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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 28, 2020 15:55:25 GMT
I've always had a soft spot for this species, so I ordered a colony consisting of 80-100 workers with a queen from Ants HQ. They arrived today in excellent condition. I'm keeping these in an acrylic nest from Ant House. Since this species lives almost entirely underground and rarely emerges, I put a bit of loamy soil inside the nest in the hopes that they'll feel more at home. They have already taken some sugar water and are in the process of attacking a cricket. I can't get photos of the inside of the test tube since they've pasted the sides with sand, so no queen or brood photos until they move out.   As always, feel free to comment.  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 30, 2020 15:37:36 GMT
The colony moved out of their test tube last night and are now settled in the nest. There's not nearly as much brood as I was hoping for a colony of this size- a small clutch of eggs, a small pile of larvae and two cocoons. I'll have to feed them up and hope they produce more.  |
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Post by Joshuarr on May 3, 2020 18:28:46 GMT
Hello TenebrousNova,
I hope you don't mind me commenting here, I couldn't see a comment thread for this colony. I am happy for my comment to be moved if needed.
The colony looks lovely. I spent a lot of time debating whether to get Messor barbarus or Lasius flavus. In the end I have decided I want to get a Messor barbarus because they are quite different to my current Lasius niger species. I am looking forward to reading more about your Lasius flavus - if ever the time comes when I can get a third colony - it would be Lasius flavus.
If you can at any point, I would love to see a picture of the full set-up or could you send me the link to the set-up you bought for them?
I see you bought the ants from Ants HQ who I will look to buy from when I get my Messor barbarus as you and others on this forum have said good things about them.
Is their diet the same as Lasius niger?
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 4, 2020 16:00:11 GMT
Hello TenebrousNova, I hope you don't mind me commenting here, I couldn't see a comment thread for this colony. I am happy for my comment to be moved if needed. The colony looks lovely. I spent a lot of time debating whether to get Messor barbarus or Lasius flavus. In the end I have decided I want to get a Messor barbarus because they are quite different to my current Lasius niger species. I am looking forward to reading more about your Lasius flavus - if ever the time comes when I can get a third colony - it would be Lasius flavus. If you can at any point, I would love to see a picture of the full set-up or could you send me the link to the set-up you bought for them? I see you bought the ants from Ants HQ who I will look to buy from when I get my Messor barbarus as you and others on this forum have said good things about them. Is their diet the same as Lasius niger? Hi Josh, I encourage comments on all my journals. No separate thread is necessary. This is the formicarium that the colony lives in. I do recommend Anthouse's nests, plus they let you pick a free ant colony with each order. L. flavus is more reclusive than L. niger and not as aggressive, but they will eat the same things. In some circumstances they can even have more than one queen. Good luck with your Messors, they're always entertaining to look after and the size variation in workers is amazing. |
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Post by Joshuarr on May 4, 2020 17:16:53 GMT
Hello TenebrousNova, I hope you don't mind me commenting here, I couldn't see a comment thread for this colony. I am happy for my comment to be moved if needed. The colony looks lovely. I spent a lot of time debating whether to get Messor barbarus or Lasius flavus. In the end I have decided I want to get a Messor barbarus because they are quite different to my current Lasius niger species. I am looking forward to reading more about your Lasius flavus - if ever the time comes when I can get a third colony - it would be Lasius flavus. If you can at any point, I would love to see a picture of the full set-up or could you send me the link to the set-up you bought for them? I see you bought the ants from Ants HQ who I will look to buy from when I get my Messor barbarus as you and others on this forum have said good things about them. Is their diet the same as Lasius niger? Hi Josh, I encourage comments on all my journals. No separate thread is necessary. This is the formicarium that the colony lives in. I do recommend Anthouse's nests, plus they let you pick a free ant colony with each order. L. flavus is more reclusive than L. niger and not as aggressive, but they will eat the same things. In some circumstances they can even have more than one queen. Good luck with your Messors, they're always entertaining to look after and the size variation in workers is amazing.
Thank you for the link to the formicarium . The website looks great, I will have to consider purchasing from there in future, especially given that you receive the ants for free. Quite a few websites out there seem to be charging a small fortune for ants alone.
Thank you and good luck with your L.flavus - looking forward to hearing more about how they're doing.  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 6, 2020 10:28:07 GMT
The colony has refused all crickets, but last night they took a mosquito into the nest. It's a small victory but I'll take it.  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 16, 2020 10:46:18 GMT
This colony is unlikely to survive. I don't know how it happened but over 70% of the workers have suddenly died.
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Post by Joshuarr on May 16, 2020 11:20:55 GMT
This colony is unlikely to survive. I don't know how it happened but over 70% of the workers have suddenly died.
I am very sorry to hear that, TenebrousNova. For over 70% of the workers to have died seems an incredibly high number. Are you able to see if the queen looks well? Has she still got brood?
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Post by Jenny on May 16, 2020 11:25:39 GMT
I have said it for years now, despite flavus being my favourite they are not really suitable in captivity. They are better being studied in the wild. Round here we have loads, I even have several nests under my Welsh stones in the garden |
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 16, 2020 12:29:15 GMT
The queen is okay and there are still some workers and brood, but I'm not hopeful on them recovering since even at full strength the colony barely accepted food. I'll do what I can.
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