Questions about Messor Barbarus

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AntsLuxembourg
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Questions about Messor Barbarus

Post: # 38699Post AntsLuxembourg
Sun Jun 24, 2018 8:14 am

Hello there,

I stumbled up a tread before with a Messor Barbarus Antcolony and I still got some questions about that antspecis. This is the topic I found btw. (http://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?t=1186)

So I currently have a Messor Barbarus Colony and I am happy that the queen survived all the stress she was put into. So the story is this. I had a colony of Lasius Niger bought from a very nice GAN Farmer in Belgium and it was my first real attempt to keep ants (As I child I though trapping ants in small plastic boxes was cool but those days lay very far in the past. R.I.P. dear ants (T_T)) and I managed to keep her for a few months until I noticed she didn't move no more which was more or less a week after I placed the testtube inside an empty box so they could have some more space. Probably a starter mistake. So I waited arround 4-6 months when I decided to get me a new colony and with a much better setup. So I decided to buy me a nest on Amazon which had a queenant included already. Type Messor Barbarus. I was really happy to have a new colony and I was provided with some informations beforehand already by the seller. :D

Sadly the queen passed away too a few days after I connected the tubes to the new setup. Funny thing was I though she was alive but something like resting cause the ants kept moving the queen arround quite a lot so I though if she moves she's still alive. But yeah she had past away over night after a friend of mine visited me. So I managed to catch most of the workers and put them back into the testtube. I also of course checked that the ants are somewhat native to Luxembourg before I ordered the nest cause in the description it told me what queen was included. So after a few days I decided to get me a new queen ant which is happily laying eggs and the workers seem quite busy.

I'm currently trying all sorts of seeds to see which fruits and seeds I can offer them to give them a bigger choice. So far I saw that they take peeled apple and cherry seeds. They brought the apple seeds straight to the queen and started breaking them down. :D

I will try some other seeds too like lemon and orange of I can get hold of some. :D
So here are some of the questions I still have in my mind.

1. What can I do with the left workers from the old colony. Like can I perhaps merge the workers with the new colony without both of them getting into a fight?
Their eggs have all hatched but I can't bring myself to just kill them. I had to kill some of the workers which wouldn't move back to their testtube but that was really hard for me. :C
2. Can they chew through the glue of a glue gun? Hopefully not or else I will have to replace some pieces of the setup.
3. What insects to they eat? I haven't given them any insects yet but a protein mixture of the antstore I got the colony from.
4. Should I offer them fruits? Like bits of raspberries or oranges to give them some sugary stuff beside from honey? I have placed a nice chunk of rockcandy in their arena.

I hope someone here can help me with some of those questions.
Now that those questions are asked about the species directly I would like to ask something else which is much more streamer/photographer related. That's because I'm streaming the colony every single day on Twitch so others can enjoy the colony as well. the first thing I do when I get home or wake up is to start my computer to start the stream. haha :D
So my question would be does anyone know any good webcam or camera I could use to stream the colony in a good quality? Currently I have two webcams, the Logitech C920 and the Logitech Business Brio, which are quite alright but I would like to have a good camera for a much better view. I though about getting a GoPro Hero 6 with a macrolense for the queen or specific areas but I am not sure if there are other cameras I could use for the streaming. It would be best if I can add the cameras with OBS.

Well that should be all for now.

Kind regards,
AntsLuxembourg aka. Nico
Doing some proper research is the best way to start an antcolony.

Need help or want to help? https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=18153#p70566

Currently not keeping any ants anymore.

SolenopsisKeeper
Posts: 2402
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:41 am
Location: United States, Florida

Re: Questions about Messor Barbarus

Post: # 88376Post SolenopsisKeeper
Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:15 am

AntsLuxembourg wrote:
Sun Jun 24, 2018 8:14 am
Hello there,

I stumbled up a tread before with a Messor Barbarus Antcolony and I still got some questions about that antspecis. This is the topic I found btw. (http://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?t=1186)

So I currently have a Messor Barbarus Colony and I am happy that the queen survived all the stress she was put into. So the story is this. I had a colony of Lasius Niger bought from a very nice GAN Farmer in Belgium and it was my first real attempt to keep ants (As I child I though trapping ants in small plastic boxes was cool but those days lay very far in the past. R.I.P. dear ants (T_T)) and I managed to keep her for a few months until I noticed she didn't move no more which was more or less a week after I placed the testtube inside an empty box so they could have some more space. Probably a starter mistake. So I waited arround 4-6 months when I decided to get me a new colony and with a much better setup. So I decided to buy me a nest on Amazon which had a queenant included already. Type Messor Barbarus. I was really happy to have a new colony and I was provided with some informations beforehand already by the seller. :D

Sadly the queen passed away too a few days after I connected the tubes to the new setup. Funny thing was I though she was alive but something like resting cause the ants kept moving the queen arround quite a lot so I though if she moves she's still alive. But yeah she had past away over night after a friend of mine visited me. So I managed to catch most of the workers and put them back into the testtube. I also of course checked that the ants are somewhat native to Luxembourg before I ordered the nest cause in the description it told me what queen was included. So after a few days I decided to get me a new queen ant which is happily laying eggs and the workers seem quite busy.

I'm currently trying all sorts of seeds to see which fruits and seeds I can offer them to give them a bigger choice. So far I saw that they take peeled apple and cherry seeds. They brought the apple seeds straight to the queen and started breaking them down. :D

I will try some other seeds too like lemon and orange of I can get hold of some. :D
So here are some of the questions I still have in my mind.

1. What can I do with the left workers from the old colony. Like can I perhaps merge the workers with the new colony without both of them getting into a fight?
Their eggs have all hatched but I can't bring myself to just kill them. I had to kill some of the workers which wouldn't move back to their testtube but that was really hard for me. :C
2. Can they chew through the glue of a glue gun? Hopefully not or else I will have to replace some pieces of the setup.
3. What insects to they eat? I haven't given them any insects yet but a protein mixture of the antstore I got the colony from.
4. Should I offer them fruits? Like bits of raspberries or oranges to give them some sugary stuff beside from honey? I have placed a nice chunk of rockcandy in their arena.

I hope someone here can help me with some of those questions.
Now that those questions are asked about the species directly I would like to ask something else which is much more streamer/photographer related. That's because I'm streaming the colony every single day on Twitch so others can enjoy the colony as well. the first thing I do when I get home or wake up is to start my computer to start the stream. haha :D
So my question would be does anyone know any good webcam or camera I could use to stream the colony in a good quality? Currently I have two webcams, the Logitech C920 and the Logitech Business Brio, which are quite alright but I would like to have a good camera for a much better view. I though about getting a GoPro Hero 6 with a macrolense for the queen or specific areas but I am not sure if there are other cameras I could use for the streaming. It would be best if I can add the cameras with OBS.

Well that should be all for now.

Kind regards,
AntsLuxembourg aka. Nico
This is quite an old posts, but anyway, most ants can slowly chew threw hot glue, but this is only if they need more room and their nest is full. You could feed them extra fruit, so they do not get “bored” of honey.
When you accidentally reply to yourself…

AntsLuxembourg
Posts: 1578
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:17 am
Location: Luxembourg
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Re: Questions about Messor Barbarus

Post: # 88380Post AntsLuxembourg
Thu Feb 17, 2022 9:22 am

I'm sure someone replied to my question but must have deleted his account since.

Since then I have learned that they don't eat Honey at all. At least mine didn't. My Messor Barbarus always bring their garbage to the honey.
Doing some proper research is the best way to start an antcolony.

Need help or want to help? https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=18153#p70566

Currently not keeping any ants anymore.

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