35 replies to this topic

[Adama30]

Hey Guys, 

 

I recently got a Messor Cephalotes queen a little while ago and she arrived with a small pile of eggs. While she has been with me she has settled down a treat. Laid more eggs until she had about 18 and wasn't long before they hatched. I was even able to see a larvae still curled up inside its egg near to hatching.

 

 

The day finally arrived and her eggs began to hatch, notice the young larvae still in its egg in the below picture. 

 

 

A week went by and her larvae grew. To help her Majesty I have been giving her one or too defrosted fruit fly's every few days which she has been taking and eating. 

 

 

She started to get quite a few larvae as her eggs were hatching and she was being very attentive. 

 

 

As a type this Journal entry the larvae are now two weeks old, she has unfortunately lost two which didn't seem to be taking food and within days they had shrivelled and gone brown so the queen ate them. Five large larvae remain and grow every day and her brood pile holds a collection of new eggs and newly hatched and days old larvae. 

 

 

Well that's the update so far, Hopefully her larvae should be turning to pupae by the end of the week. I've been told its two to three weeks for Messor Cephalotes to pupate. Three weeks will be about Friday the 22nd. Here's hoping. 

 

Update soon , take care all. Adam 

[ANTdrew]

Great start to the journal. I look forward to more updates.

[Adama30]

Great start to the journal. I look forward to more updates.

 

Thank you, I will definitely update as things happen. 

[United-Ants]

Hey Guys, 

 

I recently got a Messor Cephalotes queen a little while ago and she arrived with a small pile of eggs. While she has been with me she has settled down a treat. Laid more eggs until she had about 18 and wasn't long before they hatched. I was even able to see a larvae still curled up inside its egg near to hatching.

 

 

The day finally arrived and her eggs began to hatch, notice the young larvae still in its egg in the below picture. 

 

 

A week went by and her larvae grew. To help her Majesty I have been giving her one or too defrosted fruit fly's every few days which she has been taking and eating. 

 

 

She started to get quite a few larvae as her eggs were hatching and she was being very attentive. 

 

 

As a type this Journal entry the larvae are now two weeks old, she has unfortunately lost two which didn't seem to be taking food and within days they had shrivelled and gone brown so the queen ate them. Five large larvae remain and grow every day and her brood pile holds a collection of new eggs and newly hatched and days old larvae. 

 

 

Well that's the update so far, Hopefully her larvae should be turning to pupae by the end of the week. I've been told its two to three weeks for Messor Cephalotes to pupate. Three weeks will be about Friday the 22nd. Here's hoping. 

 

Update soon , take care all. Adam 

that is a huge queen   hope she dose well 

[Adama30]

 

Hey Guys, 

 

I recently got a Messor Cephalotes queen a little while ago and she arrived with a small pile of eggs. While she has been with me she has settled down a treat. Laid more eggs until she had about 18 and wasn't long before they hatched. I was even able to see a larvae still curled up inside its egg near to hatching.

 

 

The day finally arrived and her eggs began to hatch, notice the young larvae still in its egg in the below picture. 

 

 

A week went by and her larvae grew. To help her Majesty I have been giving her one or too defrosted fruit fly's every few days which she has been taking and eating. 

 

 

She started to get quite a few larvae as her eggs were hatching and she was being very attentive. 

 

 

As a type this Journal entry the larvae are now two weeks old, she has unfortunately lost two which didn't seem to be taking food and within days they had shrivelled and gone brown so the queen ate them. Five large larvae remain and grow every day and her brood pile holds a collection of new eggs and newly hatched and days old larvae. 

 

 

Well that's the update so far, Hopefully her larvae should be turning to pupae by the end of the week. I've been told its two to three weeks for Messor Cephalotes to pupate. Three weeks will be about Friday the 22nd. Here's hoping. 

 

Update soon , take care all. Adam 

that is a huge queen   hope she dose well 

 

Thank you, I hope so too  

 

 

[Adama30]

Hey guys, So I have awesome news, I awoke this morning to find my Messor Cephalotes had her first pupae. I'm so happy to be seeing this, her other larvae hatched days apart so soon all should pupate the next few days. 

 

 

First Worker pupae among her healthy 3 week old larvae and eggs.

 

 

Really looking forward to these first workers eclosing and hoping once they have the colony thrives. 

 

That's the update so far. 

 

Have courage and Be Kind 

 

Adam 

 

 

[Noissimren]

Any updates my friend？

[Adama30]

Any updates my friend？

 

Hey There, yes indeed, the Queen now has workers and plenty of brood. I need to do a proper update so once i get pictures this week i will do

[Adama30]

Hey Guys

 

So its been a good few months for the Messor Cephalotes, The queen now has 11 workers, and a large pile of brood, more larvae are pupating and a batch of eggs are hatching so the colony is doing great. 

 

Current food is a mixture of honey water, seeds and insects, all of which are taken readily. I have noticed the colony tends to prefer protein more, they take insects readily. 

 

here are some photos, they are doing brilliant. 

 

So much brood, with a pile of large larvae, 3 new pupae and a pile of eggs that are now all hatching this colony will hopefully thrive. 

The colony have been allowed a expandable nest. The set up I use are custom ordered hightechant four way connectors which I have had custom made to each have there own small hydration ports. I then take the connectors, coat them with plaster of Paris and as it sets sprinkle sand over the top. This seems to be working very well and this colony seem to love there nest. Obviously I keep the chambers unused uncovered to allow the colony to explore them but not move to them, as the colony grows I will cover each chamber as required and add more on to the run. 

 

 

I keep my ant room in between 26-28c this seems to suit. 

 

That's the update so far everyone, 

 

Have courage and be kind. 

 

Adam 

Edited by Adama30, September 4 2022 - 6:14 AM.

[BioScorpion]

I greatly admire how clean you keep your ant setups. I'm a neat freak so this is pleasing to see.

[Adama30]

I greatly admire how clean you keep your ant setups. I'm a neat freak so this is pleasing to see.

 

 

Thank you, I'm exactly the same so have to make sure all is in order and clean xD

[ANTdrew]

That becomes basically impossible with massive colonies.

[Adama30]

That becomes basically impossible with massive colonies.

 

Thank you for letting me know xD

[ZTYguy]

I’ve been keeping up with this journal since day one and all I have to say is that this is journaling at its finest. Lovely colony, amazing setup, and most of all I love this species. I am so jealous we don’t have these out here in California.

[Ants_Dakota]

those round eggs look too much like orbeez...

[Adama30]

I’ve been keeping up with this journal since day one and all I have to say is that this is journaling at its finest. Lovely colony, amazing setup, and most of all I love this species. I am so jealous we don’t have these out here in California.

 

Thank you so much, this species is becoming a pleasure to keep. I shall keep updating as things develop  

 

those round eggs look too much like orbeez...

 

They so do, and there nice and large xD

[Pogomatt]

Great journal! That Hightechants nest looks great, looks like they don’t make that model anymore unfortunately. Looking forward to seeing how your colony develops - this species is on my want list along with M. arenarius

[Adama30]

Great journal! That Hightechants nest looks great, looks like they don’t make that model anymore unfortunately. Looking forward to seeing how your colony develops - this species is on my want list along with M. arenarius

 

Hey there, thank you. The hightechants connectors I use are custom made as required so they don't appear on the website.  You'd have to ask specifically for them, but they do come with a higher price because of this. The lining of plaster and sand is added by myself once I receive them. 

[Adama30]

Hey Hey

 

Mixed news today, unfortunately I made a rookie mistake. I think I expanded there nests a little too fast, this properly meant a lack of humidity and lost 6 workers which started acting disorientated and weird before dying. I took the extra nest chambers away and have given them a testube for feeding in. This has water behind a cotton wall bung so at least means they have extra water to drink and keeps everything humid. For a few days now I've seen a increase in foraging activity and general wellness of workers so hopefully this resolves the issue.

 

As for the remaining colony all seems great, queen is laying, larvae are growing, colony is now down to 9 workers, but has at least seven pupae of varying sizes due to emerge in the next few weeks. Excitingly one of these is huge, at half the size of the queen it looks like a major or large media. I'm super excited to see her eclose.

 

Video of my colony below

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/PzO9T34q3bI



that's all for now

 

Have courage be Kind

Edited by Adama30, September 30 2022 - 8:53 AM.

[NicholasP]

 

Hey Hey

 

Mixed news today, unfortunately I made a rookie mistake. I think I expanded there nests a little too fast, this properly meant a lack of humidity and lost 6 workers which started acting disorientated and weird before dying. I took the extra nest chambers away and have given them a testube for feeding in. This has water behind a cotton wall bung so at least means they have extra water to drink and keeps everything humid. For a few days now I've seen a increase in foraging activity and general wellness of workers so hopefully this resolves the issue.

 

As for the remaining colony all seems great, queen is laying, larvae are growing, colony is now down to 9 workers, but has at least seven pupae of varying sizes due to emerge in the next few weeks. Excitingly one of these is huge, at half the size of the queen it looks like a major or large media. I'm super excited to see her eclose.

 

Video of my colony below

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/PzO9T34q3bI



that's all for now

 

Have courage be Kind

 

The thing with Messor is food, food, and more food. They will eat any extra food you give them. So just go ham with them.