278 replies to this topic

[Ernteameise]

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!

Yeah, it is awesome with the toilet.

It really works.

The toilet is now in the front right corner of my Antcube, and it is used a lot, and it is a great place for me to clean (but never clean it completely, otherwise they won't recognize it so well anymore).

 

As you can see in my latest posts from yesterday, yes, I do have brood, they have distributed them in 3 different chambers, according to size, development, heat an humidity (I assume). I think they are doing fine, but I do limit their protein a bit (only around 3-4 times a week) to keep the colony from exploding. I am happy with how it is right now.

[Ernteameise]

The colony continues to grow.

Just look at the piles of eggs they are having!

 

 

Tons of larvae and puppae

 

 

 

It also looks as if they are producing their first alates!!!

This looks very much like an alate puppa, there are several of these huge larvae and puppae.

 

 

I had not expected them to produce alates so early (they are a now 3 years old).

I am also not sure how to remove the alates- getting them out of a running nest will be near impossible without causing a major upset and chaos.

[Ernteameise]

So yeah, today I found the first alates in this colony.

Not sure if this is good or bad, there have been reports that in some colonies, frustrated alate unmated queens have killed the real queen.

But it definitely would be too much a hassle to get the alates out of an active nest.

 

 

Otherwise, the colony is doing well, as usual, the go mental over new seed that I offer.

 

 

[ANTdrew]

Just leave them. It’s not necessary to always remove alates.

[Ernteameise]

Today I went to the pet shop and bought some large locusts to try them out with all of my girls.

The Messor loved the chunky big insects and dug right in.

I also provided them with a new half organic walnut since they have nearly cleared out the first one. There are always some workers chiseling around on these walnuts and I think they make a great enrichment.

I also did not chop up the locusts, but provided them whole and now the girls have to put these large majors to some good use to have the food chopped up.

After all, in the wild, nobody is preparing the food for them, either.

 

 

7

 

[Ernteameise]

The ladies have done their work over night have chopped up the locust completely.

Would you look at that:

 

[Ernteameise]

Messor versus locust last night.

 

 

Right now, they have over a dozen queen alates in their nest. Running all over the place when I shine my red light in there.

Looks as if the colony put a lot of effort into these alates, hope this did not stunt the colony too much since I see less growth than I had expected otherwise.

We will see.

And as soon as the alates decide to come out of the nest, I will pick them off.

In nature, their nuptial flights are in autumn, September and October.

[Ernteameise]

The girls are voracious and dismantle their locust with enthusiasm.

 

 

RARRR!!!

 

[Ernteameise]

Walnut continues to be very popular

 

[Ernteameise]

And for today, a nice piece of Messor art.

Something in a modern expressionist style.

 

This is what happens when I put a water drinker in which I had just cleaned and which was still wet.

The ants removed cotton wool from the test tube water sources in the arena and dried the water tower themselves.

 

 

I also gave them another walnut.

Believe it or not, but they have already eaten up the last one!

Edited by Ernteameise, August 17 2024 - 6:06 AM.

[T.C.]

Crazy they are able to chew up a walnut. 

[Ernteameise]

Crazy they are able to chew up a walnut. 

Well, I have cracked the nut, so they can go in. But the speed with which they eat the inside is astounding.

[Ernteameise]

The Messor colony is also doing well.

Lots of queen alates, but these are just sitting around doing nothing.

The colony also loves their fancy nest, they have filled it out around 50% by now.

I limit their protein to around 2-3 times a week, but they have a large seed stash so they won't go hungry.

 

 

 

 

The butt of the queen:

 

 

 

Yummy chicken:

 

 

[Ernteameise]

Oh yes!

Chicken is very popular!

 

[Ernteameise]

Food was very popular today

 

 

[Ernteameise]

Just a reminder that Messor harvester ants have very strong jaws.

They have to, since they can crack seed.

Recently, they have started to chew on the connection tube of my custom Tarheel Ants nest.

Not sure if this is doing damage / harm, but I also do not know what to do about it.

Apparently, the ants do not like it sticking out, so it has to go.

 

[Ernteameise]

The girls are slowing down for winter, however, they still really enjoy their walnuts.

 

[Ernteameise]

Today, the young princesses decided it was time to fly.

In their natural habitat, this species flies in October, so they are not massively off time-wise.

They were running all over the place.

I removed them and will recycle them- I will use them to feed the other colonies.

 

 

Edited by Ernteameise, November 2 2024 - 4:31 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Congrats!