James' Messor barbarus Journal

[James O'Neill]

Hi all, my Messor barbarus colony arrived this morning from James Lovell, so I will attempt a journal, not only for your interest but to keep track of the colony's growth myself.

The queen is smaller than I expected; but then I also have a huge Camponotus ligniperda queen so I'm used to having a big ant around. She has a dark red head. There are 5 tiny workers, 4 or 5 reasonably sized larvae and a small ball of eggs. I also saw a tiny white mite in there, could that become a problem?

The colony is quite calm and settled very quickly. I placed the tube in a box with a layer of sand and a heat mat underneath (because my house is quite cold), and within minutes a worker came outside and started hoisting small seeds into the tube. I also offered a fly and a piece of ham, the fly was ignored but the ham was carried away immediately, and is currently being eaten by the queen and larvae.

I'm looking forward to how this colony will fare in the future!

I will get pictures tomorrow.

[Wood~Ant]

White mites are often found in ant colonies, but unless they become very large in number they generally cause no problems. Red headed queens usually produce red headed majors and super-major workers faster than an all black queen if this is any help. 

[James O'Neill]

Thanks for the info, Wood. That's reassuring. I suppose the mites might eat any leftover food that would otherwise rot.

Also it's interesting about the faster production of majors with red-heads. She doesn't have a particularly bright red head, but it is noticeably dark maroon. It will be interesting to see just how fast the colony grows.

One of the workers has regularly been out for jaunt around the box. Seems to be just exploring and taking in her new surroundings.

[James O'Neill]

One of the larger larvae has become a pupa - just a little minor pupa. The other larva looks set to go the same way.
There are several smaller larvae and a few eggs but I think the number has reduced. I hope she lays more soon.

The workers has been busy, there is very often one foraging and bringing in dandelion seeds and bits of chicken and egg, which the queen eats voraciously

Here's a pic of one of the wee workers with a small seed.

Attachment Deleted

[James O'Neill]

This is the little colony as it is now - I changed their test tube so I might get rid of those mites. The queen's head is not as black as it looks in this, it is a dark ruby.

[James O'Neill]

A couple of days ago, the colony had eaten a portion of its brood, leaving the pupa, a large larva, a small larva and 2 eggs.

Fortunately, the queen has since laid a small ball of perhaps 6 or 7 eggs. Workers are constantly busy, tending brood, and at times, 2 of the 5 are out foraging at 1 time.

It's good to see this colony doing well.

[Joona]

My messors ate all there brood a few days ago, I put it down to the drop in temps at night, maybe hibernation is near?

[James O'Neill]

I'm keeping mine heated for most of the first winter (I'll give her a wee break) just to get them started off. I think it was just the stress of settling into their new home. She has, after all, laid more since she ate them.

[Wood~Ant]

Oct 1, 2013 20:25:29 GMT James O'Neill said:

I'm keeping mine heated for most of the first winter (I'll give her a wee break) just to get them started off. I think it was just the stress of settling into their new home. She has, after all, laid more since she ate them.

Don't make the mistake of keeping the heat too high over winter, as even in around the  Mediterranean countries where these ants come from, places like Spain do get cold in December and January; and I have successfully kept this species for the past 5 years and never used any form of heating directly to their home.
If your room where you keep the colony has heating during the winter, then a heat pad is totally unnecessary. 

[James O'Neill]

Thanks for the advice - my house is very cold but I will strive to give appropriate temperatures.

The ball of eggs has increased, I would say there are about 12 or 13 in there. They mostly stay between the queen's jaws.

[James O'Neill]

The little pupa has gone dark - it will hatch soon then! That's much faster than I expected, it's been 6 days since the larva pupated.
The larva has not pupated yet but is nice and fat, and the ball of eggs is still a ball of eggs. I hope they develop nice and fast like the pupa has.

[James O'Neill]

Amazing. The pupa has hatched today and the ginger-coloured callow is tottering around. 1 week after pupation - I was expecting to wait about 3 weeks! that would now make 6 workers. The callow is very small, even smaller than the other workers, but I'm sure it is no less useful in the progression of the colony.

I also just saw a couple of newly laid eggs. It seems that the queen is happy with everything then, temperature and diet (crushed hemp seed and bits of meat.

[Black Ant]

Good to hear that this colony is doing well, as brood growing like that is very encouraging news.

[James O'Neill]

Things have been quiet. Unfortunately the new little callow died while it was still soft and new.
The larva is not looking great either but I'm not terribly worried.
There are still a number of eggs that I can see.
I'm trying to limit disturbance to them as much as possible. I am sure things will pick up after winter if not before then.
This evening there has been a worker out foraging which is nice, I hadn't seen anyone out and about for a few days.

[James O'Neill]

The colony still has just a ball of eggs, which at this point I think the older ones were eaten and new ones have been laid. I have seen a couple of eggs stuck to the end of the queen's gaster recently. There has been regular foraging and the queen as I type is munching on a bit of cranefly, which is nice to see.