2 replies to this topic

[Olga]

Hiya,
My name is Olga and for a few years I am interested in ants but I have never had a colony but only a few L.niger workers due to a fright of having too many ants that I can't stop breeding.

Is it okay to keep a few workers together without a queen, or is it too cruel? I know that their lifespan will be shorter, however if I provide them all good things will it still be too bad ? I don't want the ants that I have without their queen to feel bad or anything like that.
Also , if it's bad should I release or keep the 5 workers that I have now ?

On the other hand, I am a teenage Polish girl living in Scotland for 3 years, so my English spelling, grammar and other stuff may not be perfect, so sorry for that.

Thank you a lot for reading this and maybe answering my question

[Batspiderfish]

Keeping workers is not necessarily cruel, but the health of the workers depends on the health of the colony and being five lone workers probably means that they will not do well. A colony depends on many members of varying ages to take on different responsibilities within the nest. The point in a colony's life which there are only five workers is very early on and very brief.

[Saltynuts]

Not cruel at all.  An ant (other than the queen) has a very limited lifespan, and they will live it out with or without a queen.  They will still eat, dig, etc.  Heck, this is what all those Uncle Milton thin green ant farms are sold for - just putting some workers in there, no queen.  Or at least that is what 99% of the people that have them use them for.