98 replies to this topic

[BroJack]

Luke,

Great job and I look forward to hearing about your continuing Atta adventure! I have a couple of questions:

It sounds like you made several trips...did you ever see them preparing to fly (outside their hole) and they didn't fly?

Did they fall to the ground while still mating (like Acromyrmex versicolor below the swarm) at all?

How far from the colony/swarm did you have to go to find mated queens?

How long after the flight were you still finding wandering queens?

It sounds like we (AZ folks) could get an early warning (around 2am) if we had someone on site to check on possible flight nights nights. Do you think it would be possible to do? It would be perfect for those of us (most) who are 2 hours away.

[SoySauce]

Also, are you trying a polygenous setup with them too?

[mmcguffi]

Also, are you trying a polygenous setup with them too?

As far as I'm aware, polygyny has not been recorded in A. mexicana. Of the Atta, I believe only A. texana can be polygynous

[Luke_in_AZ]

Also, are you trying a polygenous setup with them too?

I really wanted to and was planning on it but then I chickened out for fear of losing a couple queens.  

[Luke_in_AZ]

Luke,

Great job and I look forward to hearing about your continuing Atta adventure! I have a couple of questions:

It sounds like you made several trips...did you ever see them preparing to fly (outside their hole) and they didn't fly?

Did they fall to the ground while still mating (like Acromyrmex versicolor below the swarm) at all?

How far from the colony/swarm did you have to go to find mated queens?

How long after the flight were you still finding wandering queens?

It sounds like we (AZ folks) could get an early warning (around 2am) if we had someone on site to check on possible flight nights nights. Do you think it would be possible to do? It would be perfect for those of us (most) who are 2 hours away.

Thanks Jack! 

- During one other trip I did see a queen at the nest entrance but she never came above ground.  It seemed like they were thinking about flying but conditions weren't perfect.  I think it was too windy.

- They may have fallen to the ground while still mating but I didn't notice. 

- The queens I collected were about 100+ feet from a nest.

- Queens were pretty much gone by 5:30.  I tried to find more by looking in bushes and other areas but they were long gone.  Other people went out the next morning looking and didn't find any.

- Yes, based on my experience, I think you can definitely tell if they are going to fly 2 hours ahead of time.  I suppose that could change though if the wind picked up or something.  Queens and drones were not above ground on the other nights I went.

[Luke_in_AZ]

Looking great so far!  They're starting to lay eggs!

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[SoySauce]

Whoot! Congrats on the eggs! Do all of the queens still have their wings?

[mmcguffi]

Whoot! Congrats on the eggs! Do all of the queens still have their wings?

 

If they still have their wings -- and if you feel comfortable enough -- you can bend them forward toward the head and rip them off. I was given this advice by a professor who has studied Atta for decades who says that removing the wings (at least in A. texana) can induce the queens to start laying more eggs/drop their fungal pellet if they haven't already. I guess they need soil and/or rocks and whatnot to pivot off of so they can snap their wings off in nature. When put in a flat plaster dish, they don't have the same geometry to help them remove the wings

 

In my experience, the wings do break off pretty easily and it's really not that tricky. Again, this is my experience/knowledge in regard to A. texana, but A. texana and A. mexicana were considered the same species for a long time, so I doubt it would be much different

[Luke_in_AZ]

Yep, they all have both wings besides one queen I found with only 1 wing. I'm used to other queens shedding them but they don't seem to mind. The only annoying thing is that sometimes they fall on thier backs and their huge wings become stuck to the hydrostone. Then I have to flip them back over.

[Luke_in_AZ]

Whoot! Congrats on the eggs! Do all of the queens still have their wings?

 
If they still have their wings -- and if you feel comfortable enough -- you can bend them forward toward the head and rip them off. I was given this advice by a professor who has studied Atta for decades who says that removing the wings (at least in A. texana) can induce the queens to start laying more eggs/drop their fungal pellet if they haven't already. I guess they need soil and/or rocks and whatnot to pivot off of so they can snap their wings off in nature. When put in a flat plaster dish, they don't have the same geometry to help them remove the wings
 
In my experience, the wings do break off pretty easily and it's really not that tricky. Again, this is my experience/knowledge in regard to A. texana, but A. texana and A. mexicana were considered the same species for a long time, so I doubt it would be much different

Wow! I'm not that brave. Lol. Sounds interesting though.

[Luke_in_AZ]

Fungus looks more like "fungus" now.  Egg piles are getting huge. Their size still impresses me every time I see them.

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[SoySauce]

Woah that’s a boatload of eggs just for one queen!

[Luke_in_AZ]

Atta queens will be getting a fungus boost at 1 week from nuptial flight.  A few didn't make it but it makes for good photo opportunities.  

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[m99]

she's got the Alien mouth-in-a-mouth it looks like in that last picture hahah

[ANTdrew]

You now have the second longest running Atta journal in Formiculture history!

[Luke_in_AZ]

You now have the second longest running Atta journal in Formiculture history!

Yeah!  I bet a few more may pop up on here after I sell the extra fertile queens.  One can only keep so many huge Atta Mexicana.  lol 

 

A few Universities, Zoos and more have been interested in acquiring a successful queen.

[Luke_in_AZ]

Thanks to Cheeto, I was able to boost every queen with a big chunk of fungus.  Many were already growing a fungus pellet but a good amount did not have any so I bet this saved a bunch.

Here is a picture from the next day.  Most of them gathered it up and started caring for it with their eggs but others just scattered it around into a mess as shown in the pics.

These ants are fun to photograph because they're so big, it makes it easier.

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[Luke_in_AZ]

she's got the Alien mouth-in-a-mouth it looks like in that last picture hahah

LMAO

[Antkeeper01]

 

You now have the second longest running Atta journal in Formiculture history!

Yeah!  I bet a few more may pop up on here after I sell the extra fertile queens.  One can only keep so many huge Atta Mexicana.  lol 

 

A few Universities, Zoos and more have been interested in acquiring a successful queen.

 

it would be really cool for a zoo to have an ant colony in captivity especially if it a leafcutter colony, i spent 2 hours writing an email to try to convince my favorite zoo I've been to(CMZ) to get a colony like a harvester ant colony but i don't think it worked

[Kaelwizard]

she's got the Alien mouth-in-a-mouth it looks like in that last picture hahah

All ants have it but this one looks a lot scarier lol.