
Also I have a problem that there is not enough water in her test tube now!
I poured 10 ml when I made the nest, but it’s too hot now and water is running out too fast. To sort out this problem I bought a special gypsum nest with the possibility of moisturizing. Tomorrow it will arrive, and I will test this nest.
Camponotus cruentatus
Few days ago I bought the queen of Camponotus cruentatus with 4 cocoons, one larva and a pack of eggs. She is really large!
It’s a type of ants who live in the south part of Spain and like high temperature 21-28 °C. Now the temperature in the room is 27-28, so it’s comfortable for the queen, but soon I need to buy a heating mat, because the temperature in the beginning of the autumn will be lower than Camponotus cruentatus prefer.
Also I read interesting information from the people who have Camponotus cruentatus: after hibernation at 9-11°C they develop better than after hibernation at 15-18°C (as the most of resources are recommended)
. Some of the resources said the Camponotus cruentatus don’t need hibernation, but it’s not correct.