Messor capitatus

Species at a glance

• Origin: the Mediterranean, from the Iberian Peninsula across southern Europe to North Africa
• Size: queen 14–17 mm; workers 6–12 mm
• Colony: a single queen; up to 10,000 workers
• Difficulty: suitable for beginners

Care conditions

• Temperature: 22–30 °C with a gradient
• Humidity: 40–60%; the seed granary stays dry
• 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: 3–4 months at 12 °C, roughly from late November to early March.

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.