We purchased a Lasius Niger colony around a year ago and have so far been unable to disconnect the test tube, which the queen came in, from the nest.
The ants seem to have taken up home in the connector between the tube and the nest. They are, however, finally starting to move themselves and their eggs out of the tube into the nest or into the connector; we can't tell which as it isn't transparent.
This morning there were no eggs or ants in the test tube and we feel the time is right to disconnect it.
The problem we have is that we don't know whether to disconnect it at A or B. We have a plug to seal the hole if we disconnect it at B, but not at A - I am thinking of using a shaped rubber bung or a cotton ball.
Ideally we would like to have all the ants in the nest and remove the tube and the connector completely, but I fear it may be full of ants and eggs and don't know what to do if we pull it apart and that is the case.
Looking for some advice from people who may have done this in the past - do we just make the break at B and then tap all the ants and eggs into the top of the nest and hope everything is okay?
We are amateurs at this and any help would be much appreciated.