My queen has arrived!!

Being the wrong time of year to catch a queen and really start from scratch I decided to order myself a Lasius niger queen with a few workers to get us going. My sons original ants were from Antkit, and we have been really pleased with them so I ordered from there again.

I chose a queen with 6-10 workers. Placed my order on Wednesday morning and the lovely post man brought them this morning (next day delivery). They arrived in a little box, well packed so that nothing would be damaged and all the ants would be safe.

The test tube has been filled about 1/3 with water and plugged with cotton wool. Then there's the Queen and her workers, along with a few eggs and larvae (sorry, I can't get a good picture of these because they are right by the cotton wool). And the end of the test tube is plugged with more cotton wool to stop the mini beasts from escaping.

So I am now the proud mummy of 1 Lasius niger queen and 8 workers so far! Exciting!

I am still waiting for the rest of the equipment to arrive from Antkit (I chose economy delivery so it's not expected for a few days yet), but they should be more than happy living in just the test tube for a little while yet. You can buy the ants like this with up to 20 workers so I'm in no rush to get them moved right now. Besides, I have plans for their new home!! (More on that later)

The ants like to be in the dark, so they aren't very happy when I open up the box. I have read that ants cannot see red so the plan is to get hold of some red acetate to wrap around the test tube. That way they will be happy in the 'dark' and I'll be happy I can watch them without worrying about stressing them. I'll show you how it looks when I get it probably tomorrow.