[Queen Autumn] Messor barbarus

[TenebrousNova]

(Introduction)

My colony from James Lovell has arrived in perfect condition.
There's nine workers, several larvae, pupae, and a big queen. All workers and pupae are minors. The queen is black with a dark reddish head.

Without further ado, I put their test tube in their new set up and let them get on with it.

Two workers began to scout and seemed lost and agitated, but they then found their way back to their test tube laden with cheese and finch seeds, and are much more confident. ;D

They appear to have a preference for small, round seeds and those of dandelions. Queen has showed a willingness to stick her head out of the test tube to investigate, but she is back inside for now.

The set up is a big plastic container for the storage of clothes with ten air holes in the lid. Substrate is a mixture of loam, soft sand, limestone grit and clay granules, and they have a 20 watt heat mat.

set up:



Worker carrying seed:



The colony just after arrival:



I recommend Queen Ant Shop.

I hope that this attempt will be met with success. As always, feel free to comment.

Diet (Updated as new things are tested)

Food	Reaction
Finch Seeds	Liked, staple diet. They appear to have a preference for the smaller brown seeds, and have a stockpile of them near the brood pile. They readily accept seeds once I've shelled them first.
Cooked meat (Ham, chicken)	Liked, tiny piece given once a day. They are usually accepted without much hesitation.
Cheese (Cheddar)	Liked, the smell might have something to do with it. I am not sure what role the cheese might play in the colony's diet, but I give them a tiny piece once a day.
Tropical fish flakes	Liked, although the workers might not be interested at first, they will usually take it within fifteen minutes. The ingredients appear to be beneficial.
Mosquitos (Freshly killed)	A lot of hesitation at first, and they ignored it entirely for about three hours, but they finally accepted it. Protein content is good for the larval development.
Crickets	Were nervous at first but after a few hours they launched an assault on the cricket (Including the queen) and brought it back in. Crickets are now readily taken.

[TenebrousNova]

They have now gathered at least thirty seeds into the test tube, of differing varieties. The trick? I shelled the seeds for them, and they were all too keen to take them. ;D

If for any reason this colony should fail, it certainly won't be because of hunger.

It transpires that there is a small bunch of eggs that were previously hidden behind the queen. You always get that one ant, however, who tries her best to escape. There is a worker who has managed to get out four times when I wasn't looking.

The workers are safely contained for now, as far as one can tell. I had quite forgotten what escape artists this species can be.

It isn't easy to see the brood behind the seed pile, but two pupae may eclose within days.

[poortea]

I bought my Messor's from James aswell They will go in one of his nest's called the tower, once they reach 30+ though

[TenebrousNova]

Good luck with them, Poortea.

Here is the seed collection, which they had hoarded yesterday. ;D


They have made it through the night without incident. By the looks of it, they have explored the surface of the set up completely.

I put in a tiny piece of cooked chicken this morning, and checked again to find it gone.

I hope that the seeds will be sufficient for the colony to develop properly, if supplemented with the occasional bit of cheese or chicken.

Edit: I take great pleasure in reporting that the tenth worker is in the process of being extracted from her pupal form now.

[TenebrousNova]

For much of the morning, the Messors have been chewing on a few pieces of seed in order the make their ant bread.

I put in a small dead cricket earlier, and noticed that after flinching several times, they have decided that it is no threat to them. They now walk over it with an air of supreme indifference.

For some reason, I have never been able to get this species to eat insects.

[IceWhyte]

Have you tried opening and chopping up sunflower seeds for your colony?
I have done it a few time and they love it, probably due to the oil content of the seed.

[TenebrousNova]

I have not yet considered sunflower seeds, although I'll buy a packet for them in due course. Thanks.

[TenebrousNova]

The workers appear to prefer cheese to cooked ham, presumably because of the smell. But they will also take the latter if they can.

I gave them a tiny piece of both earlier, and the meat fell underneath the crack between two clay granules. After bringing the cheese in, a worker went straight to the crack and coolly retrieved the ham. ;D

There is at least one worker with clear callow colours, so I will assume that worker eleven eclosed some time ago.
I took a peek at the brood and it appears that most of the larvae are approaching the pupa stage, there's about four pupae at the moment.

[TenebrousNova]

I am encouraged to see that the pupa that will become worker twelve is quite brown, and should take only days to eclose with the help of the heat mat.

The queen is still calm as always, and there's often about two or three workers foraging.
They have brought in even more seeds, although I shelled them all myself. A few of the seeds have been chewed up and consumed.

In addition, the colony is in the process of piling up a small barricade of little stones just inside the test tube, to make them feel more secure.

[TenebrousNova]

The test tube's defenses have been further reinforced with clay granules that seem far too heavy for the workers to move, but they managed it anyway. ;D

Taking a look at the brood, it looks as though the larvae are fattening up quite well and that another pupa is beginning to change colour.

That brings me to a concern about my failed queen from Bobdol, who is still alive. She occasionally lays an egg or two, but eats them soon afterwards.
I removed the egg that I found in there today and gave it to the Autumn colony, and the workers immediately fussed over it before putting it with the rest of the brood.

It seems unfair on the failed queen. But would you agree that it is better for her eggs to develop healthily under the care of the colony than to be destroyed by their mother?

[Wood~Ant]

Jul 18, 2012 20:24:06 GMT TenebrousNova said:

That brings me to a concern about my failed queen from Bobdol, who is still alive. She occasionally lays an egg or two, but eats them soon afterwards.
I removed the egg that I found in there today and gave it to the Autumn colony, and the workers immediately fussed over it before putting it with the rest of the brood.

It seems unfair on the failed queen. But would you agree that it is better for her eggs to develop healthily under the care of the colony than to be destroyed by their mother?

From experience of my own queens, I have found that once a queen turns cannibalistic and eats her own brood, she will not accept other types of food and eventually she will die. Sad to say, but even if you gave her mature brood from another colony, she would still end up eating it before it developed into workers.

She probably won't be laying for much longer as her ovaries will pack up completely, so by all means take away her eggs and give these to this colony if they are happy to raise them.

[TenebrousNova]

I thought as much.
Thank you for the advice, Wood.

On the bright side, I have found a new idea for a food (Shamelessly nicked from Icewhyte's journal ;D ): Fish flakes. I've gave them a trial of two and they are munching happily on them.

[Wood~Ant]

It depends on the kind of fish flakes you get, as the better kinds have dried meat and insects in them, as well as egg yolk and certain plants. Do you feed these wet or dry? Both ways might be beneficial.

[TenebrousNova]

These are for tropical fish such as guppies, tetras, gouramis, etc. I've tried them in a dried state at the moment, but I'll offer them a wet flake next time.

The list of ingredients includes vegetable protein extracts, yeasts, Mollusks and Crustaceans, derivatives of vegetable origin, oils, fats, and minerals.

[TenebrousNova]

They now appear to enjoy the white of a hard boiled egg, although I haven't tried them on yolk yet.

I'm surprised to notice two media pupae among the brood. Or they could just be bigger minors, I never can tell. They're twice the size of the other pupae; maybe they will be more willing to bring back dead insects.

Worker Thirteen either has or soon will eclose, as I saw a very dark pupa yesterday.