von bugsy » 6. Jun 2012 08:22
Interesting you say that as I too thought the same, my Messor erectus originate from North Africa causing me to assume they would prefer it very dry as is the climate in that region. I moved them to a small y-tong with a small basin attached, they happily collected seeds and made bread, but the queen didn't lay and the 3 larvae that came with the colony never grew. 2 months later still no development and no further egg laying so I decided to moisten the nest. To my surprise the following morning a small batch of eggs had been laid, so following the success I tried to keep the nest as moist as possible but the y-tong design wasn't suited to this. After a further 2 months the eggs just didn't develop and the original larvae were now smaller. I decided to but a test tube with the usual cotton and half full of water in the basin and cover it up. Over night the whole colony moved, 1 month on the queen is laying furiously with many eggs, larvae and dolls of various sizes. So what I'm starting to conclude is that as a young small colony the queen needs it moist, but as the colony grows it becomes less important as the colony probably provides her with every thing she needs. I believe yours started life in a moist test tube too so maybe this is the case, as the workers increase they are able to ferry water to nest and create the conditions needed.
Just a thought.