ANTSTORE World of Ants

[DigiSERBIA]

Hey guys,haven't posted in a while,my Messor structor colony had about 50 workers pre hibernation,since i took them out of the hibernation i gave them dandelion seeds immediately and they harvested them,but their numbers fell down from 50 to about 5 ???? The queen layed new eggs but im not sure why did they die ? Help please. Might it be the water tank in the test tube has dried out and thats the problem?

[AntsNational]

I'm not sure as to why they died but I've been going through the same thing with my Messor colony. Unfortunately all I have remaining is my queen and sadly I've received no help from this forum.. how is your colony doing now? Perhaps the dandelion seeds were contaminated by some sort of harmful pesticide? In my expeience, natural grass seed has been the first choice and the favored for my ants.

Vasile

[DigiSERBIA]

I'm not sure as to why they died but I've been going through the same thing with my Messor colony. Unfortunately all I have remaining is my queen and sadly I've received no help from this forum.. how is your colony doing now? Perhaps the dandelion seeds were contaminated by some sort of harmful pesticide? In my expeience, natural grass seed has been the first choice and the favored for my ants.

Vasile

Hi Vas,if it was the dandelion they would have died right away,because i picked the seeds in a very large mass and i've been using the same seeds for like 7-8 months so i don't think its that. Its doing good,3 workers and new eggs. Will keep posting about the population of the colony here

[AntsNational]

My queen is still hanging in there too, no workers or eggs though

[shane]

You can feed queen crushed seed nut, Even a very small amount of cooked chicken as thy will go mad for it but any left overs
"Remove them after" as you don't want mold from them.

Queen should fatten up again and start laying, The crushed seeds if any of her little works are alive will help to chew
the crushed nut seed bits in to a ant bread as many seeds with first worker ants that are born wornt have the jaw power
to open the nut shell of seeds to get to the nut inside even though thy will collect them and in most cases die trying to open them.

Once you get bigger media ants then thy will have power in there jaws to open seeds so smaller works can get to nut and both
will help out to feed colony.

[AntsNational]

Unfortunately my queen died. She was waiting around for a few months before she kicked it, I tried finding help from virtually every online community but noone cared to help so I'm out of Messor. This forum disappoints me lol.. I hope your story is different!

[Sojave]

I try this in english.

Ah k... So its the forums fault. I think Messor structor is a quite rare species here. And if some people have it, the colony must be great enough. The owner wouldnt steal brood from his own small colony in the first years. I have now a healthy but small one, eggs and larva.

Or some with older colonies couldnt reach the brood. I was asked for Camponotus ligniperdus some years ago, I cant reach the brood without let an army run through the room and risk a lot of workers. 30€seemed nice for some old brood, but its not worth the trouble and risks for disadvantages. And iam no expert, so it would be very difficult for me too. I wouldnt even think about open the nest, i would be overchallanged (?) within seconds.

Its not easy for for casual antkeeper to collect brood from a bigger colony in certain farmsetups.

And moneytransfers with random people from the internet could be a risk too, if the price goes above a certain price it could be risky.
So there are some points, why most of these requests arent answered.

Example: If i need some brood for Lasius niger, how long would it take until someone would respond to me? The new antkeeper wouldnt risk there new colonies, the "advanced" dont know how it be can done safely and the "experts" havent these species anymore.

I think, its not a lack of interest nor a question of the price.

[AntsNational]

I try this in english.

Ah k... So its the forums fault. I think Messor structor is a quite rare species here. And if some people have it, the colony must be great enough. The owner wouldnt steal brood from his own small colony in the first years. I have now a healthy but small one, eggs and larva.

Or some with older colonies couldnt reach the brood. I was asked for Camponotus ligniperdus some years ago, I cant reach the brood without let an army run through the room and risk a lot of workers. 30€seemed nice for some old brood, but its not worth the trouble and risks for disadvantages. And iam no expert, so it would be very difficult for me too. I wouldnt even think about open the nest, i would be overchallanged (?) within seconds.

Its not easy for for casual antkeeper to collect brood from a bigger colony in certain farmsetups.

And moneytransfers with random people from the internet could be a risk too, if the price goes above a certain price it could be risky.
So there are some points, why most of these requests arent answered.

Example: If i need some brood for Lasius niger, how long would it take until someone would respond to me? The new antkeeper wouldnt risk there new colonies, the "advanced" dont know how it be can done safely and the "experts" havent these species anymore.

I think, its not a lack of interest nor a question of the price.

Well said! Your english is very good by the way. I think perhaps at least if payment was first made then there would be no problem, it is almost the same as sending a colony through a transaction, now I will have to search for another Messor barbarus queen + colony. Cheers!

[DigiSERBIA]

Whats up guys,i haven't posted in a long time, my Messor is fantastic,i took them out of hibernation (they went early into hibernation) they're doing fantastic,its over 50+ workers,the queen is laying eggs,everything is fine, now im having problems relocating them to a formicariuam as you can now i have to build it my self because the store doesn't send to Serbia. Cheers guys