Marks Messor Barbarus Journal

[Joona]

I love this species of ant, I love the colour of them the size of them and the queen is quite a beast!

I kept this species a few years ago, but sadly the queen died and soon the colony followed, its quite a horrid feeling knowing there is nothing you can do but wait for death. I brought a small colony from queenantshop but sadly the queen just died, I have no idea why. I decided to give them one more try and ordered two colony's from CGants and so this is the journal to accompany them.

20/7/13

Well after the tragic death of nessa and her small colony I decided to cheat a little and buy a slightly established one. I got it from CGants this time and payed £13.99 for each queen and 10-20 workers. Just this second there was a bang at the door with the post!

I got a small brown box with fragile tape on it. I eagerly opened it to find this much to my shock


Loads of ants!

My wife's going to kill me!

I'm leaving them in the test tubes for a few hours to settle down before showing them the out world. Fingers crossed this time were all good.

21/7/13

Both queens have settled in to there little boxes and the workers have started to empty the test tubes of there rubbish, the queen with loads of water in the tube has the more active colony which at the moment I intend to keep. As soon as I took the cotton out the end of the test tube they were every where investigating and I loved watching the major workers gathering seeds. The second queen just lies down but she is alive! Her workers have ventured out of the tube but not as often as the others. I have fed and watered them and am going to leave them until Tuesday when I'll check the water and feed / clean them.

Here's the set up I intend to keep them in until there big enough for a little Ytong.




24/7/13

Well after slightly altering the box they were under and realising I had my thermostat turned all the way down at the same time there doing fine as far as I can tell. I have been peeking at them through the red sheets and even some of the majors have been coming out of the tubes on both queens. Today I revived 500g of dandelion seeds that I heard they really like so I put some in straight away hopefully the nyjer seeds will come tomorrow and I can do little mixers for them.

There has been a few dead workers appearing in the tubs but these are most likely from when they did the clean up of the test tube's they were in. Can't wait to have a thriving colony of these.



3/8/13

Well it's been eventful few weeks. I cleaned the set ups out completely and put a slighly damp bird sand in the bottoms of the tubs to make it easier to see and look nicer. The didn't mind the sand and were soon out having a nose about!



I took a peek in the test tube too there were some new eggs and some big larvae in there, but left them as there eating some ant bread. I added a little pot on the other side of the tub to encourage some proper foraging, I made bridges from sand paper but none had ventured there yet. (this didnt last long and ended up in my Atta build lol)



I have also sold the second queen due to starting my Atta build and needing room.

[Joona]

31/8/13

A lot has happened since the last update and for the better! 3 big larvae appeared and hatched soon there after! The colony has vastly increased in size going from about 10 - 15 workers to 40 - 50+ in a month with more hatching daily and queen laying steadily. The ants have been living on a diet of meat (chicken, fish and ham) and seeds. They seem quite happy with this so I intend to use it until they start not liking it.

I moved them to a small ytong yesterday so I can see them, but sadly the move wasn't without a casualty. One of the majors decided he wanted to make a bid for freedom with my hands in the out world, I darted for the lid and he got squashed, oddly he was a trooper and shook it off and went back to protecting the nest.












Oh and yes that's a picture of me and my lovely wife

[Wood~Ant]

Really good start to this journal Mark, love the photos. You must do a very mucky job as the dirt under your finger nails shows you're a grafter. 

[Joona]

Lol thanks mate /facepalm
I'm a Laser Setter but I also do a touch of welding and general getting dirty. I have scrubbed and scrubbed and they will be clean as a whistle but the dirt comes out of my skin when I sweat which kind of sucks I have to have two or more showers a day to keep on top of it. Although in the picture I had been at work that morning from 5am until 10am so I hadn't washed them lol.

[Black Ant]

Great journal Mark. Are those guys with you and your lovely wife darts players or something, as they signed the photos?
Hope this colony does well as a lot of the guys here keep Messors very successfully. 

[djant]

This is a great journal Mark! I hope your ants are successful, they definitely seem to be doing great so far. Keep it up

[Jenny]

Messors are a great species to keep, once they have settled in. They just get bigger and bigger, but don't tell the mrs that  Shane also keeps a journal on them with video updates, along with many members here, they love to shred chicken. You might have to add a few ytongs as they grow and forage.
If they live in a central heated room in winter, there is no need for a heat mat. This species adjusts very well, as our kitchen is cold at night but warm in the day.

[Joona]

There off artificial heat now and just on room temperature, my other colony were room temp all year round. I only put them on the heat as to make them grow a bit quicker but the Atta build has sadly took there shelf and heat and now I think the risk of them suddenly dying has dropped as they seem to be settled. It's just great I can now see them as I mentioned I adore there little orange heads lol.

Yeah there darts players, me and the other half follow darts quite a lot and a local pub in Wolverhampton hosts exhibition matches, it was Australia vs England. I got loads of the pics scattered around the house lol my favourite is Aidrian Lewis holding my eldest when he was 3, Hayden is mad on darts and was in shock when he met him lol.

[honeypotant]

I think Wood Ant has never kept his barbarus heated and they are fine, so as long as you keep them in a warm room during winter they should be ok 

[Joona]

Just a quickie.

I woke up this morning and noticed the ants were dumping sand in the connecting tube, I didn't mind as I know from past experience they do block the entrances, until I noticed where it was coming from. The little devils were tunnelling in the sand! Yesterday I noticed a few workers were having trouble moving seeds to the nest so I made little trails in the sand using water and they took advantage, I have now put fresh sand in just covering the bottom and am going to use some air drying clay to make a base. I did notice a very very big pupae in there it dwarfed the little guy carrying it, so fingers crossed its a super! Anyway they have all settled down again and are happily doing there thing.
Mark

[Joona]

10/9/13

Had a great surprise when I got home from work today my first orange headed demon! She just sits there, even when the nest is disturbed and all the other ants run for there little lives, she didn't budge! I must say this colony is a lot more nervous then previous messor colony's. I've noticed over the past few days that they have stopped taking chicken and are just mass storing seeds so I'm guessing the drops in temp at night has brought on there hibernation instinct. There is a small clutch of eggs and others at various stages of development still though.
Here's quick pic of my new addition.





Sorry about the quality.

[Wood~Ant]

It is always a nice surprise when you get to see your first red headed major.    Wait until the super majors arrive. 

[Joona]

I really can't wait for those, sadly I think the weather will be against me this year. I really can't wait for these to come out of hibernation next year. I plan to put them in the conservatory at the end of October it drops to around 12'c in there and only raises to 15'c max unless I leave the heating on all night lol.

[Wood~Ant]

12 Celsius might be a bit cold, as where I winter my own 2 colonies doesn't drop any lower than 14C., but it should be fine if the temperature never drops any colder than 12, as places like Spain can have cold winters; but usually for shorter periods than we have in Britain. 
Super-majors normally appear in the second year of the queen producing major workers.