Page 1 of 1

Messor Barbarus queen acting like she is semi claustral????

Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2019 4:12 pm
by Hunter36o
Hey so I have a mate who disagrees with the shipment of ants being a problem. In fact we argue constantly over. However she got 3 messor queens from the UK and decided to give me one. It was that or she was guna kill or release and I was not guna have either of that.

Now she has workers and brood now so I added a AC test tube portal and added a small cricket, a cotton ball with sugar water and 3 very small seeds (I was not expecting to have a Harvester ant so I'm not entirely sure when I am supposed to add seeds and I cannot find accurate info on this) now the weird this is every few days I find the queen out guzzling the sugar water and I noticed a huge chunk taken out of the cricket that it could have only been her since the workers are still tiny first gens. Is this normal behaviour for messor Barbarus queens or did I just happen to get a rental who is not as sensitive as I was previously aware of from care sheets and YouTubers?? She does not stay out. She literally gets her fill and then goes back into the test tube for a few days.

Re: Messor Barbarus queen acting like she is semi claustral????

Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2019 4:45 pm
by Camponotus
It is normal she is feeding her young

Re: Messor Barbarus queen acting like she is semi claustral????

Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2019 8:35 am
by Hunter36o
Yeah but she has workers now so I would have assumed like most fully claustral sort she would have left the work up to them? There is 4 workers in total.

Re: Messor Barbarus queen acting like she is semi claustral????

Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2019 12:59 pm
by Camponotus
It is normal

Re: Messor Barbarus queen acting like she is semi claustral????

Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2019 7:46 am
by Hunter36o
Grand thank you. It must have been an age thing because two workers are now doing the forging and not the queen :)

Re: Messor Barbarus queen acting like she is semi claustral????

Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2019 8:19 am
by Vincex
I got Messer barberus queen with 10 worker a week ago and she did the same thing ! I'm using an ac portal as a small outbox and she stroll s out to have a munch and none of the worker s seem to care

Re: Messor Barbarus queen acting like she is semi claustral????

Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2019 7:12 pm
by Hawkeye
Hey you wouldn't want to deny royalty to stretch her legs would you? The workers are probably still developing and might not be as effective in feeding her yet. And hey who better to judge her needs than the highness herself? Enjoy her being this visible and active :D