Queen Messor barbarus 2023 with breeding tube

Description

Here is your Queen, her name is Messor barbarus and she is about 13mm tall.

Experience the foundation: Admire the birth of the first workers and develop your anthill from its origin, the whole life cycle of an anthill is put forward with a little patience and little expense . No maintenance is required until the workers are born, then only occasional feeding!

How it works ? Born in 2023 in Hérault, your Queen Messor barbarus flew away to mate during a swarm in October. After removing its wings, it is now preparing to found its colony. Also available with already workers or as a complete beginner kit here .

Guaranteed success: The birth of the first workers is guaranteed: if the queen does not lay, we will send a new queen with egg or workers against a simple compensation for transport. This guarantee is offered for all our customers this year! Provided that the recommended conditions are respected, in particular a temperature of around 27°C at the end of winter (see our heating systems).

The breeding environment: The queen is in a tube used by scientists, it provides living conditions and humidity similar to those that ants seek in nature, with added security. It allows to raise the queen for several months, as long as it still contains water and allows to reach ten workers. Then you can move the colony to another tube, or to a real artificial anthill to continue its development and further improve your observations.

Easy: The queen lives on her reserves until the birth of the workers, then feeds on seeds.

Also available with a particularly marked coloring, among the 10% reddest:

Offered with your queen:
“The Perfect Antculturist’s Guide” with more than 10 PDF pages to know your ants and take care of them!
+ Specific care sheet for successful breeding of a Queen
+ Simple 16cm breeding tube (refillable breeding tube optional)
Success rate of foundations in nature: approximately 1%
Success rate of foundations in tube simple breeding: 70-80% and more than 80% in refillable tube!

What can I observe with my queen Messor barbarus?

The foundation of a colony! First the laying, then the birth of the first workers 1 to 2 months later, passing through the larva stage, then the nymph. Then, the more the colony grows, the more the observations become fascinating in this new highly organized city.

The workers: The first are the smallest and black in color.
Then, larger media workers appear, they provide forage functions. Finally, around 100 workers, the major workers appear, very massive, with a red head with powerful mandibles, they are cut for the transport of the heaviest seeds. Life underground: The space in the tube corresponds to the life of ants underground, so it can meet the needs of the colony for up to almost a year and 100 workers with the required humidity.

Then: It is possible to move the colony obtained in an Artificial Anthill (also from the first workers) simply by connecting the tube to its connection system. The colony will thus be able to develop more fully. If you wish to stop, we will take over your colony for free.

Later, in an Artificial Anthill… Messor minor on video as a similar example:

Food: Messor barbarus are harvester ants: they collect seeds and bring them back to the nest to create underground seed stores. The ants will be able to draw from it according to their needs. Each seed is chewed for about 3 days to become digestible, forming a paste called “ant bread”. In the tube or in their artificial anthill, they will form their attics and will be able to live in complete autonomy. Until the workers are born, the queen lives on her reserves without any food supply.

Here is the Ant-Cultivator's Calendar:

A/ I order today, my package arrives 1 to 10 days later if the weather permits shipping. Delivery of the healthy queen is guaranteed. I receive my Guide to the Perfect Antculturist to download.

B/ I leave my queen in her tube, without food or special care as in nature.

1. Recommended temperature in winter: around 12°C, quiet and without too much light. Tip: use the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator or your cellar.
2. Recommended temperature from the beginning of February: 22 to 26°C for laying eggs. The top of a shelf can work. Ideally, I use a heating mat that I place on top of the tube, monitored by a thermometer, or I opt for a heating bulb to have perfect conditions.

C/ The queen will lay eggs in the following days or weeks. The eggs will hatch into larvae, which will become nymphs, then finally workers, the first of a great city! Count 1 to 2 months from egg to worker. The queen has provided enough reserves to feed the larvae on her own.

D/ When the first worker is born, I add a pinch of seeds to the tube. We recommend our mixture of a dozen organic seeds which will be the most suitable.

E/ I let my colony develop and as long as there is humidity in the tube, I take advantage of the observations at will! At any time, I can connect the tube to an artificial anthill. The colony will be able to move to their new kingdom and get comfortable.

Good to know: the queen lives alone in a small underground gallery in total autonomy and goes through the winter like this. The rearing tube makes it possible to recreate these conditions. For information, Messor minor is a similar species that does not need wintering.

Note : It is not possible to guarantee 100% colony success from a single queen, but the average success rate is over 80%.

More info on Queen Messor barbarus:

Maintenance required: 0 mins until March (the queen lives in total autonomy), 5 mins per week thereafter.

Maximum autonomy: several weeks without maintenance in the tube thanks to the reserves of food and humidity. Then, the autonomy depends on the model of anthill: re-humidify the anthill every week or every month according to its model.

Lifespan of the queen: up to 15 years (we take over the colony if you wish to part with it).

Want to save time? I take a colony already founded with workers. with a colony already founded, I click HERE.

I want to save time AND save 20% on Pro equipment, I choose a Beginner's Pack HERE .

 

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The Antculture Charter on our Ants:
1. Breeding approved by Veterinary Services, carried out by a specialist under certificate of capacity,
2. Guide to the Perfect Antculturist offered and health sheet provided,
3. Ants guaranteed free of parasites,
4. Queen guaranteed fertilized
5 No “boost” (addition of brood or external workers to sell the colonies more quickly),
6. Guaranteed healthy delivery: full refund in the event of loss of the queen (if delivered within 48 hours),
7. Shipping possible from -12°C to +40°C thanks to our optional insulated packaging,
8. Species present in France, non-invasive and not threatened,
9. Colony taken over if you wish to part with it (see our conditions).
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