Messor bouvieri

Species at a glance

• Origin: the Mediterranean: the Iberian Peninsula, southern France and Italy
• Size: queen 11–14 mm; workers 4–9 mm
• Colony: a single queen; up to 10,000 workers
• Difficulty: suitable for beginners

Care conditions

• Temperature: 22–30 °C with a warm and a cooler zone
• Humidity: 30–60%; a mostly dry nest with a small moist area
• Food: a mix of small untreated seeds (poppy, chia, canary seed, grass seeds); a few insects once or twice a week for the brood

Hibernation

Essential: about three months at 12 °C, with water but no food.

Farm and colony growth

The queen founds the colony alone and needs no food until the first workers appear. A young colony lives in a test tube until it has a few dozen workers. After that it needs a formicarium with a dry seed granary and a small moist brood area.