306 replies to this topic

[KitsAntVa]

I had to come back for a minute for this

[Miketheawesome]

will someone feed them while you are gone?

That’s a good question how do you take care of your ants when you need to leave for long periods of time???

[Ants_Dakota]

 

will someone feed them while you are gone?

That’s a good question how do you take care of your ants when you need to leave for long periods of time???

 

i mean, most species can last a bit, or you can use byformica feeders, but this species you cannot do that for.

[RushmoreAnts]

 

 

will someone feed them while you are gone?

That’s a good question how do you take care of your ants when you need to leave for long periods of time???

 

i mean, most species can last a bit, or you can use byformica feeders, but this species you cannot do that for.

 

Although a better option would be to have someone you know take care of them for you.

[TennesseeAnts]

Very impressive!

[ANTdrew]

You are so frickin’ lucky, Cheeto.

[CheetoLord02]

While I'm gone my dad is going to be caring for my colonies. He hasn't kept ants before, but he is the main reason that I got into keeping animals in the first place. Thankfully Atta are pretty easy, so I'm hoping everything will go smoothly. I trust him (for the most part) and honestly, even if they went 2 whole weeks without any food I think they'd be fine, considering the size of their fungus. They definitely have enough to last a few weeks.

[CheetoLord02]

Update 12/10

After a hefty feeding of flowers the fungus totally exploded overnight! It's really nice to finally be seeing the totally insane growth from these guys again.
 

 

 

They've officially done it again. The lid of the container is once again just a few millimeters away. I don't know how after only 6 days they've managed to get it this tall again, but I suppose that's why you never underestimate Atta, huh.
 

 

 

Another exciting thing is that the "older" side of the garden is finally growing too! Not much for now, but it's definitely a solid start. 
 

[TechAnt]

Amazing, simply amazing.

[ZTYguy]

Woohoo, go fungus go

[KitsAntVa]

delicious.

[ANTdrew]

Those remind me of Thunbergia flowers.

[Devi]

Ahhh, nothing like eating breakfast and reading Cheeto's journals. 

[Ants_Dakota]

Ahhh, nothing like eating breakfast and reading Cheeto's journals. 

wish i had a breakfast today

[Kaelwizard]

 

Ahhh, nothing like eating breakfast and reading Cheeto's journals. 

wish i had a breakfast today

 

I would die without breakfast.

[CheetoLord02]

Update 12/12

Today was the day for this colony's huge move! I was anticipating to wait until I came back from vacation, but I just couldn't wait, and really the colony barely could either. The fungus would have been exploding out of the container if I ended up waiting another almost 3 weeks.

The new setup is sure to hold them for quite a while. It makes the fungus look tiny, but in reality it's just a very large setup. Here's the old nest compared to the new one:
 

 

 

And the old outworld, now used as a trash chamber, compared to the new outworld:

 

 

 

Needless to say this setup is the real deal. I'm expecting it to hold them until around 10,000 workers, although that may be a bit ambitious depending on the way the fungus ends up growing.


To move the fungus was relatively simple. All I did was open the setup, grab the fungus, pick it up, and place it in the new nest. Easy as that. A bit of the fungus that was anchored to the old nest ended up getting stuck to the plaster, but I was able to mostly scrape it off and save it. To pick up the fungus I wore a nitrile glove, and that saved me from a world of pain, as I had at least 3 dozen workers of various sizes furiously biting the gloved hand. It was surprisingly effective and I didn't get bit a single time. 


The huge setup makes the fungus look so tiny >-<
 

The good thing is that this new setup is super clear, and because of the increased height I'm able to get some pretty awesome lighting as well. The photo quality of this journal is absolutely going to get better because of it.
 

 

 

Once again the queen got a pretty good shock from this, but she's totally fine. A huge entourage of workers clustered around her as she shoved herself deep into one of the pockets of fungus.
 

 

 

At the end of the day, this colony is still looking great. I'm excited to see how this drastic increase in space affects the way that they decide to grow their fungus. Maybe we'll see another crazy tall and unstable tower come about, who knows.

 

[Swirlysnowflake]

I swear, the fungus still looks huge in the container. this is an amazing colony! can't wait to see it continue growing uwu

[ANTdrew]

Amazing...and where did you get those containers?

[Spazmops]

This is one of the best journals I've read on this site. I'm glad the colony is doing so well!

[Swirlysnowflake]

Amazing...and where did you get those containers?

I think they are from target:

https://www.target.c...145#lnk=sametab

i might be wrong though, lol