5 replies to this topic

[amerikansturm]

Species: Lasius Neoniger (likely)
Found: 7-12-25
Location: SE Montana
Type: Disturbed colony

July 12th, was working in the garden removing some weeds with a shovel when I flipped up a nest of ants. Small but not the smallest ants I’ve seen around here. Workers about 3mm. They were carrying brood and pupae around. Continued to dig up and about four inches over I flipped up a queen. Immediately grabbed my test tube and locked her up. Took no pictures at the time but tentatively identified as L. Neoniger. Quite large actually, about 8-9mm. Orangish or yellowish brown. Looked like other neoniger queens I’ve seen in the past as well. Went to work scooping up workers and brood that I could get in my small setup and got about a dozen workers.

Setup consists of a test tube connected to an AntsCanada tower. Workers went to work tunneling and hiding brood. Queen was left pretty much alone and she eventually migrated from the test tube to the surface soil of the tower. Entire setup placed in dark shed.

7-13-2025. Left undisturbed most of the day went to feed honey at night. Had an accident where the tower fell off the shelf, confirmed 7-14-2025 queen was not lost but she was buried. Left alone

7-14-2025. Went to look at and see if queen was back. She is and on top of soil in ant tower. Workers seem to be ignoring her. Will feed a tiny bit of boiled egg yolk for protein.

[amerikansturm]

Question I have for everyone is why do the workers seem to be ignoring the queen and why is she on the soil surface? Seems calm and fine. Just curious.

Bad picture for now till better ones can be taken. Hopefully adding an ants Canada hybrid nest here shortly.

Attached Images

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[ANTdrew]

They are probably in a state of shock.

[RushmoreAnts]

Question I have for everyone is why do the workers seem to be ignoring the queen and why is she on the soil surface? Seems calm and fine. Just curious.

Bad picture for now till better ones can be taken. Hopefully adding an ants Canada hybrid nest here shortly.

Welcome back!

 

That's definitely a claustral Lasius queen, although the picture is way too blurry to tell anything beyond that. Possible species include neoniger, americanus, pallitarsis, and crypticus, just to name a few.

 

First off, I would discourage you from collecting wild, established colonies; as ANTdrew just stated, forcibly kidnapping them and shoving them into an alien environment is quite traumatic for an established colony. I've done the same thing, and have zero of those colonies with me today, as they all eventually died. Your colony is still small enough that they may have a chance, though, however I still don't condone it.

 

Secondly, I would advise you distance yourself from AntsCanada's products. They are constructed of cheap plastic and are not good for ants. The Ant Tower is the least bad of his nests, its saving grace being the literal soil, not any other component of the nest. Hybrid nests are awful for colonies under ~5,000 workers; they have WAY too much space, like giving a toddler a mansion to live in. They would get lost or fall down the elaborate staircases to their death. Enormous nests like the Hybrid Nest create tons of draft and air movement, forcing the ants to practically live outside.

 

Colonies of 200 workers or less should live in a test tube setup. It is the best nest by far, and is far more accommodating space wise, being more comparable to a toddler living in a single-family house. Ants love being confined to small spaces, and big nesting spaces negatively impact their livelihood. Dirt nests are fine in that respect, as they can decide for themselves how much space they need. If you observe their tunnels, you will conclude that they don't want much space at this point in time. The problem with dirt nests is their tendency to mold. You need to make sure to water them consistently to prevent them from drying out, but not too much so that it molds.

 

As for why the workers are 'ignoring' the queen, small colonies don't have the resources to pamper and dote on their queens like large colonies do. I seldom see any of my colonies' nanitics groom the queen, and trophallaxis only occurs specifically when they are fed. The queen will gain a cohort when the colony gets larger.

 

If you want ethically raised, healthy, locally caught South Dakota queens, check out Ants_Dakota's shop.

Edited by RushmoreAnts, Today, 10:50 AM.

[amerikansturm]

Question I have for everyone is why do the workers seem to be ignoring the queen and why is she on the soil surface? Seems calm and fine. Just curious.

Bad picture for now till better ones can be taken. Hopefully adding an ants Canada hybrid nest here shortly.

Welcome back!

That's definitely a claustral Lasius queen, although the picture is way too blurry to tell anything beyond that. Possible species include neoniger, americanus, pallitarsis, and crypticus, just to name a few.

First off, I would discourage you from collecting wild, established colonies; as ANTdrew just stated, forcibly kidnapping them and shoving them into an alien environment is quite traumatic for an established colony. I've done the same thing, and have zero of those colonies with me today, as they all eventually died. Your colony is still small enough that they may have a chance, though, however I still don't condone it.

Secondly, I would advise you distance yourself from AntsCanada's products. They are constructed of cheap plastic and are not good for ants. The Ant Tower is the least bad of his nests, its saving grace being the literal soil, not any other component of the nest. Hybrid nests are awful for colonies under ~5,000 workers; they have WAY too much space, like giving a toddler a mansion to live in. They would get lost or fall down the elaborate staircases to their death. Enormous nests like the Hybrid Nest create tons of draft and air movement, forcing the ants to practically live outside.

Colonies of 200 workers or less should live in a test tube setup. It is the best nest by far, and is far more accommodating space wise, being more comparable to a toddler living in a single-family house. Ants love being confined to small spaces, and big nesting spaces negatively impact their livelihood. Dirt nests are fine in that respect, as they can decide for themselves how much space they need. If you observe their tunnels, you will conclude that they don't want much space at this point in time. The problem with dirt nests is their tendency to mold. You need to make sure to water them consistently to prevent them from drying out, but not too much so that it molds.

As for why the workers are 'ignoring' the queen, small colonies don't have the resources to pamper and dote on their queens like large colonies do. I seldom see any of my colonies' nanitics groom the queen, and trophallaxis only occurs specifically when they are fed. The queen will gain a cohort when the colony gets larger.

If you want ethically raised, healthy, locally caught South Dakota queens, check out Ants_Dakota's shop.

Yea that all makes sense. They definitely appreciated the crumb of yolk I gave them. They found it rather quickly and started moving it around.


Yes to clarify I don’t generally go out of my way to dig up these colonies however I have a very invasive weed that I’m in the process of removing via heavy shoveling or potentially machinery and herbicides (even organic ones) coming through this nest again. I didn’t feel good about purposely destroying everything. I guess I should have just attempted to relocate them. Again the discovery of this was via shoveling this stupid bindweed up to burn.

I would also guess this was a colony founded late last summer because of its size and how much earthwork went through here already last summer.

For nests, do you have recommendations? I wasn’t aware of the stuff about AntsCanada as far as drafts etc

[Ants_Dakota]

Question I have for everyone is why do the workers seem to be ignoring the queen and why is she on the soil surface? Seems calm and fine. Just curious.

Bad picture for now till better ones can be taken. Hopefully adding an ants Canada hybrid nest here shortly.

Welcome back!

That's definitely a claustral Lasius queen, although the picture is way too blurry to tell anything beyond that. Possible species include neoniger, americanus, pallitarsis, and crypticus, just to name a few.

First off, I would discourage you from collecting wild, established colonies; as ANTdrew just stated, forcibly kidnapping them and shoving them into an alien environment is quite traumatic for an established colony. I've done the same thing, and have zero of those colonies with me today, as they all eventually died. Your colony is still small enough that they may have a chance, though, however I still don't condone it.

Secondly, I would advise you distance yourself from AntsCanada's products. They are constructed of cheap plastic and are not good for ants. The Ant Tower is the least bad of his nests, its saving grace being the literal soil, not any other component of the nest. Hybrid nests are awful for colonies under ~5,000 workers; they have WAY too much space, like giving a toddler a mansion to live in. They would get lost or fall down the elaborate staircases to their death. Enormous nests like the Hybrid Nest create tons of draft and air movement, forcing the ants to practically live outside.

Colonies of 200 workers or less should live in a test tube setup. It is the best nest by far, and is far more accommodating space wise, being more comparable to a toddler living in a single-family house. Ants love being confined to small spaces, and big nesting spaces negatively impact their livelihood. Dirt nests are fine in that respect, as they can decide for themselves how much space they need. If you observe their tunnels, you will conclude that they don't want much space at this point in time. The problem with dirt nests is their tendency to mold. You need to make sure to water them consistently to prevent them from drying out, but not too much so that it molds.

As for why the workers are 'ignoring' the queen, small colonies don't have the resources to pamper and dote on their queens like large colonies do. I seldom see any of my colonies' nanitics groom the queen, and trophallaxis only occurs specifically when they are fed. The queen will gain a cohort when the colony gets larger.

If you want ethically raised, healthy, locally caught South Dakota queens, check out Ants_Dakota's shop.

Yea that all makes sense. They definitely appreciated the crumb of yolk I gave them. They found it rather quickly and started moving it around.


Yes to clarify I don’t generally go out of my way to dig up these colonies however I have a very invasive weed that I’m in the process of removing via heavy shoveling or potentially machinery and herbicides (even organic ones) coming through this nest again. I didn’t feel good about purposely destroying everything. I guess I should have just attempted to relocate them. Again the discovery of this was via shoveling this stupid bindweed up to burn.

I would also guess this was a colony founded late last summer because of its size and how much earthwork went through here already last summer.

For nests, do you have recommendations? I wasn’t aware of the stuff about AntsCanada as far as drafts etc

Por Amor Art is my go to, although they have their own set of issues with some of the hybrid hydration formicaria. The Apartment V2 or array formicarium is great starter nest though.