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Reno11000: Messor barbarus - Colonies accidentally merge? (1. Dez 2008 05:37)

I recently acquired 2 small Messor barbarus colonies, each with about 10 workers. I put them into 2 test tubes with water and cotton stoppers for the time being, until I can build a more suitable enclosure.

I went home from college over thanksgiving, and apparently on the car ride, the stoppers somehow worked their way out of the tubes I had them in, and one of the colonies "moved in" with the other one, all the workers/brood and queen are now in the same test tube as the other colony. They don't seem to be fighting at all, and I've been observing them for several hours.

My question is, do I need to separate them again? M. barbarus is monogyn as far as I know, so this seemed strange to me, and I'm afraid the workers may end up killing one of the queens.

Also, I know this species has hibernation requirements, but I've also heard about people not hibernating them with no ill effects. What's the general consensus on this requirement, and what are the specifics (ie temp and humid.) I need to keep them at for hibernation, and for how long?

Thanks for your response.

JimmyVe: Re: Messor barbarus - Colonies accidentally merge? (1. Dez 2008 18:10)

Hello Reno11000 and :sign_welcome: ,

Yes they normally are monogyn but sometimes it happens they have more queens, as long if they queens are kept in different rooms (when the colony is bigger) it could work out fine. But i say sometimes, it also could be the workers kill one queen.
You could wait and see what the workers do, if they try to attack one queen split them up, if not, you can keep them together.

In nature they hibernate so i always give mine a hibernation period to. You can hibernate them at 10-15°c, humidity stays te same. Hibernate them for 2-4 months . (i give them 3 months)

Good luck.

Reno11000: Re: Messor barbarus - Colonies accidentally merge? (2. Dez 2008 13:36)

Ok, thanks for the info, I went ahead and split them up again just to be safe, although the workers are all mixed up now.

Do I need to continue to feed the ants while they're in hibernation?

jartok: Re: Messor barbarus - Colonies accidentally merge? (2. Dez 2008 16:10)

i havent fed my queen in 3weeks and she is perfectly fine

JimmyVe: Re: Messor barbarus - Colonies accidentally merge? (2. Dez 2008 17:44)

Normally they don't need food in hibernation.

Kale^^: Re: Messor barbarus - Colonies accidentally merge? (5. Feb 2009 19:56)

Make sure they have seeds in their nest - during hibernation they may eat seeds. Also moisture is important so they wont dry out and die.