noctilus' Messor barbarus Journal

[noctilus]

This is an attempt to document the development of my M.barbarus colony.
Started with queen and 5 eggs on 15/04/2014

P.S. post freely here

[noctilus]

The queen and about 5 eggs arrived on 15/04/2014, about 10 days after placing the order on queenantshop.co.uk.
She seemed a bit placid and even dizzy so I have just taken one pic not to disturb her too much on that day.

She really didn't want to pose there

[noctilus]

18/04/2014

I've managed to take a photo. She seemed to be very protective towards the eggs, and every time I took the tube out of the black box she covered the eggs with her body and this is the only pic you can actually, almost see them .
Blink and you miss it : just under her thorax.

[noctilus]

21/04/2014

My wife helped me with her Olympus camera, here are some better photos:

[noctilus]

30/04/2014

I have purchased a heating mat and a thermostat in my friendly local pet shop. The simplest and cheapest ones. I've also had an old digital thermometer around. I have put the test tube in a little cardboard box, this on top of a few folded newspapers and in those I have insterted the 7W heating mat. The whole thing I've placed in an old shoe box...
I've set the thermostat to 23*C (trial and error) and unfortunately the temp fluctuated from 23 to 26. I was a little worried about the amplitude at first, but logically thinking the temp changes in nature are greater, so I have left it for some time.
Sorry, no pictures of the set up, as I'm doing it undercover. Don't want my children of 5 and 8 to find out. Marta and Tadek if you're reading this, I hope you forgive me

[noctilus]

08/05/2014

With my wife we have decided to do a quick photo session, since we have not disturbed the queen for a few days now, and to our surprise :



There were at least 13 eggs, which ment not only the temp fluctuations did not bother the queen too much, but possibly encouraged her to lay more eggs!

The downside is the water. The evaporation rate has significantly increased and soon I will have to come up with a plan to counter that.

[noctilus]

20/05/2014

Yesterday I have moved the test tube to a round sealable Pyrex dish and provided another test tube (kind of) with fresh water inside.
The queen did not move to new tube, hence the conclusion that the humidity of the original tube is sufficient.
I have noticed that two of the eggs have turned to what I think are larvae, elongated creamy creatures with a tiny dark spot. But I can't get the a decent picture of them with my phone. We all will have to wait until my wife does her VooDoo stuff with her Olympus camera and micro lens. :/

There's one more thing I have noticed after moving the queen to a new setting, she lost half of her rear left leg ! I have absolutely no idea what happened!

[Wood~Ant]

Ants do sometimes lose a leg, but can still lead a normal life, and wives are very useful to have around and help with this hobby as mine takes better photos than me.

[noctilus]

I have added a closest replacement for a test tube I had. This is a medicine syringe adapted to be a new water source/chamber.

I have not forced the queen to move, I'll let her decide where is the most optimal place to keep her eggs. I think this is the best option.

The temperature in pseudo-formicarium oscillates between 22.5 and 27.9 degrees Celsius. There's a still the 7W heating mat under the container connected to thermostat. I have recently ordered a hygrometer/thermometer from eBay which I plan to put in the enclosure to monitor the actual environmental data. It is still to arrive.

Unfortunately a few weeks back, around the time she lost her leg, both her larvae and a few eggs have disappeared. Either she ate them because they were dead or, which is more probable she ate them due to all the disturbances during moving her to a new set up. I also made a mistake of putting the new container in a cupboard which was very prone to being tapped and knocked especially by our kids. (They still don't know:) )

She is back in old, safe spot and she seems to have recovered from the trauma as some new eggs have appeared. The concern is will she survive until first workers hatch from the eggs. She seems all right and is quite vigorous especially if the temperature is in the higher range, so I presume she still has some fat reserves left.

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[noctilus]

I have noticed a tiny larva last night. Didn't want to bother the queen with camera, she already was quite unsettled.
Should I introduce some seeds / protein? Or will she be able to feed the larva herself?

[Deleted]

How are they doing, you haven't updated in while.