Messor Barbarus help!

[Messorhead]

Hello,

I am not sure if there is anything I can do for my Red head messor queen, bought her last year with about 50 workers and all was going well had about 100 workers at the end of last year, but over the last 3 months the ants have all died apart from the queen and 1 worker. I have taken the queen and her worker out of the set up I had them in and placed in a small container, but I am not sure if there is anything I can do for her. Is there anything I can do to possibly save her and get her to produce some more eggs or has she had it? And can anybody offer any advice as to what to do next, like where to put her what to give her etc.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Matt

[Blem12]

Good evening Matt,

That is indeed quite strange. What I would firstly do, is to check for any obvious signs of ilnesses or related indices/factors such as mites or any evident fungus in your previous set up. May I ask, what set up did you have previously?

Right now, I would recommend you to place them in a small container/plastic tank filled with new substrate and place the plastic container that they are in right now in the plastic tank. Offer them some food and leave them in a warm and dark place to prevent any further stress.

Best regards,
Blem12.

[Messorhead]

Evening Blem,

Thanks for the reply, they were in a homemade ytong which I made out of aerated block from B&Q, I am hoping this was the problem. It was strange how they all died each day a few more dead bodies would turn up in the foraging area by the time I realised there were only a few ants left it was too late. There were no obvious signs of disease or mites.

When you say place them in a tank/container with substrate do you mean enough so she can dig down into? I was contemplating using a test tube so I could keep an eye on her or maybe a tank with sand/loam so she can dig and bury down, which would be better? I have read something before about fat reserves etc and was wandering if this queen would be strong enough to start again.

[Jenny]

Wood Ant always keeps our Messor in plastic or glass tanks half filled with sandy soil, and they always do very well, as they often seem to fail if kept in plaster or Ytong nests.

[Blem12]

OK. Thank you for the information. One thing that arose to my mind when mentioning y-tong, was if you had removed all the dust created when carving y-tong. It is very important to wash away all the remaining dust as this dust can be lethal to ants. This may have been the cause of the deaths.

Yes, to place the test tube (where the queen and worker currently reside) in a small plastic tank filled with
the desired substrate. I believe a small plastic container/tank filled with the sand, loam or dirt would be much more beneficial to the ants as this is what is most natural to them and if you use a small container you should be able to monitor them as they will normally create a chamber just above the plastic bottom.

Regards,
Blem12.

[TenebrousNova]

That's a blow.
Keep them warm and in a dark place, and try and keep the queen fed is all I can say.
If the final worker dies, then the queen isn't likely to be able to recover her colony.

If you had another colony then I would suggest transferring some pupae to them. I'm not sure if people do sell ant brood.

[Messorhead]

Thanks for the replies,

I think I will be using the tank/container method from now on, I will put her in a tank with substrate and leave her alone and fingers crossed she will lay more eggs, just out of interest how many ants can a messor queen produce in one year, can I expect a decent size colony again within a year if she survives?

[Wood~Ant]

Sadly it isn't a question of how many ants can be raised from a queen, as if she still had about 50 workers they could perhaps raise another 200 to 300 in a good season; but as your queen only has 1 worker left, the best you could hope for is 10 to 20 at most, and that will be an estimate if they feed any brood well.

[Zarbi]

As usual, Wood Ant has given some very good advice, and you may find this very small colony fails I'm sorry to say having only 1 worker left.

[Messorhead]

Yes I don't hold up much hope for her, but they seem happier now in their new enclosure, never ever give up on anything in nature it is very versatile adaptable and wants to survive, I read never to give up on an ant queen and have read some good bits about ant queens that seemed doomed making a recovery and suprising everyone, and although the odds are against her I will provide her with all the care I can and hope she will suprise me.

On the other hand I did order another colony last month and a new queen as they were on offer, I feared the worst and thought the queen was going to die, they are doing well so far, but I will not mind a bit if I end up with two or more colonies although I am running out of room and still need to expand my pheidole pallidula enlosures.

[Messorhead]

She is a tough one this queen, her last and only worker dissappeared a day or two after putting them into a new small home. I left her alone in a warm and dark place and checked on her today and she has laid a batch of eggs already which has suprised me as I didn't hold up much hope for her.

[Blem12]

That is great news Matt! Sometimes we just don't realise how resilient these little girls are!

[Messorhead]

Thanks Blem 12 it is good news, but one thing still confuses me, could a Queen eat her worker? As I never found the body of her last worker and there was no way they could have got out.

[Wood~Ant]

Queen ants have been known to cannibalize workers if they're hungry enough.