ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Andie]

The temps have dropped to about 17c and strangely at night the ants are even more active then they ever have been. Perhaps they have been suddenly suprised by the sudden drop in temps and need to take action for rediness for the winter break? I feel sorry for them as near by are my heated exotic ants enjoying the warmth..

[Andie]

Hmmm 3582 views and only 4 people have commented on this thread makes me wonder if i'm just taking up valuable forum space on a species thats been written about way tooo often... I must admit that when there is such a brilliant thread written by Erne and of course what i consider as "the Messor Barbarus bible" Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar perhaps i should just stop floggin a dead horse...

[mtrein]

I'm reading it, please do keep posting, Andie

[Eman]

Yeah, a lot of people around here read a lot but don't reply, your thread is quite interesting, and a good source of info keep going with your good work =)

[bugsy]

keep it coming, I'm interested to see how big and how quick this colony gets as it seems to be doing great. Any tips are always appreciated.

[Shiver]

I always read and never (rarely..) reply, don't stop posting!

[Andie]

Thanks guys

[bugsy]

My Messor erectus arrived today, not had a good look at them yet as I want them to de-stress after the move. But it looks like there is about 20 workers plus brood awesome.

[Andie]

Congrats m8, hope they do well for you

[mtrein]

Put some pictures when you can, Bugsy

[bugsy]

Wow, just settled them in their new home, there is about 60 workers. I will post pictures when i get my mew camera. There taking seeds already.

[Markus]

Hi,
I'm thinking too, that most people here are reading but not writing because they like your posts - but don't want to repeat all the time, what is said... ^^
So meny ants in this time are enough for a good year.
Messor barbarus are really different in the developement...

It is interesting too, that you have the same experience with the temperatures, they don't notice them so much like lite, often they go to places where heating cables are, but with appearing lite, they flee back in the dark nest...
And in an path, I build for them outsinde the warm structure for them, to provocate settling in another new Nest, they ignored the temperature difference and went in the dark part in the ytong...

Whell thats the constante: they often will do the difference of what you want them to - and if you don't care, they do, what you want them to.

[Andie]

Both colonies have been doing something strange with their water bowls., (the milk bottle lids with cotton wool inside). They have been filling them with sand and then tunneling into it. The extra water has also caused condensation in their small arena which has caused the sand in the arena to stick together, so they are tunneling everywhere. The temps now have gone back up to 18-20 c and they are acting normally again but with no signs of hibernation. If the temps remain high, they will have to go into my attic probably at the end of november.

[Markus]

One of the Reasons, I don't give sand to them, but even in Ytong they start tunneling...
18-20°C are still very high, as long as you let them sink, it might work at 10-15°C...

[Andie]

Lesson learnt Markus It will eventually get colder for sure ..