Lasius neoniger Guide

 

How To Keep Your New Ant Colony: Labor Day Ants (Lasius neoniger)

 

So you’ve just received your Labor Day Ant queen in her test tube setup, and you’re wondering where to go from here. In this guide, we’ll lay out exactly what you should do to ensure your colony continues growing!

 

(If your queen perished during shipping, reach out to us at info@statesideants.com for a replacement!)​
 

1. Leave her in the test tube!

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First, don’t remove the queen from the tube! Her test tube setup is the perfect setup for establishing her colony, and prematurely introducing her to any other setup will likely result in her death. Instead, you’ll want to keep her in this setup until sometime after she has her first workers (at least). The test tube setup has a water reservoir just behind the sponge or cotton blocker, which creates humidity in the living area. This does not feed the ants, but provides them with moisture, which ants cannot live without. 

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   2. Keep her warm, not hot

 

The queen needs to be kept warm, but not hot! Stay as close as you can to about 79 degrees Fahrenheit. A few degrees colder, and the queen’s eggs might not develop, but a few degrees warmer, and this could harm the queen and her eggs. This can be accomplished with a reptile heating cable, heating mat, or even a makeshift ‘incubator’. Use these heating elements and (depending on whether the temperature is adjustable or not), put the mouth of the test tube in contact with the heating element at just the right spot to make a goldilocks zone. The front of the tube should be warm, and the back of the tube (near the water reservoir) should be cool. Just make sure to monitor her closely!

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   3. Keep her in a dark, still place

 

Too much stress can cause your queen to eat her eggs and fail to found a colony! Keep her in a dark place with little vibration to ensure she doesn’t get stressed out. Only check on her occasionally, as checking on her more than once or twice a day can undoubtedly cause her to feel insecure and eat her eggs.

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   4. Do not feed her during founding

 

During the founding process, the queen has enough energy stored from her parent colony and from breaking down her (now useless) wing muscles after her nuptial flight to raise a group of first workers (called nanitics). Before these nanitics arrive, she does not need ANY food, and shouldn’t be fed as this can stress her out, causing her to eat or abandon her brood. Only feed the queen after nanitics have hatched from the pupae and can move around.

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The Founding Stage

 

Now that that info is out of the way, we can discuss the fun part. Watching your colony grow! This section goes over the founding stage, the stage in which the queen is growing her first batch of workers. 

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1. Your queen lays eggs

 

First, your queen will lay some eggs! If all is going well, she’ll keep these eggs in a little cluster. It will take a few weeks for them to hatch, and when they do, they’ll then be at the next stage of ant development: larvae.

 

   2. Your queen achieves larvae

 

Once your queen's eggs hatch, they’ll be tiny larvae. These larvae are fed via trophallaxis (regurgitated food from the queen’s stomach, similar to birds) to grow slowly, like a caterpillar. They’ll slowly grow larger until finally they pupate. These may look like tiny little worms.

 

   3. Your queen achieves pupae

 

The larvae will begin to spin a cocoon (or, in some cases, simply pupate without one). This is the final brood stage before hatching into a full worker ant! The queen may prefer to place pupae in a warmer area, or she may not. After 2-3 weeks of having pupae, your queen will begin hatching workers. These workers will start off as a light yellow, called a ‘callow’. Over the next few days, their exoskeleton will harden and they’ll become darker (until finally they’re a dark brownish). Once this happens, the workers will be much more active, and the ants will be hungry!

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Young Colony Stage

 

1. Your first feeding

 

Now that your queen has hatched her first worker(s), she’s going to be pretty hungry! Now is the time for their first feeding. Your ants need two food groups: protein and sugar. Protein is what keeps the colony growing by providing the queen with nutrients to lay eggs and to feed the larvae, which grow into more workers. The other food group is sugar (or carbohydrates). This species consumes carbohydrates in the form of liquid sugar (honeywater, sugarwater, or a pre-made nectar such as ByFormica Sunburst Ant Nectar). The best first meal for a colony is a tiny drop (or multiple tiny drops) of sugar and insect protein, such as a fruit fly, a cricket/roach leg, or a piece of a mealworm. 

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   2. Getting the food into their tube

 

Because it’s best to grow your colony in their test tube for the first few months, you’ll need to learn to feed the ants in the tube. You’ll want to keep it as tidy as possible for as long as possible. It’s recommended to prepare a little piece of tinfoil or parchment paper with the ant food on it. For their first meal, put multiple tiny drops (no bigger than the workers in size) of sugar and any piece of protein of your choice. Fruit flies and roaches are favorites. Once it’s all prepared, remove the cotton blocker and insert the food into the tube, closing it up with the cotton behind the food ‘plate’. The ants, if they’re hungry, should come over and start eating soon!

 

   3. Don’t move them out of the tube!

 

Don’t move your young colony out of the tube! Young ant colonies are very timid and prefer to stay where they began for as long as possible. Feed them in the tube for as long as it is viable. Once it gets difficult to feed them in the tube, you can give them a small Outworld, but until then, keep them safe in their beginning home! 

 

   4. After all that…

 

At this point, you’re getting well acquainted with the ants. Around this time, it’s best to check out our general guide! It includes information like feeding practices, moving the ants, diapause, etc!

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