Test Tube Setup
Definition
A simple founding nest made from a test tube with water at the bottom, held back by a cotton plug, giving a queen and her young colony a small, dark and humid chamber.
The test tube setup is the most popular way to start an ant colony from a single queen. It's nothing more than a test tube about half filled with water, with a cotton ball pushed down to hold the water back. The queen lives in the dry part, drinks from the damp cotton and enjoys stable humidity, while a second cotton plug closes the entrance.
It works so well because it copies the
When I catch a new Lasius niger or Messor barbarus queen, she goes straight into a test tube. It's cheap, it's easy to make, and you can check on the colony without opening anything. A young colony can happily live in one until the tube starts to fill up with workers.
In practice
- Fill about half the tube with clean water, then push the cotton in quickly so no air bubbles get trapped against the water.
- Wrap the tube in tinfoil or dark paper and keep it somewhere quiet, without vibrations or sudden light changes.
- Don't move the colony to a big nest too soon. A test tube is enough until it gets crowded.
- When the water runs low or mold appears, set up a fresh tube next to the old one and let the ants move on their own.
