Raising my first Messor Barbarus colony

[LowlandAnts]

Hello there! I'm a Dutchman who recently acquired a colony of Messor Barbarus with 20-ish worker ants.

I've done some reading on this ant species and have learned some small tidbits observing my ants. I'm keeping the colony in a soil vivarium, and introduction went pretty smoothly. The workers immediately started walking around exploring the new territory, with the queen peeking out briefly before hiding back into the test tube. The workers quickly started digging away into the hole I had pressed into the soil, and two hours later I just barely caught the queen on tape as she moved into their new nest. Shortly after they started bringing in food and eggs.

I've so far noticed that they don't seem to drink sugarwater, and I've confirmed that they will outright ignore honeydew. They do seem to have a thing for pre-killed earwigs, but they don't eat much of it as of now. And every now and then I'll catch them carrying seeds into or out of the nest.


Now comes my question. What are the telltale signs that the colony is doing well? I can not look into the nest since it's a soil vivarium. Most of the workers seem to be hiding out in the nest currently, with about half the original amount of workers coming out in the morning, decreasing as the day proceeds. I've so far found 3 or 4 dead workers, but I haven't found any more than those since.

I'd be very thankful for any advice given by more experienced Messor keepers. Thank you in advance!

-LowlandAnts

[AntsLuxembourg]

So far my experience with them is that Messor Barbarus is a very easy to keep species. They just need some new seeds and some insects every so often and for the rest, you are good to go if you don't over water their nest. They prefer it a bit humid or humid enough for digging. For the rest they will store their seeds and consume those. I have tried honey a few times in the beginning but they always refused so sugar seems to be a big no from them.