My queen is dead. And it's so many times it happened to me already. In this stage, a few workers and eggs. I check after a week or two and dead. I really feel like I should just give up, however I just really woul like it to work as well. I'm really sad. Can anyone help me? What's going on?

First timer here.

I know the photos aren’t very good, but as far as I can tell it looks like my pheidole bicarinata queen has workers pupating. one appears to be darkening. I just learned that these pupate with no cocoon.

Do you agree on what stage they are in?

My Tetramorium colony has got its first workers. Now I know theres alot of things that can make colonys die like stress. So I have two questions.

When do you think Iam in the safe zone and dont have to worry about them randomly dieing unless I make a major mistake?

What mistake or what caused your colony to die?

For anyone intrested they are around 5 weeks. Ive been using a heating cable with a thermostat set to 80°F. I did about 1 quick check a week using red-light sometimes. The moment she got her first worker I gave her some sunburst on a qtip she instantly went for it. Checked back to clean it out and she has 5 workers now with at least 2 more on the way.

I love keeping Pogos, here in the Oregon high desert, our main population is Pogonomyrmex Salinus, a close cousin of Occidentalis.

I confess that, after I had captured a dealate queen earlier last month, I stole pupae from a wild colony on my property while they were moving to a new nest so I could give them to her and her newly born nanitics, I regret nothing and she has taken the brood into her chambers.

But one might wonder what went through her pinhead brain realizing the children weren't hers, perhaps she is just as guilty as I for accepting these younglings.

Hello, my son and I found what we believe is a queen ant, just looking for confirmation of species (were from Winnipeg MB). And also how do we know if it’s claustral. Thanks in advance!!

Camponotus penn colony with a few initial workers got its training outworld around 12 hours ago! And immediately the first task was to nope out of there and leave only a worker sized hole

Can't say this wasn't expected, just funny how immediately they shrunk up that entrance

Is this a fire ant or carpenter ant?

I am trying to decide which of these 3 esthetic ants nests is the best for my colony. The first one seems good from photos, but in the description, it says that it can house up to 250 lasius workers. Now that wouldn't be a problem, but they currently have about 200 brood, so if that is right, they might outgrow it before it even arrives.

The second is the medium version of the same nest. The problem is that in its description, it says it can house up to 2000 lasius workers, and I am worried that it would be too large. The third is the small ytong nest, which, to me, seems a little more spatious, even though in its description it says the same thing, 250 max. Which should I pick?

Hey r/antkeeping community! 👋

I’m super excited to share my latest DIY 3D-printed modular nest, which I just built for my Camponotus fedtschenkoi colony.

I focused heavily on making maintenance easy and observation simple with these key features:

• 🗑️ Detachable garbage area: Instead of struggling to clean up debris inside the main chamber, I designed a removable drawer. I can slide it out, clean the waste without disturbing the ants, and slide it back in. It's a total game-changer!
• 💧 Glass tube watering area: Two glass water tubes integrated into the side, providing them with a constant, long-term water source that's super easy to refill.
• 🌑 Shade board : A removable black cover for the main nesting chamber, giving them a dark, cozy space when they want to hide, and allowing me to observe them easily when I lift it.
• Top ventilation and a sandy substrate for them to explore and adjust the microclimate.
  
• If you have any experience with this species or similar modular designs, I'd really appreciate your insights! I'm looking forward to connecting with other ant keepers here. 🐜

I caught this queen 2 weeks ago in Vancouver BC Canada. She has not layed any eggs yet. However I remain hopeful. I think she is a Lasius personaly, however what do you guys think? I have included a 0.5mm pencil in one of the photos for scale. I tried to get a top down and a side view of her.

Small inbreeding crematogaster with intercastes...

The springtails have gotten a bit out of hand, but at least there’s always something to hunt for the lasius niger ants.

low quality rdm video*

Hey guys I am looking to get into ant keeping with lasius niger for the first time, any tips

I’m located in Virginia in the US. It’s been raining a bit the past few days and I found this crawling across some mulch. It was pretty big for an ant so I stuck it in a tube. Do I got a Queen?

Idk what they are but they are NUMEROUS. They swarm all over your feet if you stand close and they got on my hands and phone when I took this video. They were in my house last year.-

I’ve seen a lot of advice for transitioning your ants into daipause, but none for people that don’t have ac, a steady way to decrease temperature… as such I just wanted to know, especially from people in the UK, how you manage your colonies during this time?

be in very good condition

I need a solepsis imparis (Winter ant/false honeypot ants) Queen ants ASAP!!. I am interested in buying multiple queens of this species, if you have any that you are willing to sell please contact me. I am also looking for pavement Queen ants (multiple), although is fine if you only have one. If you have any of these species queens and live close to VA I would really appreciate you reaching to me.

Ive disconnected the digging nest and added sugar water + honey to the outworld and a blanched cricket, lets see how they grow!

Hi, I've just got my first Messor Barbarus queen with a dozen or so workers.

They're all in the test tube which I have wrapped in dark cloth and put out of the way so they are dark, undisturbed and the room is always in the 20's (C).

Am I right that now I do nothing for a week or so, then I can attach them to the nest and outworld? The tube has liquid at the end, stopped with cotton wool, and obviously the plug isn't airtight, I'll keep an eye and make sure the liquid doesn't somehow run out, but are they good while they settle?

Or am I meant to do things sooner?

Thanks all.

So i currently have a couple of myrmica rubras in the founding stage and i was wondering how the polygyny works since i heard myrmica sometimes do it

Hi, my ant queen moved into the test tube just a week ago. I was wondering whether she’s getting enough water. The cotton looks a bit dry, or is it fine?

Still, happy to have her.

Good day! Captured this ant in our backyard. It’s about 15mm long. Could anyone help us identify it and let us know how to best take care of it? Thank you!

Hi friends! I'm hoping to build my first colony, and am wondering if you could point me to a beginner's guide for how to do this. Thanks so much!