Messor Barbarus - Deaths in new nest

Let us know of your ant colonies or queens that have passed away. We will grieve together but will also learn why your ants may not have succeeded.

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eleyon
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2020 9:00 pm
Location: Vienna

Messor Barbarus - Deaths in new nest

Post: # 68378Post eleyon
Wed Mar 18, 2020 9:11 pm

Greetings fellow ant keeper! Im a musician from austria so please excuse my english ;) So I nursed a nearly dying ant colony of Messor Barbarus from 5 to a thriving empire of a few thousands in the last 3 years. I decided to add a new nesting space (in additon to my AntsCanada hybrid nest), so I build a new nest out of Ytong-Stone. They immediately started to eat the Ytong so I decided to make a new nest using modeling plaster. There are many stories of dying ants in very dry plaster so I first let it dry and after setting up I moisturized it again a bit. After a few hours I found a handful of dead ants at the bottom of my nest and disconected the setup. I build some test setups and Im always finding the same reaction: my ants die if they are in a plaster nest.
Anybody found similar problems with their ants? (btw Im using keraquick plaster).
Thanks for your responses ;)

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

Re: Messor Barbarus - Deaths in new nest

Post: # 99438Post SolenopsisKeeper
Sun Jun 04, 2023 11:51 pm

eleyon wrote:
Wed Mar 18, 2020 9:11 pm
Greetings fellow ant keeper! Im a musician from austria so please excuse my english ;) So I nursed a nearly dying ant colony of Messor Barbarus from 5 to a thriving empire of a few thousands in the last 3 years. I decided to add a new nesting space (in additon to my AntsCanada hybrid nest), so I build a new nest out of Ytong-Stone. They immediately started to eat the Ytong so I decided to make a new nest using modeling plaster. There are many stories of dying ants in very dry plaster so I first let it dry and after setting up I moisturized it again a bit. After a few hours I found a handful of dead ants at the bottom of my nest and disconected the setup. I build some test setups and Im always finding the same reaction: my ants die if they are in a plaster nest.
Anybody found similar problems with their ants? (btw Im using keraquick plaster).
Thanks for your responses ;)
Either you are putting them in too soon, the plaster brand has pesticides, or your specific shipment was exposed to something
When you accidentally reply to yourself…

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