Well, I noticed that this colony was out of water, so I drilled a hole in the water portion of their old test tube in order to refill it. However, the tube immediately flooded. I acted quickly, using the water to get them out of the tube. I tipped the tube slightly, and the larvae and at least one nanitic actually went surfing. Surfing ants anyone? As soon as they were out, I used cotton to absorb the water nearest to the clump of larvae. The queen took a while to find her nanitics and brood, but she found them. I managed to preserve all of the larvae, both of the nanitics, and the queen! I noticed that none of them looked injured, which was good.
After the craziness had ended, I moved them into their new home. The queen did most of the work moving the babies into the nest. At first she moved the larvae individually, but she soon picked up the entire pile of larvae, and brought them into the new home. One of the nanitics had a larva and seemed to not want to enter the nest. Eventually, she did, and that concluded the move.
