Grass seed for Messor Barbarus

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Hi all
quick question regarding grass seed, does anyone know if its ok to just buy a box of lawn seed from the store? Im wondering if they have some sort of fertilizer or chemical additive that may harm the ants.
if this is the case where can i buy unadulterated seed from?
cheers

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I believe that grass seed bought from the store used for growing grass, probably has fertilizer or chemicals in. I suggest using bird feed that should be chamical free

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Yes Grass Seed from the store is ok, But, you have to make sure it is chemical free, most grass seed comes coated with fungicide and other chemicals, I recently bought some grass seeds for my Messors from the store which have no additives. but in one of the stores I was looking in the woman insisted that the seed was untreated but i didn't buy it as on the box it said 'Anti' and that kinda raised an alarm. the moral been be real careful and really check the packet as to the content

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Great advice doc, +1 exalt.

I guess doctor ant nailed it, best to check the packaging. If you want to be REALLY careful, I'd suggest isolating a couple of ants and testing them with the grass. Might take a bit longer and might not even truly tell whether it's safe or not, but you're minimising the risk either way.

Always better to be safe than sorry with a queen, if you ask me

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I definitely recommend what PLemon said. Plus the variety of different seeds in the bird mix will mean that the ants can have a choice in what they eat and that typically means more activity for you to watch as they pick and choose which seed types to bring back to the nest.

You also don't run the risk of any chemical additives.

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Ive been stocking the feeding area with "finches favorite" bird seed, it contains Nyger seed sunflower hearts and red millet, the ants have amassed quite a large stock pile inside the nest but im unsure as to if they are actually eating it or just moving it around. anyone have any experience with these seeds?

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I think that Messor's typically store as many seeds as they can and then only crush them up into food when needed. That way the seeds will stay fresh longer as they will have their protective shell.

That is also why in the wild you will notice plants grow out of the Messor nest, some of the seeds end up germinating.

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that would be interesting if seeds germinated within your captive messor colony

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imgur.com/h540j

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nice pic.

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there also appears to be more dead workers than alive ones at the moment

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That shouldn't be normal What a worry...

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not really no, not sure what to do about it, i still have the queen + 4/5 developing ants + maybe 6 workers, the dead ants have all been dumped out in the feeding area quite neatly in one corner. ive been using some cotton wool in a cap for supplying water and the test tube still has a water reserve in it behind where the queen is. would the temperature being too low cause death ?

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What sort of temperature is it there? It would have to be quite low and for quite a long time to kill workers, I'd imagine.

Remember to, if possible, get rid of the dead ants regularly. They are the main cause of mold, bad smells, and mites.

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its sitting on top of my skink vivarium, right above where the heat lamp is, temp inside is around 30*c so on top through the wood and the enclosure its probably in the 22-26c mark its slightly warm to the touch but not hot