36 replies to this topic

[NickAnter]

It used to be if I made really high pitched noises near my Nylanderia's formicarium, they would go insane.

[skocko76]

It used to be if I made really high pitched noises near my Nylanderia's formicarium, they would go insane.

Ha! Interesting! High pitched, like imitating a mouse squeak? 

[skocko76]

I give my Messors very little protein... The reason boils down to me being able to catch only so many flies, and I have other colonies to feed, that cannot get protein from seed.

So this colony is almost exclusively grown on seed alone.

However, each time I do give them a fly or some source of insect protein, I find a couple of dead minors in the morning. Coincidence? Maybe, but usually they don't die at all, just the morning after protein feed. Granted, I do not freeze/boil the wildly caught insects, mostly due to convenience/not having to put up with my wife. Plus, I have never been burned by mites yet.

Other colonies do not seem to mind the freshly killed insects, and certainly do not die off after.

Not sure what to do with them in the future...

[KitsAntVa]

It used to be if I made really high pitched noises near my Nylanderia's formicarium, they would go insane.

I was giving my Pogonomyrmex water in their water tower and it made a bubbling noise and they freaked out.

[NickAnter]

 

It used to be if I made really high pitched noises near my Nylanderia's formicarium, they would go insane.

Ha! Interesting! High pitched, like imitating a mouse squeak? 

 

Like an ongoing mouse squeak, yes.

[Swirlysnowflake]

My Prenos freak when my birds shriek lol

[TechAnt]

Eh, my Honeypots get scared for their lives when I clap.

Then again, they freak out at nearly everything..

 

Also lets stop hijacking Skocko's journal, as we are getting off-topic, this does sound like a good thread idea though!

Edited by TechAnt, December 3 2020 - 4:25 PM.

[skocko76]

Don't forget, Messors like sweets too
 

 

Mine have fed on seed porridge for too long - it's time for a desert!

[skocko76]

The galleries are pretty visible in this sandwich. A pity ants tend to hang at the bottom. Next time I should get a deeper (higher?) sandwich for the substrate.

The ants are a couple hundred now and the production of brood has begun. They are pretty active and forage all the time.

 

[NoveltyAntsYT]

The galleries are pretty visible in this sandwich. A pity ants tend to hang at the bottom. Next time I should get a deeper (higher?) sandwich for the substrate.

The ants are a couple hundred now and the production of brood has begun. They are pretty active and forage all the time.

 

nice colony, I think you are pretty set for a giant colony, but I highly recommend chia seeds if you want, they have tons of protein and are great for my Pogonomyrmex, but make sure they don't have pesticides.

[skocko76]

 

The galleries are pretty visible in this sandwich. A pity ants tend to hang at the bottom. Next time I should get a deeper (higher?) sandwich for the substrate.

The ants are a couple hundred now and the production of brood has begun. They are pretty active and forage all the time.

 

nice colony, I think you are pretty set for a giant colony, but I highly recommend chia seeds if you want, they have tons of protein and are great for my Pogonomyrmex, but make sure they don't have pesticides.

 

Thanks for the recommendation. Actually, I have given them chia before and they have it in their granary at the moment. I never observed them throw out chia chaff though. I use "bio" chia, but you never know with pesticides... 

[NoveltyAntsYT]

 

 

The galleries are pretty visible in this sandwich. A pity ants tend to hang at the bottom. Next time I should get a deeper (higher?) sandwich for the substrate.

The ants are a couple hundred now and the production of brood has begun. They are pretty active and forage all the time.

 

nice colony, I think you are pretty set for a giant colony, but I highly recommend chia seeds if you want, they have tons of protein and are great for my Pogonomyrmex, but make sure they don't have pesticides.

 

Thanks for the recommendation. Actually, I have given them chia before and they have it in their granary at the moment. I never observed them throw out chia chaff though. I use "bio" chia, but you never know with pesticides... 

 

oh nice! yeah honestly me neither but for me chia seeds are the only ones my Pogonomyrmex store.

[NoveltyAntsYT]

Don't forget, Messors like sweets too
 

 

 

Mine have fed on seed porridge for too long - it's time for a desert!

what seeds do you feed?

[skocko76]

 

Don't forget, Messors like sweets too
 

 

 

Mine have fed on seed porridge for too long - it's time for a desert!

what seeds do you feed?

 

They are most receptive of grass seed...not sure which, I got a bag from anthouse.es , also they happily take the usual Messor mix, which I believe to be canary feed without hemp.

They like watermelon seed, fresh, cut in half. They are absolutely bonkers about dandelion seed - I pick it myself - not the easiest chore, so not sure if I'd recommend.

I pick dandelion "blow spheres" in urban meadow patches where there are no insecticides and no weed killers (dandelion being weed itself). Then I separate the fluffy umbrellas from the seed. It takes ages to get a spoon full of seed. It's a lot of work.

I have given them the seed whole, but they make a mess of the nest with all the fluffy umbrellas.
I have given them chia, but haven't observed them eating them. I also gave them flax and pepper seed, which they collected, but also cannot say if they got eaten.

[skocko76]

The colony is having a major baby boom. Hundreds of larvae, many already in pupa stage. I expect them to reach 500 in a couple of weeks.

They are getting a bit too big for the setup and I will probably start to look for someone with better conditions to adopt them.

It's funny how photos always look more "sparse" than seeing the outworld live - teeming with workers.

 

This particular species, local and dominant around Split, Croatia, is quite mysterious... First identified as M. capitatus for their super-major workers, later challenged by French colleagues as large  M. bouvieri, and German as full black M. wasmanni....

After a few years, the colony is producing some workers with reddish thorax, so M. wasmanni seems to be the most accurate.

I read a paper that M. wasmanni and M. minor create fertile hybrids, so that may be the case here too.

 

Edited by skocko76, June 22 2021 - 1:15 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Ah, man. I wish you could keep your bigger colonies.

[skocko76]

I changed the species of this journal to M. wasmanni. It was only after 3 years or so that they started producing workers with lighter (brown-red) thorax.

A local ant-keeper adopted my big colony.

The formicarium now belongs to a new colony, numbering 30-40 workers.

It looks soo vacant now