108 replies to this topic

[Kalidas]

Antkeeping is fun and easy if you follow some basic rules, but the species you are starting out with is very hard. 
 
I do hope you succeed, and I'm not trying to be negative - but realistically they are not going to do well, even if you have fungus. Don't let the experience with this species dictate your opinion of the hobby.
 
With every colony I sale, I also make sure they can be kept alive and thriving past the first and second year, so buyers can get solid advice on what and what not to do. If I can't do that, I don't sell them.
 
Most of us haven't successfully gotten Acromyrmex past the first and second year successfully and consistently. Once we as a community figure them out, I'm sure they will be much easier.

Thanks for that. Yeah I know they aren't easy... Wasn't really my intention to start out with them. It was just all I was able to catch that first day.

Yeah I know I've read a lot of the journals... They sure are a fickle beast to deal with.

Don't worry it isn't coloring my perception of things. I didn't even figure one of the Queens would make it the first day and here's one still going a week later. Not too bad

[Rstheant]

Antkeeping is fun and easy if you follow some basic rules, but the species you are starting out with is very hard. 
 
I do hope you succeed, and I'm not trying to be negative - but realistically they are not going to do well, even if you have fungus. Don't let the experience with this species dictate your opinion of the hobby.
 
With every colony I sale, I also make sure they can be kept alive and thriving past the first and second year, so buyers can get solid advice on what and what not to do. If I can't do that, I don't sell them.
 
Most of us haven't successfully gotten Acromyrmex past the first and second year successfully and consistently. Once we as a community figure them out, I'm sure they will be much easier.

I agree

[Kalidas]

Okay time for another update. So that queen of mine is still doing okay. she was actually the first queen I ever caught so I'm kinda glad its her that lived. Well met with Drew tonight and got 3 more queens and 2 small nuggets of fungus! I think even two of the test tubes had eggs in them(couldn't get good pictures of that since the small white specs are just so tiny, I need to get a decent magnifying glass)

 

 

Test Tubes! I think I see eggs in the top test tube. to the left of the rubber band small white stuff in a cluster

 

 

Up close. One of the queens is tearing the cotton to pieces

 

 

Fungi!

 

 

This queen ran to the fungus when I put in the tube. She was towards the moist cotton and I had placed the fungus towards the center and she just ran for it.

 

 

This queen did something similar but she was more picky. she did NOT like where I put the fungus. she started cutting pieces off and moving it towards the cotton. So I pushed it back there for her, save her the hard work.

 

Big thanks to Drew!

Edited by Kalidas, October 28 2018 - 10:26 PM.

[TheAntGuy]

Awesome. Glad to see you managed to bounce back so quickly, will be following this journal actively to see what happens.

[Patp3]

Gratz man!

[dspdrew]

Yeah the queens usually get excited and start ripping pieces off of it and running around with them. They usually soon realize the whole piece belongs to them, but the ones that don't end up destroying it all.

[Kalidas]

Yeah the queens usually get excited and start ripping pieces off of it and running around with them. They usually soon realize the whole piece belongs to them, but the ones that don't end up destroying it all.

Oooh that's scary. I am just gonna hope these Queens aren't stupid and do that

[Kalidas]

So some more to add, not so much about the ants but more about why I would want to keep these difficult ants and maybe some plans I have and whether it can work.

First I know they are difficult... I didn't really plan on keeping them as my first species they were just the only things flying that first trip. But they do come with some great benefits that other ants don't. First they are just simply really cool, most people like their agricultural nature. Second and most importantly is the not needing to get the bugs to eat. My GF (and grandparents whom I live with) were barely okay with me keeping ants, adding crickets and roaches to the mix would only exaserbate the issue more.

Now for the more fun topic, plans I have. So I have been trying to do as much reading and research as I can on these girls. Reading journals, watching videos, reading up on their habits in nature. It's that last point that gave me this idea that I am considering trying out but I wanted to hear from some more experienced keepers before I go all in on it.

So the idea came from watching and reading how leaf cutters set their nests up naturally. Normally what they do is set up giant round Chambers connected by long stringy tunnles, in those Chambers are the fungal gardens. So my idea was to maybe get some firebrick and drill out a huge round hollow center in and then using glass held in place with magnets for both viewing and to remove it if cleaning needs done, basically turning the bricks into hearth style formicariums.I would fill them with substrate for digging and use vinyl tubing to connect them all to some sort of an outworld (probably an aquarium). I would obviously cut slits on the side of the Chambers to stick spongues in and use syringes and tiny holes to inject water to keep the humidity up, really want those bricks saturated. The idea is to mimic nature, while still allowing me to view them and get in there to clean things up if need be.

What do you all think? Fun idea that may work well? Or terrible plan that will kill everything?

Edited by Kalidas, October 29 2018 - 9:22 AM.

[Rstheant]

Good luck, glad they are doing better!

[Antics]

You got fungus from Drew? I asked him the other week if he had some to spare and he told me he didn't have enough to sell... couldn't spare a frag either.

 

So I got 3 queens that are just sitting in the dark without a culture. :/Hoping someone is successful in growing their fungus so my queens don't starve after winter.

Edited by Antics, October 29 2018 - 10:33 PM.

[Kalidas]

So I moved the queens out of their mason jars and into these cheap tupperwear containers I got at the 99 cent store 

 

 

This fungus is looking pretty healthy. But it hasn't grown at all. I fear the queen may be ignoring it

 

This fungus though is the piece given to the queen that started cutting pieces off. I worry she may have killed the fungus. As you can see though there is still a small bit that is still white on the right. Should I try and remove the healthy part and hope she can fix the problem?

 

 

 

On the plus side she has at least been grabbing stuff for the fungus. She had grabbed a small piece of petal for it. There may be another issue, look at the cotton(that's where the water is at) its black. I wonder if it got moldy and THASTS what killed the fungus?! Should I change out the cotton and cut off the healthy piece of fungus?

 

The first queen, I had kept her in some mud when I first caught her and stuck it in her test tube with her when I got home

 

 

 

The 4th and last queen. I removed her cotton ball from the other end of her claustral chamber and will let her roam around her new home

 

There she is heading out to explore near the petals. that white ball is wet cotton ina small plastic container meant to help increase humidity levels.

Edited by Kalidas, October 30 2018 - 7:53 PM.

[Kalidas]

So for this update I can't post the pictures as I'm on my phone, but they are in the album if you're curious

So these last few days have seen some ups and downs, specifically this morning. So that one queen with her fungus that had been cut in half and was dying except for that one tiny piece, well I was going to toss her fungus assuming it was dead but decided not to. I am glad I didn't as the Queens was miraculously able to save it, and even makeing it grow exponentially. In the pictures you can see a string of blackish green plant material and bits of white tuff's blooming. The other half that had turned orange was a shrivled husk that she discarded. I am just amazed at her ability to tend to something I thought was dead. Sadly I did something to mess it all up

So as mentioned in another thread I laid down a heating pad(one for sore muscles) on the lowest setting for the night (nights are getting colder). Two of the set ups were placed on top of that pad(with towel covering it)... This queen was one of them... I woke up this morning and am very sad at what I found her fungus us gone... Only thing that remains is little bits of black still attached to the test tube. Luckily she lives, she was hiding in her pile of plants. Her test tube was just soaked in water, the condensation was too much. The other queen also left her test tube and hid out near a spot where I had placed a second test tube with water for humidity control as the cool water was needed probably to cool her down. What a dumb mistake I made... I really hope her fungus is alive someplace in that pile of leaves and petals... It appears as if she moved it I will see tonight.

The other queen with fungus who was placed at the edge of the heat pad faired VERY well. There was bits of condensation on her lid and in the test tube (not a lot though) and her fungus had grown over night and was getting fluffier. So adding the heat was a good idea... Just not so close. Her setup had half the container being warm and the other half was cool, creating a nice gradient of tempreture. While the other one was just all warm and had condensation all over the place, it basically became a green house disaster.

I pray this queen can fix this problem just like she fixed the first problem. I will work on better heating methods like maybe hot water bottles, or just keeping the containers away from the pad and just allow it to warm their space up but not the containers itself. I will try and post pictures tonight when I am able to reach a computer

Edited by Kalidas, November 2 2018 - 9:16 AM.

[dspdrew]

If your queen is continuing to tear the fungus up, I would swap her out with a new one. Also if the fungus is growing very white and fluffy, that means it's healthy, but it also means the queen is probably not taking care of it. She should be putting lots of substrate on it, making it look dirty.

[Kalidas]

If your queen is continuing to tear the fungus up, I would swap her out with a new one. Also if the fungus is growing very white and fluffy, that means it's healthy, but it also means the queen is probably not taking care of it. She should be putting lots of substrate on it, making it look dirty.

Well that queen sadly lost her fungus beause of my mistake with the heat pad . The other Queens fungus is growing and it's mostly white and fluffy except for the top edge which is black with bits of green here and there. Honestly can't tell if she adds substrate because the substrate I added was white sand Soo the color blends lol.

[dspdrew]

When I say substrate, I mean the plant matter she is adding to the fungus.

[Kalidas]

Ooooh lol, yeah like I said white with some black with bits of green poking through the black(I'm assuming the leaves turn black as the fungus begins growing on it)

I will add pictures to the album, maybe I can add them to the journal tonight.

[Kalidas]

there's the black

 

Underside is very white and fuzzy

 

Now THIS picture is exciting! As you can see there is less black going on as it is being taken over by the white fuzzy healthy fungus. All those weird chips on the left are oatmeal pieces I added them last night and she really seemed to like them as you can see she even added some to the fungus. But that's not what's exciting though, I spy what to me looks like eggs on the fungus. You can see them in the yellow circle!

[Antics]

Looks great. I'm pretty jelly

What are you giving them as substrate?

[Kalidas]

Looks great. I'm pretty jelly
What are you giving them as substrate?

Awe thanks

Right now just rose petals, rose bush leaves and oatmeal

[ANTdrew]

(y)Congrats!

 Hope things continue to go well with the Acromyrmex.