ANTSTORE World of Ants

[thomie]

Because my colony is in hibernation they're less active. Because of hibernation i didn't gave them any insect. A few hours after i gave them the first 5 larva's there where much workers outside and even an major. But when i switched on the light they all returned to the nest .
Messor Barbarus is a great specie but they're so shy.. The tiniest vibrations make them crazy, unfortunately.

[Zagone]

Odd. I have the complete opposite experience with mine. I haven't seen what species you keep, but my Messor Barbarus are not shy at all, and if I bump them or disturb them they just cuss at me and then keep wandering calmly.

[thomie]

Mine run crazy truth the nest... And with light most of the workers go back to the nest . How large is your Messor Barbarus colony, maybe a larger colony have less stress??

i've also got Mymica rubra and they are really the opposite :p . I can practically trow the nest on the ground without them stressing out :p .

[Zagone]

Actaully mine is tiny, so they might jsut be tired. The workers I got was originally with another wueen, but she died, so I moved them one by one to one of the survivals.

On Wednesday my Messor Minor Hespirius will arrive though, these too are small, though.

[thomie]

I just saw 3 workers and 1 major walking outside of the nest . Probably because I've accidentally hit the nest and some of the tunnels collapsed. I've also put the heater back on, guess the queen will move from the sand into the test tube. It makes it much easier to monitor the breed etc :p .

They haven't discovered the larva that i've placed this morning.. Guess tonight it'll be gone .

The mymica Rubra colony has now 10 workers at the larva. They also moved to another test-tube because the old tube has an larva in it :p . guess it's going to putrefy soon because the tube has much moist.

[thomie]

The colony is doing great: expanding really fast, the baby boom have just started started .

They've got about 300 workers. And almost 1 test tube full of breed.
The majors are also growing. The first major was a little larger than an worker. But the new majors are almost 2 times the size of an normal worker!

I give the colony grass and bird seeds. At the moment they only eat grass seeds, I guess they're easier to eat than the bird seeds. I also give them some insects, but not plenty of them. It's much easier to give them seeds and they seem to do fine on them. I give them about 1 insect a week.

They house in 3 test tubes and use 1 small test tube for storing seeds. Seeds are also stored a few long rooms. They've dug many roads and rooms in the (dry) sand. The Queen usually houses in the centre of the sand basin.

The outside world is used for dropping sand. The peace's of sand become bigger and bigger (±4mm), guess that's the work of the Majors.

Messor Barbarus was in the beginning an little bit boring. They are really easily afraid. With the smallest vibrations (a door being closed hard) they start running towards the nest. luckily they became braver with the growth of the colony.

I've filmed the colony and I'll post an YouTube link soon.

[thomie]

Here is the YouTube video.

Unfortunately the video is a bit shaken but I'll hope you get an idea of what my sand/test tube nest looks like.
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I'll post some more video's of my Messor Barbarus colony soon (hopefully better quality ).

[SteveUK28]

What about some nice pics bud

[thomie]

The ants grew really fast! They harvest allot of seeds and it's really busy in the outer world.

The ants need more space I think. So I'll put some more test tubes in the heated box. Maybe I'll connect another nest later. I think it will be an test tube nest, it's more synoptic and stronger than Y-tong. However it would be nice to put an Y-tong connected to the colony where they can dig truth and shape it like they want.

I'd like to see some green in the world. I'm experimenting with growing grass in a plastic box. It's risky because the ants can house in the wet sand. As I don't want the ants to harvest there it's only a small basin filled with ±1.5Cm ground. The basin is perforated with tiny holes, this to prevent the grass from getting mouldy.

The colony also gets more diversity in size. There are some really large majors or just large workers. But on the contrary there are also some really small workers. I don't know if the small worker is an adjustment to the decreasing space. The small workers may also be for scouting or to nurse the breed/workers.