472 replies to this topic

[antsandmore]

 

 

can you sell me some fungus ? I have a small colony , but fungus dead....

He would have to dig up the whole colony to get some fungus, which means killing the colony. I would look for other people who have fungus.

 

He has colonies in set ups with no dirt that are easy enough to take from. He used one of them for that purpose in the past.

 

Oh yes, true. I forgot that he has multiple colonies lol, also, Update? I love this species

[Antkeeper01]

update?

[AmazingAnts]

Any updates?

[Katla]

Hey there,

Awesome concept of a tank for them, feels like a child dream of mine.

One thing id like to point out would be Ambient temps and humidy, that in my opinion is the toughoust point when keeping any ant in the end.
As you did show on the introduction to their new tank the soil was muddy as it felt to be in their natural habitat, yet we mostly keep open lids for them (i don't yet have a colony in any open substrate setup).
I think using a lid with all necessary access and aeration intakes will Hugely improve the biome we want to offer them (feel right like home) i would like to follow up because i entend to have colony in a smaller 12 Liters tank, and the fact that the dirt towers on your nest entrances look quite dry. Would you agree if i say that they would have better chances if the overall humidity was constant ? (as an indication the dirt would be all evenly colored.

I think i lost most of my over all ants to those conditions, not only because of humidity and other species. 
Charing ideas would help me out alot.

Again great Work on all of your habitats and inhabitants.

[dspdrew]

Hey there,

Awesome concept of a tank for them, feels like a child dream of mine.

One thing id like to point out would be Ambient temps and humidy, that in my opinion is the toughoust point when keeping any ant in the end.
As you did show on the introduction to their new tank the soil was muddy as it felt to be in their natural habitat, yet we mostly keep open lids for them (i dont yet have a colony in any open substrate setup).
I think using a lid with all necessary access and aeration intakes will Hugely improve the biome we want to offer them (feel right like home) i would like to follow up because i entend to have colony in a smaller 12 Liters tank, and the fact that the dirt towers on your nest entrances look quite dry. Would you agree if i say that they would have better chances if the overall humidity was constant ? (as an indication the dirt would be all evenly colored.

I think i lost most of my over all ants to those conditions, not only because of humidity and other species. 
Charing ideas would help me out alot.

Again great Work on all of your habitats and inhabitants.

 

Sorry, I shouldn't have been more specific when I said muddy is like their natural habitat. That is only at the time of their mating flights. Once it dries up, it is actually extremely dry where these are found. The ambient humidity usually goes down to the single digits during the day.

[dspdrew]

Update 10-21-2023

I haven't had much luck with these the last few years, but of course I'm still trying. I didn't grab very many queens this year, and had no fungus, so I had to get some from my friend. Most of them didn't do well at all, so I'm only left with five "colonies" at this point.

 

One of them just recently got its first worker.

[100lols]

Nice! Let’s gooo! Hopefully you have some success. I think temperature is a big factor in their fungus’s health… Excited.

[cutchins]

dspdrew, do you still have the colony in the large aquarium setup? The last photos (from 2021?) were awesome! Would love to know how that continued to evolve and if you were able to glean any lessons.

[dspdrew]

I actually don't have anymore of these.

[cutchins]

I actually don't have anymore of these.

 

So many Acromyrmex versicolor journals abruptly stop with no explanation or follow up...   I'm so nosey! it drives me nuts, haha. 

 

It seems like founding is relatively straightforward in terms of keeping desired temp and humidity and providing the leaves/flowers and usually you'll end up with small growing fungus garden and workers. Basically, follow Cheeto's guide and you have high chance of initial success. I wonder what the ants are dealing with that causes random die offs of fungus and/or workers when the colony progresses further along after founding.

 

dspdrew, do you have any theories? Notice anything consistent with the Acromyrmex colonies you've kept that have run into trouble?

 

I worry about the air quality in my old-ish house. I feel like there are untold varieties of mold/dust/spores,etc either in the air, or settled on horizontal surfaces awaiting to be disturbed and spread into the air. These could be higher concentrations or just entirely different organisms or chemicals than what our ants are used to encountering in the wild, right? I use a MERV 13 filter on my AC, but that can only do so much. Plus, I'm a single, lazy man-child and definitely do not vacuum, dust or clean as often as I should. I wonder if keeping fungus growing ants in a sort cleanroom-ish type of environment, where we better control air quality, would increase success rates by protecting the fungus from dangerous airborne stuff. Am I just overthinking it? 

[The_Gaming-gate]

I actually don't have anymore of these.

So many Acromyrmex versicolor journals abruptly stop with no explanation or follow up... I'm so nosey! it drives me nuts, haha.

It seems like founding is relatively straightforward in terms of keeping desired temp and humidity and providing the leaves/flowers and usually you'll end up with small growing fungus garden and workers. Basically, follow Cheeto's guide and you have high chance of initial success. I wonder what the ants are dealing with that causes random die offs of fungus and/or workers when the colony progresses further along after founding.

dspdrew, do you have any theories? Notice anything consistent with the Acromyrmex colonies you've kept that have run into trouble?

I worry about the air quality in my old-ish house. I feel like there are untold varieties of mold/dust/spores,etc either in the air, or settled on horizontal surfaces awaiting to be disturbed and spread into the air. These could be higher concentrations or just entirely different organisms or chemicals than what our ants are used to encountering in the wild, right? I use a MERV 13 filter on my AC, but that can only do so much. Plus, I'm a single, lazy man-child and definitely do not vacuum, dust or clean as often as I should. I wonder if keeping fungus growing ants in a sort cleanroom-ish type of environment, where we better control air quality, would increase success rates by protecting the fungus from dangerous airborne stuff. Am I just overthinking it?

You could be on to something. Probably some sort of virus/bacteria getting blown around from food or animals. (Mold would be quite noticeable.) It may be beneficial not to have two leafcutter colonies close together, as said airborne pathogen could spread between the colonies. My personal guess is that the pathogen (or toxin!) lies dormant in the plants we feed the fungus, and this causes it to die once consumed.

[ReignofRage]

From my experience when I had a few colonies for a couple years, A. versicolor go through phases where they cull fungus regardless of their formicarium size. Colony crashes, in my opinion and experience, are almost always the keeper not having them in a large enough formicarium. When the colony culls fungus, they have little left for the colony size if they weren't allowed to fully expand their fungus before hand. Additionally, an accident with hydration or heating isn't too uncommon either. As for a mold/fungus/bacteria infecting a colony; I have had a colony that was overtaken by an alien fungus and it did not affect the dozens upon dozens of other colonies that were stored in the same enclosed box.

 

 

The longer fiber mycelium in the center eventually took over the entire fungus. It had no effect on the queen or brood, only the ants' fungus. I did cull the entire colony to prevent myself from accidently spreading it on tools.

[frozenoak]

This was a fascinating 2 day read/journey.  I'm not sure fungus gardening ants are still on my want list.  It's going to be quite a while before I feel confident with keeping leafcutters.