Disclaimer: The reason the photos look slightly strange is due to the test tube the colony is living in.
In late July, I was over at a friend of my mom’s house when I unexpectedly found a Lasius queen ant in the inflatable pool. Upon finding the queen, I placed her into a test tube nest even though I thought she was unlikely to be fertile, given this was way earlier than when queens of this genus normally turn up. Days later, I got quite the curveball, as she had laid some eggs. A few weeks later, I saw roughly eighteen cocoons plus tons of extra brood. Less than a week ago, the queen’s first nanitic finally arrived. Today I decided to feed them for the first time. As usual, their first meal is a small amount of honey. After they discovered the honey, they began to feast happily.
