248 replies to this topic

[Ernteameise]

 

Myrmy’s Law: All things being equal, ants will always do the opposite of what you want or expect them to do.

Nah, this is just Messor. If something can be destroyed by them, it will be destroyed.

 

No wonder that AntHouse (the Spanish company producing these nests) writes in the sale description "keep spares of these humidifiers at hand at all times".

AntHouse is the company who usually (unless you say "no ants") will send a FREE Messor barbarus colony with each purchased nest, so they know their Messors!

[Ernteameise]

And they have indeed done some playing around with the vermiculite and have even carried some into the queen's chamber, as I hoped they would do.

 

 

[Ernteameise]

I just had a great opportunity taking some pictures of the large piles of brood in the nest since the workers were all out foraging.

Wow!

The pile of brood has grown a lot since I got this colony!

The hot and humid summer days we are having really seems to agree with them.

And there are a few huge larvae in there.

 

As for the issue with the humidifier- as long as they do not try to dig out through there (which would end with some girls drowning in the below water reservoir) I will keep it as is, since I just do not want to chill them in the fridge right now just to replace the bit. As long as it works, I will leave it and just keep an eye on it.

 

They have now filled two chambers with brood!

 

 

Beautiful picture of the butt of the queen

 

 

Left side chamber with the queen:

 

 

Right side chamber

Look at these huge larvae!

 

 

Did they just stick some egg packages to the ceiling?????

 

[Ernteameise]

It is official-

when cricket is on offer, both chicken liver and bone are ignored (sorry for the blurry picture). Yesterday, I just offered several different things to check preferences.

They even dumped one piece of liver in the trash corner.

I think this is supposed to send me a message.

 

 

[ANTdrew]

Ants need insect protein to thrive.

[Ernteameise]

Ants need insect protein to thrive.

Which is a bit counter-intuitive for me.

I am a vet, and I have done animal nutrition courses, and I am aware that insect protein is much harder to digest and solubilise and metabolize than vertebrate meat / protein.

At least it is for most vertebrates.

This is why the industry is so hesitant to use insect protein in pet food (and believe me, they REALLY want to since it is cheap). It is just that dogs and cats do NOT thrive on it, just the opposite.

 

I personally have a hard time imagining that ants have a completely different set of digestion enzymes. I know that ants will also eat vertebrate protein (just look in the woods when you see dead nestlings or broken bird eggs, ants will be all over it). So especially something like egg should be much more attractive from a physiological point of view.

 

No idea- maybe you know of some studies concerning this?

[Ernteameise]

Just saw a HUGE egg packet carried by some workers in the broken humidifier chamber (I was too slow with the camera).

I take this as good news!

The heat of summer really does wonders for these girls.

 

EDIT-

I managed to take a picture.

Here it is, a pile of fresh eggs.

 

Edited by Ernteameise, June 25 2023 - 9:29 AM.

[Yourbasicantkeeper]

Good luck with your colony!

[Ernteameise]

Right.

So now the girls have started to move brood to a THIRD chamber.

This is serious.

They are having a significant growth spurt right now!

 

So they might outgrow the acrylic nest maybe by end of summer / or beginning of next season.

 

I therefore got into the thinking stage.

And this made me actually contact Tarheel Ants asking for some options for a CUSTOM NEST for around / slightly over 1000 medium sized ants.

I need a custom nest that fits on my shelf next to the Antcube outworld.

So I send some pictures of my setup and asked for options.

I think a beautiful well made Type III material nest (that the Messors cannot destroy or chew through!) decorated with some vermiculite and the petrified wood stones would look stunning on my shelf.

I wonder what their answer will be.

[Ernteameise]

These girls are amazing.

And their work allocation is a bit weird.

The huge majors are not really doing any of the heavy lifting (I think they are just there for chewing seed and to produce ant bread).

So they actually have the smallest workers dragging the largest seed.

It is amazing to watch how much effort and power these tiny animals put into their work.

 

[Ernteameise]

Today is Saturday, and this means FEAST DAY for all my girls, since I have time off work and can spend time watching the girls devouring their food.

I got some grasshoppers from the pet store, and tried them out with all my girls today.

 

 

And again, the Messors were very happy with the offering.

They have a lot of brood to feed!

I left the large legs on the grasshoppers, hoping to see some majors come out and crack them and transport them off.

 

[Ernteameise]

The girls continue to do well and have a good appetite, and basically filled two chambers of the acrylic nest to the ceiling with brood.

Good that I contacted Tarheel Ants for a custom bigger nest!

 

They are also always very thirsty (but hey, it is hot summer!).

 

Anyways, these girls have now started to dump their trash in the feeder which I use for feeding seeds.

I do not feed seeds often, since they tend to stash the seed, but give them a teaspoon every 10 - 14 days.

And that still is enough for them to stash it somewhere.

So when the feeder is empty, they just use it as rubbish bin.

 

Edited by Ernteameise, July 7 2023 - 11:12 AM.

[Ernteameise]

The colony is thriving.

The hot weather (and me living under the roof of the house / top flat) makes them probably feel right at home (the queen was collected near Sevilla in Spain).

 

The queen has now moved to the right side chamber, since the left is stuffed top to bottom with larvae.

 

By now, I am feeding them a medium sized grasshopper and a small cricket every second day and they are ravenous about it.

 

 

[Ernteameise]

I had some BBQ sweet corn for dinner and thought I would share.

It was a success.

 

[BleepingBleepers]

In terms of aggression as I'm a huge handler.

Just chitchatting for fun, but I think a lot of times, the ants would be aggressive if you invade their territory like get near their nest etc. Otherwise, I get this feeling like most of the time, most ants don't know what to make of us. We're not small bugs that they meet at eye level and since we're not hurting them, we're not a threat either. We're like an object to them. I think ant bites are about them thinking we're food OR we're hurting them somehow. This applies less for certain ants I guess, like bull ants, but I have seen aggressive animals not actually want to attack, like they're more defensive as oppose to aggressive. It would be on the dumb side to always be aggressive as it'll just get'em killed.

 

 

Your post on holding it (first page) got me thinking a bit. I literally didn't choose this species for fear of getting stung, ESPECIALLY if they somehow got out. I rather have a non venomous, very short term painful bite than being stung.

 

Interesting journal though, love pics!

[Ernteameise]

In terms of aggression as I'm a huge handler.

Just chitchatting for fun, but I think a lot of times, the ants would be aggressive if you invade their territory like get near their nest etc. Otherwise, I get this feeling like most of the time, most ants don't know what to make of us. We're not small bugs that they meet at eye level and since we're not hurting them, we're not a threat either. We're like an object to them. I think ant bites are about them thinking we're food OR we're hurting them somehow. This applies less for certain ants I guess, like bull ants, but I have seen aggressive animals not actually want to attack, like they're more defensive as oppose to aggressive. It would be on the dumb side to always be aggressive as it'll just get'em killed.

 

 

Your post on holding it (first page) got me thinking a bit. I literally didn't choose this species for fear of getting stung, ESPECIALLY if they somehow got out. I rather have a non venomous, very short term painful bite than being stung.

 

Interesting journal though, love pics!

Yeah, this species is not aggressive at all.

When I do cleaning or changing food and water dishes, they prefer to run away and do not really attack. Especially the huge soldiers are not really for fighting, they are more for chewing seed and cutting insect meat apart. I do not really mind aggressive species- in my youth I tried my hand on Myrmica (and they can sting and attack is their live-style) and it was part of a game for me if I could change food and water fast enough to avoid getting stung.

But I agree, it is more relaxed to keep species that do not attack or run away, so you have no worries when you take longer cleaning up.

I still was curious and my work mates had asked me if it hurt if a Messor soldier bit me, so I just took one onto my finger.

The soldier hat zero interest in biting and she just wanted to get back to her sisters.

 

So yeah, the people keeping ants like Paraponera (Bullet Ants) might think these girls are boring, but I love watching them they keep busy and are grateful pets.

Edited by Ernteameise, July 9 2023 - 12:50 PM.

[Ernteameise]

Case in point:

I just looked into the outworld and the majors were out in force to cut the grasshopper apart and transport the bits back to the nest.

These majors are not for fighting and attack.

They are for the heavy duty work and heavy lifting.

And they have a lot of enthusiasm for their work!

 

 

[BleepingBleepers]

Yeah, this species is not aggressive at all.

 

 

I kinda wish I knew that. I mentioned in my journal, on the day of the expo, I kinda stood there for the longest time debating on getting harvester ants as my second. I knew very little about it (and they costed 80-150 which is no small amount of change especially when I was not even sure what's what)

I definitely didn't want something that could sting me and I heard their sting is painful. Not sure if it's this species or some other harvester but someone said 3 out of 4 and the idea of being stung multiple times? Then I heard another one where someone said less than a B sting.

I wanted them because I liked the way they look, they have this more aggressive, bulbous head kinda look though thinking about it now, it's probably for the strength to break into seeds. I semi want some crazy AF, massive headed ants with massive killer mandibles that would annihilate a prey insect, that's what I kinda envisioned when I saw them lol.

 

I can't wait until I get big [censored] Majors for my carpenter ants so I can handle them. I tend to handle because it's a way to understand the animal better. I think it's an irreplaceable experience that can be educational as it is interesting sometimes painful. Always like seeing how they react.

 

Since I got carpenters and honeypots (in two weeks), guess I'll just watch you guys keep the harvesters for me until I ever get the time and space for a third ant species in the future.

 

I've handled tarantulas, scorpions and giant centipedes and been bit a number of times. I'm just not fond of the sting of ants because there's a bunch of them, the idea of getting swarmed is worrisome.

[ANTdrew]

I like Messor more and more as I read this journal. Consider yourself lucky.

[Ernteameise]

Yeah, this species is not aggressive at all.

 
I kinda wish I knew that. I mentioned in my journal, on the day of the expo, I kinda stood there for the longest time debating on getting harvester ants as my second. I knew very little about it (and they costed 80-150 which is no small amount of change especially when I was not even sure what's what)
I definitely didn't want something that could sting me and I heard their sting is painful. Not sure if it's this species or some other harvester but someone said 3 out of 4 and the idea of being stung multiple times? Then I heard another one where someone said less than a B sting.
I wanted them because I liked the way they look, they have this more aggressive, bulbous head kinda look though thinking about it now, it's probably for the strength to break into seeds. I semi want some crazy AF, massive headed ants with massive killer mandibles that would annihilate a prey insect, that's what I kinda envisioned when I saw them lol.
 
I can't wait until I get big [censored] Majors for my carpenter ants so I can handle them. I tend to handle because it's a way to understand the animal better. I think it's an irreplaceable experience that can be educational as it is interesting sometimes painful. Always like seeing how they react.
 
Since I got carpenters and honeypots (in two weeks), guess I'll just watch you guys keep the harvesters for me until I ever get the time and space for a third ant species in the future.
 
I've handled tarantulas, scorpions and giant centipedes and been bit a number of times. I'm just not fond of the sting of ants because there's a bunch of them, the idea of getting swarmed is worrisome.

Well, I am in Europe and this is a European species.
These guys do not have a sting.
I do however know that the American harvesters like Pogonomyrmex that people keep on this forum DO have a pretty painful sting.
I do not know enough about US ants so no idea if you have Messor over there?

Anyways, I am jealous of you getting the honeypots- they are rare imports over here and are priced in the range of a replacement kidney.

Honeypots might be my dream species.

Anyways, good luck with your colonies! Make sure to share pictures!