hedst8
Nurse Ant
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Post by hedst8 on Mar 7, 2014 19:57:09 GMT
Hi all, I received my very first Messor barbarus queen today and I've put her in the out world still in the tube with the end open. She came out and had a little stretch of her legs and then went back into the tube and for last hour or so has just been biting and pulling the cotton wool at the end of the tube with the water behind it. Will she be able to bite through it and drown and is this normal?
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Post by Asiletto on Mar 7, 2014 20:55:11 GMT
It is normal, especially for Messor, they stress easily. How many worker does your queen have? Usually I don't open my test tube in an area until I get a good number of workers, so I can keep the small colony under control during the initial and more difficult phase.
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hedst8
Nurse Ant
Posts: 95
Pets: koi,sturgeon,messor barburus,budgie
I Like: Turtles
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Likes: 16
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Post by hedst8 on Mar 7, 2014 21:04:07 GMT
Hi cheers for reply, I do not have any workers as of yet however she does have eggs. Should I have not opened it up really until I had workers?? LOL My first mistake maybe?
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 8, 2014 8:32:55 GMT
When I have started off a colony from a single Messor barb queen, I have always found they do love to dig and have given them a small container half filled with damp soil. They tend to be fully claustral and dig out a chamber in which to lay their eggs and raise their first workers in. Young queen ants of any species can get caught up in the strands of damp cotton wool if they dig into it, and although most ants kept in a test tube don't seem to do this, the odd exception has been known to drown or die from being entwined in the wool filaments, as this happened to me with a young Solenopsis queen sent over from a friend in Spain a few years back.
If you want to play it safe Hedst8, then move the young queen into a small soil set up which is just damp enough for her to dig a chamber in. To do this you need to let her move out by herself as she will have to carry out all her eggs too into any chamber she makes.
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hedst8
Nurse Ant
Posts: 95
Pets: koi,sturgeon,messor barburus,budgie
I Like: Turtles
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Likes: 16
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Post by hedst8 on Mar 8, 2014 14:35:30 GMT
She has been a lot better today.She appears to stand over her eggs for a little do a spin,pick them up,put them down and back to standing.
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hedst8
Nurse Ant
Posts: 95
Pets: koi,sturgeon,messor barburus,budgie
I Like: Turtles
I Hate: Caravans
Likes: 16
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Post by hedst8 on Mar 11, 2014 0:09:38 GMT
Well I got a small pot of soil tonight and put a small hole in the bottom and pushed it up to the tube and she is still pulling on the wool. I suppose all I can do is leave her to it. How long do eggs take to become workers normally? I also noticed her doing like forward rolls and then cleaning her antennae. I hope that's also normal behaviour.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 11, 2014 9:02:21 GMT
Temperature and humidity have an effect on how quickly the eggs hatch into larvae. With Messor it needs to be warm (over 21 Celsius) and fairly dry air. First workers take roughly about 7 to 8 weeks, depending on how right conditions are and how well fed they are from first instar larval stage through to pupal. Once they become pupae it usually takes a week to 10 days for the new workers, which being nanitics are quite tiny and rely on their mother to crack open seeds.
Later workers are larger and can do more around the colony, though first workers are still helpful and take a lot of the workload off their mother the queen.
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hedst8
Nurse Ant
Posts: 95
Pets: koi,sturgeon,messor barburus,budgie
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Post by hedst8 on Mar 11, 2014 10:05:01 GMT
There is one larvae they are like small banana shapes aren't they?
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 11, 2014 11:00:02 GMT
There is one larvae they are like small banana shapes aren't they? You can see pictures of ant brood here } Brood Growth & Development
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hedst8
Nurse Ant
Posts: 95
Pets: koi,sturgeon,messor barburus,budgie
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Likes: 16
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Post by hedst8 on Mar 28, 2014 14:18:15 GMT
I checked on my queen today and the larvae looks like it is almost a ant. She has also laid more eggs. Do messors not go through the cocoon stage then and just develop from the larvae or is it just the nanitics.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 28, 2014 14:38:32 GMT
Messor are a myrmicine ant which means the larvae do not make a cocoon when they pupate. Check this topic for more help} Brood Development
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hedst8
Nurse Ant
Posts: 95
Pets: koi,sturgeon,messor barburus,budgie
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Post by hedst8 on Mar 28, 2014 20:17:30 GMT
I also noticed today there isn't a lot of water left. I have some more test tubes so will I be best leaving her and the nanatic in a new tube or let it run out and open the tube up and put water into the out world.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 29, 2014 7:43:38 GMT
If you move them into a clean tube with fresh water you may find any eggs the queen has laid remain stuck in the old tube. Trying to remove them will probably damage them and destroy the eggs, so it might be best to leave the queen and worker where they are in that case.
If it just adult ants and more mature brood then it is safe to move them into another test tube until you want to give them a more permanent home.
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hedst8
Nurse Ant
Posts: 95
Pets: koi,sturgeon,messor barburus,budgie
I Like: Turtles
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Likes: 16
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Post by hedst8 on Mar 29, 2014 9:51:04 GMT
Do you think if I join the tubes together with tape or something that she might move them herself?
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 29, 2014 9:58:10 GMT
Do you think if I join the tubes together with tape or something that she might move them herself? If you put the 2 tubes together then make the one she is in now open to the light, and cover the other one with some dark cloth or black bin liner. She should move her eggs from the light end tube into the dark one, as ants prefer to keep their brood away from strong light.
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