278 replies to this topic

[Ernteameise]

I am happy to report that there is a nice amount of brood in 3 of the nest chambers (and strangely enough none on top of the water tower anymore- they seem to use the water tower chamber as a bakery now, where they sit and chew and produce their ant bread).

 

Look at all these larvae and pupae!

 

 

 

[100lols]

Going strong!! Lovely updates. Cheers!!

[Ernteameise]

I know, I am spoiling these girls rotten.

Well, today I added another small outworld to this colony, I actually hope they will use that one as a trash chamber.

We will see how this goes.

They are actually quite skittish and hesitant to check it out, so far I only had one intrepid explorer come and check it out.

I offered a feeding dish with some seed and a water feeder to make it more attractive.

Now I have to wait.

 

This is how my ant setup looks now:

 

 

Attachment of the new outworld- hopefully the trash area:

 

 

The sand was moistened to prevent dust damaging the breathing spiracles of the ants (this is what is recommended by the Antstore) and I added a water feeder and a dish with seed

 

 

One intrepid explorer checking it out

 

 

The outworld is from the Spanish company AntHouse.

I am quite happy with them, they produce decently priced acrylic goods.

They even added a couple of freebies, like an additional 5ml water feeder for this colony (they now have 4 in addition to their 2 water test tubes) and an ant key chain.

Edited by Ernteameise, April 30 2024 - 11:48 AM.

[Ernteameise]

Well, 2 hours in and the new outworld has become a very popular playground.

Everyone is out to check out the new area.

They even have emptied out and carried away all the seed into their granary in their nest.

 

 

There is even a group who is digging in the corner. No idea what they try to achieve, the sand is only a very thin layer, but the moist sand must trigger some digging instinct.

 

 

Also, the walnut which I gave them 2 weeks ago has proven to be great enrichment. They have been chiseling away at it and have created real tunnels into the innards of the nut.

 

[Ernteameise]

I am amazed that I can leave the lid off of that new outworld and I had no escapees so far.

I left the lid off to help the sand dry out.

The ants are content with digging around and now they are busy with the crickets I just fed.

 

Here we have some majors battling with dismembering and transporting a cricket:

 

 

Trying to drag away the whole thing single-anted:

 

[Ernteameise]

Trying to fit a cricket into that plastic hose:

 

 

Supplies for the kids and queen:

 

 

Edited by Ernteameise, May 1 2024 - 3:31 AM.

[Ernteameise]

Yummy sweet corn and chicken

 

[Ernteameise]

It is really fun to watch how they battle with the chicken pieces and try to fit them into the connector tubes and then try to drag them to the nest.

 

 

 

[Ernteameise]

Little update.

They are doing very well.

Just look at all that brood!

 

 

 

They are also very hungry, look at them trying to transport off that cricket (as per usual, they try to fit it in in an awkward way).

 

[Ernteameise]

Today I had some spare rips and decided to share a small juicy bit with the girls.

They were very interested and even got one of the biggest majors out to help cut up the meat.

 

 

[Ernteameise]

I fed boiled chicken to all of my girls today (since I made some chicken soup for myself).

The Messors are just so funny.

They did their usual thing of dragging everything into their nest.

And the chamber with the water tower is their "food preparation area", so this is where they all sat together and chewed up the chicken pieces.

And the chewed up chicken was then delivered to the nursery next door, where it was handed down to the larvae.

 

 

 

[Ernteameise]

Another feeding experiment-

boiled turkey meat and some cheese.

I have seen in one of the facebook groups, that some people feed cheese and the ants like it.

Well, the turkey is a success, but the cheese not so much.

I think my ants are just not cheese people.

 

[Ernteameise]

I tried again with mealworms since they did not like them the first time I offered and they also despise super worms.

However, now it seems that mealworms are accepted.

 

 

[Ernteameise]

These ants are a joy.

They are very active, respond to food with great foraging behavior and are just fun to watch.

When looking at these pictures, you can also see where the heat cable and heat mat are placed, since the workers are "hanging the pupae out to dry".

This looks pretty funny.

 

 

Views from inside the nest, brood and seed chambers:

 

 

 

 

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Lots of brood and callows I love reading this journal!

[Ernteameise]

It looks as if these ants also like pasta!

 

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

I might try that on my harvesters!

[Ernteameise]

I might try that on my harvesters!

I only tried it because someone in the Messor Facebook group posted a picture.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Seems like it works

[Stubyvast]

Wow this is really cool! I have heard of the ant-toilet before from Antscanada, and my Lasius Niger colony sort of does this by making little excrement piles in their outworld from themselves and the brood, but I haven't seen much of this online either. Weird!

Does your Messor colony have many brood yet? I haven't seen much in the images but your colony looks like it's doing super awesome either way!