alanjbernard@me.com hat geschrieben:It’s on a Day/Night thermostat which is set for 29c during the day and 24c at night. However because of the warm whether we’re getting in Scotland the temperature at the tube is up to 31c in the room.
She keeps a load of eggs in her mouth, I’m assuming she is cleaning them or maybe giving them some kind of nourishment, I’m not sure. Iv been trying to find out what this behaviour is but haven’t so far found any documentation on this.
If it's that warm you don't need to heat them, Messor barbarus likes temperatures around 25-30°C. I recently plugged out the heating cable of my Camponotus barbaricus nests (those ants come from the same area as Messor barbarus) and I'll put it back in when temperatures drop below 25.
Ants keeping eggs in their mouth is normal. They "communicate" with the eggs by vomiting hormones onto them to tell them to develop faster or to stall development (of course they also keep them clean). When the larvae get too big to be carried around all the time they will be put on the ground (or in sometimes temporarily pushed against the wet cotton).
alanjbernard@me.com hat geschrieben:I’m going to leave her alone for 4 weeks and not check her to see if she might get on a better.
That's a good idea, you can buy seeds and prepare a setup in that time (a simple plastic container is sufficient for the first months, just make sure there aren't any gaps through which the ants can escape).
alanjbernard@me.com hat geschrieben:I’m hoping I’ll see the first nanitics before November and I put her into Hibernation.
Messor barbarus multiply quite quickly and they only start hibernation in mid December so I'm fairly sure you'll see even a second and third wave of workers before that point.