I know you are someone who’s into Novomessor Cockerelli care, which is an ant also known as red harvester ant.
Here are some brief facts about Novomessor Cockerelli ant care.
Humidity: 60% – 80% in the nest
Temperature: 25 C – 30 C
What to feed: Seeds, Sugar water/ Honey water, Insects
You need to have a clear idea about this ant’s habitat and living conditions before you start Novomessor cockerelli care. I will guide you through all of them in this article.
Novomessor Cockerelli natural habitat
In terms of discussing Novomessor Cockerelli care, let’s find out the natural habitat of Novomessor Cockerelli ants.
Nesting of Novomessor Cockerelli ants
In the natural case, these Novomessor Cockerelli ants build their nests with some sort of complexity in the wild or desert.
Their nests usually build underground, and the entrance can be found on the ground or beside the rocks. The nests can have a single or multiple entrances based on the size of the colony.
These ants are likely to cover their nests with pebbles or plant remains to enhance their safety.
In the wild, these ants do not live in a nest for more than 2 years. N. Cockerelli ants are likely to relocate their colony every 1-2 years into a new nest.
Also read: Best formicarium for keeping ants
Novomessor Cockerelli ant colony
N. Cockerelli ant colonies usually take up to 5000 workers in each. Most of the time, the colony is based on a single ant queen.
The worker ants are the ones who forage from morning to evening. In the winter season, these desert harvest ants tend to forage all day.
Novomessor cockerelli living conditions
In this Novomessor Cockerelli ant care guide, we are going to see the living conditions of these ant species. It’s very important when you are caring for ants.
Humidity & Temperature for Novomessor cockerelli care
Humidity and temperature are two closely related factors when you are specifically caring for ants.
In terms of Novomessor Cockerelli ants, which are also known as red harvester ants, require different levels of moisture inside their nests for two specific jobs.
In the first place when you are up to caring for Novomessor Cockerelli ants, you should provide them with some higher moisture humidity on one part of their nest, especially for the growth of their sensitive brood.
If the nest is too dry the broods or the new-born workers may die from dehydration.
At the same time, these harvester ants need a dry area with less moisture and humidity to store their seeds. Otherwise, the seeds can be germinated.
But actually, you do not need to worry about this. When you are doing Novomessor Cockerelli care by keeping them on a tube, they will usually store their seeds at the entrance of their nest.
Considering all those factors, in Formiculture there is a general humidity and a temperature that is recommended for Novomessor cockerelli ants.
For Novomessor Cockerelli ants (red harvester ants) living in a nest tube or formicarium require 60% – 80% humidity and 25 C – 30 C temperature.
When Novomessor Cockerelli ants live outside the general humidity they require is 50% – 90%, and they need a temperature between 24 C to 35 C.
Hibernation
Novomessor Cockerelli ants are naturally adapted to adjust for the winter and hibernation. You can help them with their hibernation by continuously dropping the temperature by a couple of degrees every day a week from the beginning of the frost.
These red harvester (N. Cockerelli ) ants start their hibernation from early December, and they continue it to the march.
You have to cut off the food supply to some extent to help them prepare for hibernation.
How to feed Novomessor Cockerelli
This is the most interesting part you’ve been waiting for because you are really into Novomessor Cockerelli care.
Seeds
As you may previously know, Novomessor Cockerelli ants aka red harvester ants eat a lot of seeds in their diet.
Whether you believe it or not, seeds are 50% of the diet of Novomessor Cockerelli ants. They eat a variety of seeds including grass seeds which they consume most frequently.
Actually, harvester ants can absorb the protein that is included in the plant seeds. Their nests have “granaries” deep inside their nests to store the seeds they find when foraging.
Here are some kinds of seeds you can feed to Novomessor Cockerelli ants.
- Grass seed
- Flax seed
- Rapeseed
- Chia seed
- Dandelion seed
Sugar water and honey water
Like many other ant species, Carbohydrate is the main requirement for red harvester ants in their diet.
So, if you do Novomessor Cockerelli ant care, you can feed sugar water or honey water to provide regular carbohydrates to their diet.
Dead or live insects
Protein is always a vital nutrient for any kind of ants. Especially, in the egg-laying season, harvester ants need some other source of protein rather than just relying on the seeds they bring in.
Therefore, you need to give some dead insects that can supplement your harvester ants with enough protein.
Try feeding these kinds of insects and foods to give some protein for your N. cockerelli ants.
- Crickets
- Flies
- Bugs
- Mealworms
Also, try giving them live insects as an experiment, especially if you want to check how aggressive your N. Cockerelli ants are.
I would like to recommend Ants Davey if you want to buy Novomessor cockerelli ants to start keeping.