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[FelixTheAnter]

Hey all! After being forced to take a break from ant-keeping (multiple international moves) things have finally settled down. I had to dig up a bunch of dirt and loose gravel in my yard a couple days ago, and ended up uncovering an ant colony. I didn't want to kill them, so I grabbed a jar and collected them.

I believe they're either Tapinoma erraticum or subboreale, but was told you can't differentiate without seeing drones. (Location is northeastern Switzerland)

Right now they have a tiny jar on its side with a damp cotton ball in the bottom, but I have test tubes in the mail that will be here on Friday.

I'm not finding a lot of information on caring for these guys. There appears to be at least 10 queens, but I'll be able to see better once they're in a test tube setup.

I'm assuming sugar water + insects like most ant species. I've seen some similar looking ants in my yard collecting seeds, do these guys also eat seeds?

Also, how do these colonies end up with so many queens?! Do they mate in the nest? If not, do they allow in newly mated queens from other colonies? I'm so curious, because 10+ is a crazy number of queens in a single colony.

I'm very excited to see these guys thrive and turn into a supercolony, it looks like they currently have between 100 - 200w.

Any general advice on keeping these girls is welcome.