Species recommendation

Questions from those who are just starting or considering getting into the ant keeping hobby. If you’re intimidated or confused by the in-depth posts of the other sections of this forum, feel free to post here, and we'll start from square one!

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AnaBelchior9
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:38 pm
Location: Lisbon

Species recommendation

Post: # 49295Post AnaBelchior9
Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:45 pm

Hi
My name is Ana and I'm from Portugal. I thank you in advance for taking the time to help me. So the thing is, here in Portugal ant keeping is not a common "hobbie" at all, and I can't find much information available. I saw a video from AntsCanada by "accident" on YouTube and got hooked, saw almost every video by now, so I turn to you for help, even if I feel I'm waisting your time. The only two species I found for sell nearby, through the GAN project, were Messor Barbarus and Lasius Niger. Wich one would you reccomend for a first time? I'm more inclinned for the second, mostly because of it's eating habbits, as far as I found on the internet, but what do you think? Is that a good choice? Is the Messor Barbarus better? Or none of the two are good for someone without experience? I appoligize so much for the lenght of the message, and thank you even more for taking the time to read it. Also I'm very sorry for any English error, I tried my best, but I'm Portuguese. Thank you very, very much.
Ana Belchior

ClashOwenBash
Posts: 189
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2018 1:58 am
Location: Oxfordshire, England

Re: Species recommendation

Post: # 49343Post ClashOwenBash
Tue Sep 04, 2018 12:44 am

Welcome to the glorious hobby that is ant-keeping! I guess you're referring to the Messor Barbarus's diet of seeds which is putting you off. Messor ants can be interesting with their polymorphism (the workers come in many sizes, including majors!). However I do agree with your idea of keeping Lasius Niger. They are a simple, hardy, and fast-growing ant species which makes them great for beginners. They also take almost anything to eat. They were my first species as well, and I love them. I still have my first colony with me!
Ant-keeper going into his 4th year of loving ants!

AnaBelchior9
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:38 pm
Location: Lisbon

Re: Species recommendation

Post: # 49356Post AnaBelchior9
Tue Sep 04, 2018 4:13 am

Thank you 😊
Yes, from what I could learn on the internet, the Messor Barbarus are very beautiful, and larger than the Lasius, wich would be great for me to observe them better, but I'm a little scared because of their diet of seeds and grains, because I assume they would also need some small amounts of protein in form of insects, and sugars, and I'm afraid I don't give them what they need, or don't care for them properly. The Lasius Niger, from what I read accept a lot of diferent food, so I think I would't worry so much about not taking propper care of them in the feeding chapter... Thans for taking the time to read and answer me 😊

JoeHostile1
Posts: 409
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:51 am
Location: Canada
Contact:

Re: Species recommendation

Post: # 49493Post JoeHostile1
Wed Sep 05, 2018 9:03 am

Both those species are great for beginners. The Messor colonies are actually easier to take care of because you can just give them a whole bunch of seeds that they will store inside their nest and that is their main food source. So keeping them fed is actually less work. It’s also fun to see which seeds they like and which are their favourite. But both the niger and Messor should be givin insects as well. The Messor are also larger which makes them easier to observe what they are doing. But like I and others have said, both are good beginner species.

If you decide to go with Messor here are my messor’s favourite seeds in order. Could be different for every colony.
1.Grass seeds
2.Poppy seeds
3.Sesame seeds
4.Fennel seeds
And then the rest.
Keeping:
Tetramorium immigrans * Lasius Neoniger * Lasius Claviger * Messor Aciculatus * Myrmica Rubra * Camponotus Novaeboracensis * Camponotus Turkastanus * Pheidole Pallidula

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSfFtn6RegZ3F1NdS1g08NA

AntsDakota
Posts: 1283
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:22 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Species recommendation

Post: # 50410Post AntsDakota
Sat Sep 15, 2018 1:22 pm

AnaBelchior9 wrote:
Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:45 pm
Hi
My name is Ana and I'm from Portugal. I thank you in advance for taking the time to help me. So the thing is, here in Portugal ant keeping is not a common "hobbie" at all, and I can't find much information available. I saw a video from AntsCanada by "accident" on YouTube and got hooked, saw almost every video by now, so I turn to you for help, even if I feel I'm waisting your time. The only two species I found for sell nearby, through the GAN project, were Messor Barbarus and Lasius Niger. Wich one would you reccomend for a first time? I'm more inclinned for the second, mostly because of it's eating habbits, as far as I found on the internet, but what do you think? Is that a good choice? Is the Messor Barbarus better? Or none of the two are good for someone without experience? I appoligize so much for the lenght of the message, and thank you even more for taking the time to read it. Also I'm very sorry for any English error, I tried my best, but I'm Portuguese. Thank you very, very much.
Ana Belchior
Lasius niger is also a great beginner species.
"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25

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