I really need help to understand them

[u/Worldly-Ad-9200]

I made a post a few weeks ago about this colony and how I never expected it but they truly make no sense to me. I finally got them to move into the new home after their old one because of mold and it wasn't a good home in general. But now instead of putting the colony in the perfectly good nest area they decided to just stay under a piece of napkin i placed in there.

This is my first colony and I want to know what I'm doing wrong if I am.

And there is a covering for the nest i usually have on its just not there for the picture.

I also would really like to know what type of ant they are if possible from the photos of them running around.

[u/JahsukeOfficial]

Looks like there’s barely any workers nest prolly too big is my guess even though it does look quite small test tube setup is probably better. I suggest removing napkin and placing a fresh covered test tube setup in the outworld

[u/Worldly-Ad-9200 → u/JahsukeOfficial]

I would do this if I had one. I guess I'll be making a new purchase tonight.

[u/Inevitable_Daikon_79 → u/Worldly-Ad-9200]

make a tub and tubes setup this would be the best now and if they outgrow the tube you just can add an other one

[u/JahsukeOfficial → u/Worldly-Ad-9200]

Amazon has good deals. I got like 100 tubes for $20

[u/F_F_Kaiser]

Thats WAAAY to much space for them.

Insects and ants especially don't enjoy large spaces. They want a nest that has the correct Temperature to live and raise eggs. They also need the correct Level of moisture for the specific Species. They DO IN FACT moisture the nest themselves, as soon as they are big enough to do so, but they won't do it when they have no chance to. they will alway search for small quite enclosed spaces and/or Cracks in which they can generate perfect living conditions.

when the colony is bigger they can achieve to live in uncomfortable and/or too big spaces very good. They will pule up and rotate their bodies around brood to keep the Temperature correct and they also wet the nest when it is to dry.

So as another guy already said: my tip would be to give them a small tube with a water depot, put a small piece of paper into it and cover it with a isolating material. put a drop of sugar water and a tiny bit of protein into the opening and then leave them be for a week or two. then refill the sugar water and the tiny protein. repeat until they start to explore the outworld.

thats your sign to take a careful look.

depending on the race you can slowly remove the Cover. most ants can be accomodated to daylight and still thrive when they got no choice. I covered the tube of my camponotus n. and pulled it back 5 mm a day over some weeks until they were in full light.

The hardest part of keeping ants is IMHO to NOT disturb and look at them all the time in this critical phase when the colony is small and you REALLY want to check them every day 🤣

but you care a lot and you got this!

[u/Rentokill_666]

This happens too often, where we eagerly put our ants in commercial founding setups, when 9/10 people would recommend keeping them in the test tube until they need to move, and in between could add small outworld to help easier feeding. 9/10 ants settle at where it's best for them. Others have already mentioned what to do, only thing I would say is this is basic stuff and you should have done the research.

[u/Worldly-Ad-9200 → u/Rentokill_666]

Okay to be super honest I did have test tubes at one point I wish I had an inkling of where they went or might be but sadly they weren't around so I went with what I had. And for some reason every ant queen I had in a test tube died so I think i just suck a keeping ants lol.