36 replies to this topic

[skocko76]

Journal of the the one M. capitatus queen I kept for myself. Caught in a September 2017 flight.

She hibernated the winter in a test tube setup at 15 C, and was transferred into an AntKit acrylic founding chamber in early spring, prior to her laying any eggs.

She only had two larvae in the founding nest and both have enclosed into nanites. I can't spot any new eggs.

I attached the nest to an outworld of my own making. It used to be a plastic box for Xiaomi Piston earbuds. Pretty interesting looking actually.

It also happens that AntKit sawtooth connector fits perfectly into a test tube plastic stopper, so I hotglued it to the box to make a tube-less connection point.

The box is just tall enough to accomodate byFormica's micro feeder, which is great. The second nanite, which had enclosed two weeks later, keeps burying it in sand.

Messors really don't like liquids. They can't swim for s***

The queen doesn't really like the setup, she often leaves the nest as soon as it gets drier and sets camp in the outworld, under a pine branch.

The 2x4 cm chamber must be too large for her to feel comfortable in. She found her place between a branch and a rock, creating a small enclosure.

She's quite nervous, but so were all of the rest of my Messor queens. They calm down when number of workers increase.

Obviously, this setup is only temporary as it doesn't have any ventilation. I should have drilled some holes in.

 

 

The queen is chilling in the bottom right corner of the outworld. If you take a look at the photo below, you will catch a sheen of her Kim Kardashian butt

 

 

Edited by skocko76, July 30 2021 - 12:31 AM.

[skocko76]

Looks like the AntKit founding chamber is really not a good match for my queen.

I disconnected the outworld and attached an Aeacus Corinth small nest. They moved in within hours.

Then I attached an Empire Of Ants decorated outworld. The AntKit nest will be used for another queen who will hopefully like it better.

She now has a few larvae and a single early stage pupa (besides the 2 nanitics).

Here's the look of the new setup (without the ants):

 

[skocko76]

Here's the queen with the brood.

They seem to be enjoying the nest. I was worried it would be too damp with the "1/1 hidration ceramic tile", but the queen spends a lot of time close to it, so that's ok.

The nest itself is very good looking, but some things show the "manual process flaws". Nothing that impact the proper functioning of the nest though.

There seems to be a minor warping in the resin, causing the glass to be a bit smaller that it should have been. Also, probably due to warping, the nest doesn't sit plush on it's water container. The connector is pretty poorly 3d printed, all jagged and with tiny gaps between filaments. I've also had a badly glued sponge holder that broke off with touch. Overall the nest is very functional, but a bit pricy, especially with the aforementioned flaws. I'm sure the next gen is going to address these, so far very impressed with the receptivity of the ants.

 

 

[Leo]

What do you feed them? my messor won't take liquids or too much of anything really...

[skocko76]

What do you feed them? my messor won't take liquids or too much of anything really...

They don't care much for liquids, even water. They are very bad swimmers and can easily drown. So they cover any and all liquid surfaces in dirt.

They are easy to feed though. They are hard to hydrate, in my experience.

They will eat any seed that they can open. They will store any seed, even those that they cannot open. So, in a colony with only minors, grass seed is ideal.

The queen can help open larger seeds, such as canary food, but in my colony, she won't. So it's mostly just grass seed. They happily accept water melon seeds,  cut in half for them.

I think they will accept any large seed if opened and made available. The watermelon seeds are plentiful and they accept them fresh. I also feed them frozen grasshoppers and flies.

There is also aronia berry seed in the pile. They extracted them themselves from a berry. I haven't seen them eating the seed though.

 

Seed they cannot open, will mostly get tumbled around the granary and outworld.

 

They will accept sugar-water occasionally.

 

Generally, because it is easy to forget about liquids with these ants, they can run thirsty. So periodically, make (sugar)water available to them. If they ignore it, they have no need for it.

If you have a dirt setup, moisten the dirt, they can drink from that.

 

 

 

Edited by skocko76, September 20 2018 - 11:08 AM.

[skocko76]

The colony has exchanges hands. I wish them happy future!

A new one is on the way...excited!

[skocko76]

The new colony is nearing its second Summer. They number around 15 nanites and just started growing large larvae.

There is some uncertainty whether the new colony is M. capitatus or full black M. wasmanni. The appearance of majors might decide.

They were already ready to dig in into substrate in Anthouse Acrylic Big nest, but looks like the provided substrate contains too much clay, so the water does not get absorbed as I would like. It runs on top and floods the galleries before it gets absorbed very slowly. The clay also changes volume, expanding layers raising up and forming bubble "volcanos". And lateral cracks along the acrylic lines after it dries out.  I think it should get mixed it with sand, the clay is for structural integrity. I was unaware of that. The clay should get washed too as dust size particles muddy the water and then dry on the acrylic, barring the view into galleries. The clay also dries out rock hard making the ants unable to burrow in. Should you order substrate from Anthouse, this is something to be aware of beforehand, as it would be hard to remedy once the ants have settled in.

 

So the colony remained in their test tube, and used the small galleries to move seed in and out, depending on the moisture level in the clay. I gave them a different outworld until I sort things out with the substrate.

 

Interestingly enough, they refuse insects! (house flies)

 

Edited by skocko76, May 4 2020 - 5:29 AM.

[skocko76]

They are a peculiar lot... Turn off the lights, and they retreat to their test tube and rest. Turn on the lights, regardless of time of day, and they start foraging.

Put a piece of a dead fly and they consider it an intruder, dragging it away from the nest. And they have larvae who would like to eat it, so they are in demand of protein.

The substrate got washed, lost almost a half of its volume, but it should hopefully muddy less and absorb more.

They are currently exploring the surrounding, and digging some hallways to be able to climb on top of the sand "sandwich". They are horribly clumsy climbers on any vertical surface.

Their test tube will dry out soon, so I expect them to dig in.

 

In your experience, is it better to wet one side of the substrate exclusively, alternate sides between waterings, or water the full length of the "sand sandwich"?

 

Edited by skocko76, May 11 2020 - 4:18 AM.

[RushmoreAnts]

They are a peculiar lot... Turn off the lights, and they retreat to their test tube and rest. Turn on the lights, regardless of time of day, and they start foraging.

All my (larger) colonies behave in this way (Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, Myrmica sp., Aphaenogaster picea). However, I would assume many nocturnal species (including many Camponotus) behave in the exact opposite way.

[skocko76]

They are a peculiar lot... Turn off the lights, and they retreat to their test tube and rest. Turn on the lights, regardless of time of day, and they start foraging.

All my (larger) colonies behave in this way (Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, Myrmica sp., Aphaenogaster picea). However, I would assume many nocturnal species (including many Camponotus) behave in the exact opposite way.

Yeah, my Aphaenogaster epirotes behave exactly the opposite

[Darradar]

Awesome. I have a queen and first nanitics arriving this week.

This is the only real care guide I’ve found.

[skocko76]

Awesome. I have a queen and first nanitics arriving this week.

This is the only real care guide I’ve found.

I'm happy you find it useful! I have had Messors for a while, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Edited by skocko76, May 12 2020 - 12:19 PM.

[skocko76]

They have dug into the substrate. Goodbye good visibility of the acrylic, and welcome the interesting observation of excavation efforts.

They have dug tunnels in the most fascinating manner - I got very lucky. Their newly dug corridors spiral in a stair-like fashion through the thickness of the substrate sandwich. So I have visibility from both sides - but different galleries. All my ants so far would dig a vertical entrance tunnel, all the way to the bottom, where it would flare into a hollow cavity. Not how you would imagine an ant nest. My suspicion is that the usual dirt nests are not deep enough. So a very tall dirt sandwich might develop the most interesting galleries.

 

 

 

[skocko76]

Here's an example of how the ants help aerate the soil and sow seed.

They have dug a chamber for a granary. Later they decided it wasn't good so they removed the seed and started expanding other tunnels. The excess dirt they used to fill up the existing one.

They left one seed behind, and sealed the chamber, filling it half way. 

The seed sprouted right next to acrylic sheet. I have good visibility of its development.

 

[ANTdrew]

That’s so cool! Without billions of ants tilling our soils for free, our planet’s ecosystems would collapse. Even still, ants aren’t considered “beneficial insects.”

Edited by ANTdrew, June 17 2020 - 5:12 AM.

[skocko76]

Experience has shown, once again, that Messors like to dig deep. If you want to keep them in a dirt formicarium, go for one with a deep layer of substrate.

They have dug out the bottom, as they are not able to go deeper. This takes away from the beauty of the galleries, I think. The nest I keep them in is Anthouse Acrylic Big, but would fit them better something like Anthouse Acrylic model T Big.

 

 

[skocko76]

The colony numbers around 60 workers right now, and a ton of brood.

They accept pepper seed.

No major workers yet, only large media (head relatively big, but gaster much bigger)

[skocko76]

The colony has grown to near 200 workers.

There a couple of large workers, with big heads, but they look more like a media workers to me, as their gasters are as big as their heads.

If those are indeed media workers, the majors will be huge!

Still, 200 workers and no majors yet..not very likely.

 

[skocko76]

A weird behaviour that I've seen before just never gave it much thought - the selection of seed.

When a worker finds a freshly introduced pile of seed, it gets excited. Usually it starts dragging the fist one immediately. Then returns for others.. the recruitment is not immediate. Now the weird thing happens: the worker becomes "picky". Some seed it drags away, some it marks with its gaster, in a similar fashion as Camponotus spray acid, for example. Other workers start ignoring the marked seed, and it never gets dragged off. My human senses cannot tell that the marked seed are bad or inferior in any way.

Anyway, I collected the seed after laying in outworld for a week, and will reintroduce it after a few days. I wonder if they'll treat it differently.

 

Has anyone observed this or has an explanation?

[skocko76]

...when I sneeze, my Messors go bonkers...