[Silver] Messor barbarus

[Wood~Ant]

You can imagine the fun we had chasing escaping ants around our kitchen, as they used to steal seeds from our canary or try to find the cakes Jenny had just baked.

[TenebrousNova]

I certainly can! An old post of yours springs to mind where you carried a formicarium by the handle only for the tank to separate from the lid and get an entire colony all over your floor.

I found a few other stragglers earlier running across my floor and put them back. Their sisters were lurking right under the lid waiting for me to lift it up, the monsters. I'm going to assume that those workers were already out of the tank and aren't the newest escapees. I don't particularly care if it's true, so long as I don't have to sleep with one eye scanning the floor.

I did notice that when I was putting the remaining minor and media workers from the old tank in earlier, they were welcomed back into the fold without question...but the majors were subjected to a lot of scrutiny and it almost looked like they were getting chased by their sisters before things settled down. I wonder if their several day exile from the main colony had caused their scent to weaken in some way? They're all fine though, no fights broke out.

[Jenny]

The soil looks like it's hitting the top. You will find you'll need space for the excavated soil though from the tunnels they build, and in time the stone will sink slowly down.

[TenebrousNova]

The Messors (And my other ants) are currently basking in the aroma of my cooking.
A beautifully coloured super-major also came over to investigate.


Although with a few small exceptions they have been unable to sneak out of their tank since I finished patching up the lid, this colony puts up one hell of a fight when I open the lid daily to do some gardening in there and remove the germinated seeds. Majors and super-majors latching onto my fingers like many-legged pit bulls, minors and medias taking the opportunity to sidle out of the tank whilst I'm occupied by their larger sisters, workers of all sizes clinging to the uprooted plants (And sometimes even biting them, having mistook them for me!) which have to be picked off...I think they've been used to walking all over poor Wood & Jen all these years! So far I've managed to triumph over them although I'm sure this colony has plenty more surprises in store for me.

[TenebrousNova]

I actually managed to get a good photo of the brood chamber just now...whilst barely managing to hold up the heavy tank at the same time. The scale of the brood pile catches me off guard every time! I haven't seen Her Majesty in there yet but she's probably somewhere out of sight.

I couldn't get a photo of the granary on the other side of the tank but it is twice as big. Also, I noticed that the major and super-major larvae and pupae are always on the fringes of the brood pile. This could of course be where they get rolled over a little when the tank is moved, but I wonder if there's a sort of organisation to it? I have heard about ant larvae occasionally eating their smaller siblings (Notably eggs) so maybe this is to prevent the majors and supers from doing the same?

[Wood~Ant]

They do eat defrosted medium sized crickets, so this may help to prevent the bigger larvae from eating smaller ones. Nice photo of the next generation of workers.
Yes they do place the larger brood around the perimeter. This must be a nursery organisation thing, as they often seem to do this.

[TenebrousNova]

Aug 26, 2016 6:25:28 GMT Wood~Ant said:

They do eat defrosted medium sized crickets, so this may help to prevent the bigger larvae from eating smaller ones. Nice photo of the next generation of workers.
Yes they do place the larger brood around the perimeter. This must be a nursery organisation thing, as they often seem to do this.

Thanks for the answer Wood. They go through about two or three crickets a day and whatever else happens to fly through my window. Trust me, they're spoilt rotten.

[TenebrousNova]

This evening I gave the Messors the last wax moth, which was live. I do feel bad about giving my ants live prey which occurs maybe once a week...it isn't an action born of a sadistic impulse to watch the prey suffer, but I believe the stimulation of the hunt could be beneficial to the colony every once in a while. The moth was quickly subdued.

Whilst this was happening I noticed a super-major pupa on the surface so I borrowed it as a photo subject. Here we are!





I really do find the pupae fascinating to look at, like little waxen workers. After taking the photos I returned the pupa to the colony and it was swiftly carried off. I was also bitten by a mature super-major during this time...I guess I deserved that one!

[TenebrousNova]

Gave the colony a bluebottle today! It didn't last long. I didn't realise how close the lens was getting to take that photo so I had workers of all sizes climbing over my phone and biting it.

[TenebrousNova]

I've left their heat lamp on for a few hours and they've brought a small mountain of brood to the surface.

I apologise for the poor image quality. This is the closest I can get and the sides are a bit dirty...if I lift the lid then the brood will be returned to the nest so fast you'd think they were in a time warp.

[Jenny]

Yes I used to try lifting the lid but resorted to taking them through the wire in the lid. They are alerted like in 2 seconds, and move the brood before you can blink 

[occultus]

I must say wonderful photo. The colour contrast of the cherry red head looks brilliant.

[TenebrousNova]

Thank you!

There's another party going on tonight, but none of us are invited.



As a little side note, the super-major sitting next to the seed pot in the above photo is one I've seen many times. You can see that she's missing her left antenna so she's easily recognisable...she always seems to be on foraging duty so I guess she's one of the older girls. Similarly there's a media with a dented gaster who I occasionally see on the surface. 

It's a sign of my pet obsession that I can identify certain workers among the chaos on the surface. 

[TenebrousNova]

A similar spectacle to the one photographed in my last post took place today, with most of the brood being warmed on the surface. I was kind of reluctant to turn off the heat lamp because the Messors seemed to be enjoying it so much!
I happened to spot an escaped worker (The first in a while) on my floor at the same time, so the moment I opened the lid to return her to the fold it was utter pandemonium. Hundreds of workers were charging around with larvae and pupae; the workers who didn't have their jaws occupied were holding them open in a threatening display.

I figured that I might as well check on the brood chamber before it could be filled again. Most of the brood left in there were either the larvae/pupae of the larger castes. Too big to carry up the tunnels, perhaps? Nearby was a mass of tiny newborn larvae and sitting atop her babies was the queen.
The queen wasted no time in running out of my sight but the brief glimpse was worth it. Curiously I have yet to see eggs in the brood chamber but they must be there somewhere. Maybe they are kept on top of the rest of the brood?

I've heard of Messor queens occasionally feeling comfortable enough to venture to the surface and join the brood warming sessions, but I've never seen this one leave the safety of her nest. Maybe one day she will. It'll make for a nice photo.

[Wood~Ant]

In the entire time I kept this colony the queen never came up to the surface, although all sizes of workers including super-majors did. You will find that the queen always stays in the deepest brood chamber, and getting a glimpse of her in the old hexagonal tank was rare, so any sighting is a privilege for the keeper. She will be at least 10 years old by now, but still sounds very active; and she always was a good egg producer, so with the new brood her colony will thrive for a good long time.