39 replies to this topic

[AntaholicAnonymous]

So on another thread a couple good people convinced me to keep messor barbarus.
So far so good but the issue is I never kept them I don't know too much about them of course I punched it into Google but I'd like to hear from fellow ankeepers.

So here we are.
Messor or harvester ants in general do you have anything you think that might be good to know before I get my first colony or any mistakes you made?
I'd be happy to read whatever you have to say.

[Kaelwizard]

Don’t feed them sugars. Only seeds and the occasional insect from what I have heard.

[Broncos]

I personally love harvester ants. They have a wide variety of diet. I can tell you all about them.
FOOD: Give then seeds Dspdrew sells bags of harvester ant seeds for a great price. They also like very small bits of crickets. Mine will take crushed mealworms in very small bits. You can also give them chicken but wash it in water so they don’t eat seasonings to.
WATER: my pogonomyrmex californicus can't drink straight up liquids and will freak out and rub their mouthparts on the sand so I use cotton ,ALTHOUGH, my pogonomyrmex rugosus will drink straight up liquids gladly. You’ll have to see with your messor.
SWEETS: My pogonomyrmex species will drink sugar water or sunburst ant nectar. So I offer it to them every now and then.
HOUSING: My Pogonomyrmex do the best in dirt setups. I’m not 100% sure why but they just do.
I would recommend sand mixed with clay so the sand won’t collapse on them.
I am relating pogonomyrmex and messor because they are very similar.
Hope this helps... if you have any wuestions feel free to ask.

[Zeiss]

You could read some journals on the forum by searching the genus you are interested in.  There is also a post talking about preferred foods by species.

[AntaholicAnonymous]

I personally love harvester ants. They have a wide variety of diet. I can tell you all about them.
FOOD: Give then seeds Dspdrew sells bags of harvester ant seeds for a great price. They also like very small bits of crickets. Mine will take crushed mealworms in very small bits. You can also give them chicken but wash it in water so they don’t eat seasonings to.
WATER: my pogonomyrmex californicus can't drink straight up liquids and will freak out and rub their mouthparts on the sand so I use cotton ,ALTHOUGH, my pogonomyrmex rugosus will drink straight up liquids gladly. You’ll have to see with your messor.
SWEETS: My pogonomyrmex species will drink sugar water or sunburst ant nectar. So I offer it to them every now and then.
HOUSING: My Pogonomyrmex do the best in dirt setups. I’m not 100% sure why but they just do.
I would recommend sand mixed with clay so the sand won’t collapse on them.
I am relating pogonomyrmex and messor because they are very similar.
Hope this helps... if you have any wuestions feel free to ask.

Thanks that'll help me a lot.
I do have a couple questions actually.

So the food the drinking and so on I think I can deal with now but I wanna set up a very nice natural tank for them so I have to make some choices with informations I not yet have so maybe you know a bit about that.

Do they like to dig deep or do they make more shallow nests?

Do they like high or low humidy?
Because I'd have to be careful with too many plants if they like it dry.

Would you recommend heating the nest?

Are they good climbers?
Cause I wanna make the set up high and I have to choose how they'll get up and down the terrain.

Do I have to crush seeds for them if they don't have majors or does a new colony need special assistance?

Can they chew through silicone?



If I know all that I'd like to tell you what I wanna make for them and have your opinion if they'd like it or not.

Thanks for helping me out

[Broncos]

I personally love harvester ants. They have a wide variety of diet. I can tell you all about them.
FOOD: Give then seeds Dspdrew sells bags of harvester ant seeds for a great price. They also like very small bits of crickets. Mine will take crushed mealworms in very small bits. You can also give them chicken but wash it in water so they don’t eat seasonings to.
WATER: my pogonomyrmex californicus can't drink straight up liquids and will freak out and rub their mouthparts on the sand so I use cotton ,ALTHOUGH, my pogonomyrmex rugosus will drink straight up liquids gladly. You’ll have to see with your messor.
SWEETS: My pogonomyrmex species will drink sugar water or sunburst ant nectar. So I offer it to them every now and then.
HOUSING: My Pogonomyrmex do the best in dirt setups. I’m not 100% sure why but they just do.
I would recommend sand mixed with clay so the sand won’t collapse on them.
I am relating pogonomyrmex and messor because they are very similar.
Hope this helps... if you have any wuestions feel free to ask.

Thanks that'll help me a lot.
I do have a couple questions actually.

So the food the drinking and so on I think I can deal with now but I wanna set up a very nice natural tank for them so I have to make some choices with informations I not yet have so maybe you know a bit about that.

Do they like to dig deep or do they make more shallow nests?

Do they like high or low humidy?
Because I'd have to be careful with too many plants if they like it dry.

Would you recommend heating the nest?

Are they good climbers?
Cause I wanna make the set up high and I have to choose how they'll get up and down the terrain.

Do I have to crush seeds for them if they don't have majors or does a new colony need special assistance?

Can they chew through silicone?



If I know all that I'd like to tell you what I wanna make for them and have your opinion if they'd like it or not.

Thanks for helping me out

From my experience they dig deep nests.

According to pogonomyrmex they are horrible at climbing

You won’t have to crush the seeds as messor barbarus have majors but the larvae can chew the seeds either way.

For humidity they like low humidity in the outworld but relatively high humidity in the nest (40-60%)

I would heat them but put the heat mat on a small corner of the nest so they have a choice of heating requirements. For the heating cable do the same. Heating can greatly increase the speed and development of the colony.

They will (in my experience) only chew threw silicone if they need or want more nesting/foraging space. But I wouldn’t use it if it’s blocking the ants from the outside world/your house.
HOPE THIS HELPS!

[vtyler98]

I have one Pogonomyrmex colony in a THA fortress that is doing well and another in a deep clay dirt setup. You want something with clay in it to help prevent tunnel collapse. Regarding food I’ve heard sugars can be detrimental to colony growth and in my own experience this proved to be true so I avoid those altogether.

 

They love a variety of seeds, just make sure they are organic and chemical free. Seeds like coneflower, sunflower, yarrow, dandelion, Mexican hat, and lupine are a few that mine have really enjoyed. I feed them freeze dried insects, they love them and go crazy for them and it’s much easier to keep a constant supply of this vs live ones. 

[Broncos]

Just checked... they suck at climbing.


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[NickAnter]

I have read that Messor will occasionally accept sugar water or honey.  Apparently you are supposed to offer it every few weeks or so.

[Zeiss]

Sugar water is not needed for harvester ants.  Purely optional.

[Broncos]

Sugar water is not needed for harvester ants. Purely optional.

I like to as it gives the ants an energy boost.


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[Zeiss]

 

Sugar water is not needed for harvester ants. Purely optional.

I like to as it gives the ants an energy boost.

There is no conclusive evidence that it gives them energy boosts or benefits them from my understanding.

[Broncos]

Sugar water is not needed for harvester ants. Purely optional.

I like to as it gives the ants an energy boost.

There is no conclusive evidence that it gives them energy boosts or benefits them from my understanding.

Oh... well my p californicus are much more active after being fed sugar.


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[ant007]

So on another thread a couple good people convinced me to keep messor barbarus.
So far so good but the issue is I never kept them I don't know too much about them of course I punched it into Google but I'd like to hear from fellow ankeepers.

So here we are.
Messor or harvester ants in general do you have anything you think that might be good to know before I get my first colony or any mistakes you made?
I'd be happy to read whatever you have to say.

one of my five mini-colonies completely choked seeds with a chia incubator during the night. the seeds near the wet cotton sprouted. the rest carry a little, do not rush !!

[AntaholicAnonymous]

Thanks Broncos that helps a lot!

Beginning of the next season I gonna buy a colony.
I saw one for 30 bucks with 40 workers so I gonna set up their home soon so it's ready when they come.

I gonna use the information to the best of my abilities to make a setup.
I'll let you know when I finished it I wanna know what you think.
Gonna be a couple weeks tho

[Broncos]

Thanks Broncos that helps a lot!

Beginning of the next season I gonna buy a colony.
I saw one for 30 bucks with 40 workers so I gonna set up their home soon so it's ready when they come.

I gonna use the information to the best of my abilities to make a setup.
I'll let you know when I finished it I wanna know what you think.
Gonna be a couple weeks tho

Ok sweet glad I can help.
Thought I’m kind of jealous you are getting a colony of 40 workers for $30. The prices here are like $75 for a queen and 1-10 workers.


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[AntaholicAnonymous]

Thanks Broncos that helps a lot!
Beginning of the next season I gonna buy a colony.
I saw one for 30 bucks with 40 workers so I gonna set up their home soon so it's ready when they come.
I gonna use the information to the best of my abilities to make a setup.
I'll let you know when I finished it I wanna know what you think.
Gonna be a couple weeks tho

Ok sweet glad I can help.
Thought I’m kind of jealous you are getting a colony of 40 workers for $30. The prices here are like $75 for a queen and 1-10 workers.
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Yea I'm quite surprised about how cheap they are. Not gonna complain. lol
I'd think that they want you to get ants cheap off their sites and look for setups that are pretty expensive.
I think they are using the cheap colonies to get you as a customer so they can make money with the gear that you may wanna buy as well.

But anyways there's one thing I'm a little confused about.
Are the workers and larvae both eating the seeds?
Cause I'm used to brood needing protein and adults running with carbs.
So I'm not entirely sure if they need different types of seeds or if they digest it in different ways or what the deal is.

[Broncos]

Thanks Broncos that helps a lot!
Beginning of the next season I gonna buy a colony.
I saw one for 30 bucks with 40 workers so I gonna set up their home soon so it's ready when they come.
I gonna use the information to the best of my abilities to make a setup.
I'll let you know when I finished it I wanna know what you think.
Gonna be a couple weeks tho

Ok sweet glad I can help.
Thought I’m kind of jealous you are getting a colony of 40 workers for $30. The prices here are like $75 for a queen and 1-10 workers.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yea I'm quite surprised about how cheap they are. Not gonna complain. lol
I'd think that they want you to get ants cheap off their sites and look for setups that are pretty expensive.
I think they are using the cheap colonies to get you as a customer so they can make money with the gear that you may wanna buy as well.

But anyways there's one thing I'm a little confused about.
Are the workers and larvae both eating the seeds?
Cause I'm used to brood needing protein and adults running with carbs.
So I'm not entirely sure if they need different types of seeds or if they digest it in different ways or what the deal is.

Only the larvae eat the seeds and workers run off of sugar. Although you may want to feed the colony as much as possible because if it has 40 workers there will me majors and major larvae eat more protein. It also benefits the queen when she has some protein.


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[TennesseeAnts]

The larvae consume the seeds (chewing mouthparts) and they regurgitate liquids rich in sugar, that the adults then eat. I believe.

[AntaholicAnonymous]

So I'll just give them seeds, fruits and some insects they know best what they want and I'll just go by that.