Messor Barbarus questions (Natural Setup & more)

[Gaazy123]

Hi all,

Good morning from the UK.

I'm a first time Ant keeper, started May/June of 2019. I've currently got an L.Niger colony & Messor.Barb colony.

My Messor.Barbs are currently in an AntKit AntHouse, which is amazing. (https://imgur.com/a/KqW95kS)

I've got two questions for Y'all experienced ant keepers.

1. Whenever I feed my colony protein; ham, chicken, etc. The queen always comes out of the nest and runs around in frantic (Although just before I took the photo above, it looked like she was feeding herself!). Is this normal behaviour or has my queen just not shy or concerned about her surroundings?

2.
My Colony is getting pretty big now. I can't really clean the Antkit they are in as there are always multiple workers running around! I have two AntsCanada Ant Towers. When would be best to move them in? I feel like I have between 30-40 workers at the moment, hopefully, majors soon! My major concern about moving them into a more natural setup is: how do I hydrate the nest without germinating the seeds?! In a test tube that's simple but in a more natural setup, how would I get around that?

Thanks for all of the help past and present.

[AntsLuxembourg]

Hi all,

Good morning from the UK.

I'm a first time Ant keeper, started May/June of 2019. I've currently got an L.Niger colony & Messor.Barb colony.

My Messor.Barbs are currently in an AntKit AntHouse, which is amazing. (https://imgur.com/a/KqW95kS)

I've got two questions for Y'all experienced ant keepers.

1. Whenever I feed my colony protein; ham, chicken, etc. The queen always comes out of the nest and runs around in frantic (Although just before I took the photo above, it looked like she was feeding herself!). Is this normal behaviour or has my queen just not shy or concerned about her surroundings?

2.
My Colony is getting pretty big now. I can't really clean the Antkit they are in as there are always multiple workers running around! I have two AntsCanada Ant Towers. When would be best to move them in? I feel like I have between 30-40 workers at the moment, hopefully, majors soon! My major concern about moving them into a more natural setup is: how do I hydrate the nest without germinating the seeds?! In a test tube that's simple but in a more natural setup, how would I get around that?

Thanks for all of the help past and present.

Hey,

I know it's really late, however you posted it inside the Ant FAQ section.

1. I don't think that it's normal queen behaviour, unless the queen is attracted by the smell or something else.

2. This is the neat part. You kind of don't water their nest. I barely water my setup for them and they are happily expanding. Of course if you use clay soil as digging material for them, you can water once every few months. But they don't need much. Perhaps 1 or 2 water testtubes. You could try to only water one side of the setup so the ants can store their seeds in the less humid part of the nest.