ANTSTORE World of Ants

[jackal]

Hello to all!!!
tuesday or Wednesday I'll receive my first queen of Messor barbarus .
So yesterday I built a ytong nest by concrete express.
I make some rooms and 3 deep hole on the left top for the water,so the left part of the ytong will be wet,and the right part will be dry.
I’ll put the ytong on an ex-acquarim in which I will put 2 cm of sand(arena).
Now I have some questins:
What will I do when the queen arrive?I think I’ll open the tube an than the queen will do what she had to do.But,where I must put the tube?on the sand in the arena?or in the top of the nest?I have read that there is not need of giving to eat to the queen.It's true?
Thanks once again

These are the foto:

[JimmyVe]

Looks nice to start with. I should put the queen (in tube) on the sand. cover up the tube and let here be. (it is hibernation) she will move when she think it is needed. you don't have to feed the queen but make sure she don't drys out. Keep in mind that Messor queens don't like to be disturb. if you want to check on here, not more than 1 time a week.

btw: make sure you cover up the nest area with some foil.

[mpir]

Nest looks ok althoug I'm not sure about how you plan to keep it closed from 3 sides just by puting it in aquarium. But I'm sure you figured this out by now.

You don't need to worry about feeding her. She is in hibernation so she won't eat.
JimmyVe is right. Messor queens are very sensiteve to disturbance and vibrations when starting a new colony. I've read this on several forums so you REALLY need to leave it alone as much as you can. Keep her in dark and make sure there is enough water and just forget about her until there will be workers who will take care of her. Maybe this is one reason why Messors are not good for beginers. Try to read about Salma I on this forum (no hard feeling Verban ). You need to be pacient. If I were you, I'd just leave her in the test tube until first workers arrive. And this will not happen so soon. Keep her in hibernation till end of March and by the end of May you will have first workers if you are lucky.

Pacience is the key word for sucessful antkeeping.

[jackal]

Nest looks ok althoug I'm not sure about how you plan to keep it closed from 3 sides just by puting it in aquarium. But I'm sure you figured this out by now.

The 3 side open I'll close by plexiglass.But it must be all red or red only in corrispondence to the queen room?
And still.Until May I'll havo only the queen?

[mpir]

It can be only queen's room. But more is better.

Yes, most likely you will have only queen till May. It would be realistic to say that you will have only queen till half of June. I'm not sure about Messors but at Lasius niger from egg to worker it is 56 day. You must also take in consideration that sometimes queen eats the eggs or larva so this puts you back for months. But once you have workers the number of them will go up quickly. Yup, pacience is the key word of ant keeping.

[jackal]

OK,now the last questin:how much degrees for hibernating period and how much humidity?
Thank You at all

[mpir]

Messor is a Mediteranean species so I'd say from 5 - 15 oC. But I'm really not sure about how low temperatures can they survive.

Don't worry about humidity. As long as there is water in test tube they will be ok.

[JimmyVe]

About covering up, it is indeed better to cover up the hole nest. (normally red foil will do with Messor, black is okay to)
Like Mpir sad, you have to be patient having ants. Especially with Messor.
For hibernation 5-15°c is okay but 5-10°c is better.
Normally if they are underground they can survive temperatures below 0°c but i would try that out if they are in a tube.
Humidity is normally about 40-60%, also in hibernation i keep it this way but it is not necessary.