Congrats on 400 subs, and also I love messor barbarus, but I wish they didn’t get stressed out so easily.

@antshood3324

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks buddy! It is what it is, but knowing is is an issue will hopefully stop others stressing them out

Lovely colonies, my first colony was messor barbarus, they are probably my most satisfying ants to keep. By the way, messor aciculatus won’t get any majors, they exhibit a slight degree of polymorphism, but nowhere near being considered having separate castes

@antshood3324

3 жыл бұрын

Oh really! I did read that not all messor get majors but didn’t realise it was aciculatus. Or more likely I did read it about them a s forgot! HahahahHa!

Great video 👍

Slowly working me ways thought all the videos from last year lol had a year brake but back on it yet agen keep up the good work 👏 smashing videos bud

Few queens are not freaked when alone. Workers also run when they are few in numbers. The more they get they braver they become :) Though the red part... 2:47 where do you have that information from hm? ... Ants, in general, can't see well and the red spectrum is their weakest side. That's very well documented. My Messor Barbarus do not care if the lights are on or off (having a 2mm red plexi in front of them) or when I use my red flashlight directly at them. When I do use my regular white-led they get startled. Same (if not worse) for my Camponotus Foreli. Same for my Bigheads (tested this just now!) However... ants are not legit blind. They can see vaguely (and some races quite well). So if you crank up the amount of light (no matter the wavelength) they will notice 'hey there is something going on'. Same if the 'filter' is too weak. [*disclaimer: queens can see better than the average worker, as nature intended for their survival, though it's not good enough to not be fooled...] Red foil may reduces the light BUT not all foil is the same. Some do filter the spectrum better or worse. I have cheap foil: first layer didn't do much. Second layer - and my ants don't notice when I turn on my 'regular lamp' in the room. And I have to stress this AINT special foil with any UV filter or so. My red led-lamp from Amazon: works well! I can look at my ants from any angle and hold it up close. It's a non issue. ... but my mini-white-led lamp I slapped 2 layers of red foil on it -> it is far more noticeable to my ants and if exposed quickly they freak. My guess is your foil is also 'just cheap red foil' and thus filters only little of the remaining spectrum (and having a 2nd layer would help to increase its effect)... ... but slapping some foil on your ants and then say "they see it anyway and red doesn't work!" ... -that's just wrong! Its like you got a car, put 10% tint on it, and complain "black foil doesn't give you privacy! people can look right through it!" :I *TLDR: red ain't red. Doesn't make ants "see right through it". We got a case of Apophenia it seems* ;) ps. many shops/owners claim they can familiarise ants to daylight. I think that's correct. Ants do come out during the day and scavange. HOWEVER... having the sun slowly come up and the light level gently rise is very different from coming into a dark room, flick a switch, and have 100%+ light after hours of darkness. [even though queens prefer it dark/to feel safe]. I've red in forums (mostly new) keepers complaining about that which I also do not understand how they can't make that simple connection (luckily often they get corrected lol) On this note: light makes heat. This I also tested with an LED lamp. The lamp may not get's hot but the shun at item did. Using a transparent bowl I found it easily raise the heat +2° ... so that's another factor to be considered. I saw KZreadrs shine a bright lamp at nests and be like "I just make it bright! not hot!" and that's also false. The heat probably bothers some races more than the pure light. If you switch on the light its not great (for queens) but increasing temp from "cozy" to 'too hot'... -yeah, I'd also leave that room :) oh and btw: This reminds me a LOT of the 'ants *need* honey to be *watered down* or they can't drink it' some people spread around. That's also utter nonsense and I bothered to dig up the source of the claim; This came from 1 study of 1 professor (which worked with ants) stated "I came to water down my honey so I can feed the many colonies which makes it a lot easier - so this experiment is even possible"... [He did so because there was just not enough time in the day to deal with the mess of caring for a lab full of colonies (for statistical significant numbers)]. ... people read that and one person told it the next (from ear to ear and half baken lazy quotes) and it eventually it became the dumbed down, and out of context, "must water honey!" despite ANYONE can debunk it in a minute! Watering down may helps to prevent stuckage, but so does using cotton, but that doesn't mean an ant cant eat the honey. That's just outright false. Devil is in the detail. Have a fun day ♥ /rambling

Just ordered me a queen she should arrive in 2 days

@antshood3324

2 жыл бұрын

Nice! 😎

Dude congrats on 400 subs!! Btw messor barbarus queens with a red head,although technically bi coloured,are called ‘red headed’,the messor barbarus bicolor queens have a red head with red tints on their thorax and abdomen and last thing,messor aciculatus are actually one of the few messor that don’t get majors 😅,they’re basically monomorphic

@antshood3324

3 жыл бұрын

Cheers buddy!

Congratulations on the now 438 Subscribers

Getting my barbarus today! This was very helpful!! Thank you!

@antshood3324

3 жыл бұрын

fingers crossed there will be many other videos of these ladies and good luck with your new colony

@JohanExoticGlobal

3 жыл бұрын

@@antshood3324 Thank you so much! :)

congrats on 400 and thanks i keep messor barbarus so this is really usefull

@antshood3324

3 жыл бұрын

Cheers matey

proper Helpful this bro. I've currently got my first colony of Barbarus, struggling because brood keeps dissapearing but i presume this is because Ive been knocking the nest by accident aswell as not feeding any insects.

@antshood3324

2 жыл бұрын

Glade it was of some help buddy. It’s why I do these videos because I’m no expert, I just tell you guys what’s worked for me and what hasn’t worked

Congrats on 400 subs

@antshood3324

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks buddy

Great vid again pal. Many congrats on reaching 400 subs 🎉 Keep up the great work 👍🏻🐜

@antshood3324

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks buddy!

Congrats on 400 subs man!

@antshood3324

3 жыл бұрын

Cheers bro

Smashing it bro another great video!

@antshood3324

3 жыл бұрын

thanks matey

Same, I accidentally killed my messors off thinking they had water.

Nice vidéo

@antshood3324

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks

Thank you for the video! This really helped as I just got my own Messor Barbarus queen and I’m so exited for her dirt nanitics. It’s probably a while off yet as she only has her dirt batch of eggs. How long did it take for your queens to get their first workers and any tips to speed the eggs growth rate?

congrats on 401 subscribers

@antshood3324

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks matey

Had one of these for almost 5 years in the end they grew to 1 gigantic colony which ate everything i gave them also idk why but they never ate anything sweet i gave them i think its because the seeds had enough carbohydrates oh and i had to change water test tubes every 4 days

@antshood3324

2 жыл бұрын

messors as a rule of thumbs won’t take carbohydrates unless they are in need of water as like you said they get it all from their seeds. mine got though a test tube every week or so now

try to catch a leaf cutter queen there usually found in a area with alot of trees / rainforest / forest

@antshood3324

2 жыл бұрын

Well you might see something like that in tomorrow’s video

Awesome video! I got my messor barbarus that I want to connect to an outworld to feed them some sugar water. but the cotton in the front is wedged in pretty deep and I need to manhandle the test tube a bit to be able to pluck it out. do you think I can safely do this without stressing the queen to much? or do you use another technique. Much thanks for your info :)

@antshood3324

3 жыл бұрын

Oh yea matey! Disturbing her every so often isn’t a big problem but checking her too often or feeding directly into the test tube every two days or so will.

@lolXfaceXepicness

3 жыл бұрын

@@antshood3324 Thank you so much for your reply

My first colony with a C Nicobarensis. I love my Barbarus and there brood and workers. It goes fast at chickenmeat in a testtube with outworld. Mines doesn't like sugar or honeywater. Does yours drink it?

@antshood3324

3 жыл бұрын

not all of them no. some just ignore it when others have taken some

I have a queen with 13 workers but only half the brood that your queen had… any idea why?

@antshood3324

2 жыл бұрын

might just be one of those things, each queen is different. as long as you keep feeding them and leave them alone without disturbing them too much they will be fine.

What species would you recommend for first time into the ant world? Have you got a video that covers this

@antshood3324

3 жыл бұрын

that’s a good question. a lot of people say lasius nigers, but if you want to be more adventurous with exotics camponotus nicobarensis are also easy if you can get then temp and humidity right

How are Messor Barbarus compared to Messor Structors? 🤔 I mean keeping them. I have Messor Structors only ☝️

My messor colony is dieting where I live it gets to 100f or like 35-40c I think somI need help

@antshood3324

2 жыл бұрын

Sounds like the heat could be affecting them too. They normally like a max of 26 degrees C in the nest so 35 to 40 is way to high for them

does the red filter partially work or is it obslete?

@antshood3324

Жыл бұрын

I would still argue it’s open for debate

@willwlk

Жыл бұрын

@@antshood3324 alright, I have a messor queen (just brood) and when the colony is ready will be moving them into a wakooshi venus I have lying around - it has a red filter so thats why I asked, when the colony gets bigger I might trial, but I like to keep an eye on my ants so red will do for now I guwess

400 subs 😁😁