5 replies to this topic

[FloridaAnts]

So, I know many people don’t actually have fungus farmers due to the founding stage, but I had two T. Septrionalis queens whom I fungus boosted and worker boosted, and they are taken care of the same. I wanted to know what the workers do if they are fertile(Like, constantly clean etc) or if they throw out infertile queens.

On topic though, my Trachymyrmex just fed the fungus a piece of my hair. Not sure what use my hair is to the fungus, but I know nothing about raising fungus

[ZTYguy]

My Acromyrmex versicolor seem to love extra cheddar goldfish. I’ll always remember seeing little bits and pieces of the stuff in my fungus garden for like 2 whole weeks.

[mmcguffi]

I have Atta, so they have adapted to be a bit different, but my Atta love ground corn (sold as "dry polenta"), dry rose petals, and sometimes dry oats -- I wouldn't be surprised if Trachy also accepted those 3 as well

 

Hair is made of keratin, and while some fungal animal pathogens can metabolize keratin, I'm relatively confident that the fungi Attines grow do not metabolize keratin

[FloridaAnts]

I have Atta, so they have adapted to be a bit different, but my Atta love ground corn (sold as "dry polenta"), dry rose petals, and sometimes dry oats -- I wouldn't be surprised if Trachy also accepted those 3 as well
 
Hair is made of keratin, and while some fungal animal pathogens can metabolize keratin, I'm relatively confident that the fungi Attines grow do not metabolize keratin

Idk, maybe they pulled it in there as a form of substrate? And yes, mine do like dry oats. The oats are a bit big compared to them, so they kind of pull it to the fungus and cut it in half there.

[mmcguffi]

I'm not 100% sure about T. septemtrionalis, but other Trachymyrmex (as well as other "lower" attines) often use chitinous insect parts as a substrate/nucleation point for the fungus. Chitin is molecularly pretty different than keratin (sugar polymer vs protein), but functionally they are both relatively-inert structural macromolecules, so ::shrug::

[FloridaAnts]

I'm not 100% sure about T. septemtrionalis, but other Trachymyrmex (as well as other "lower" attines) often use chitinous insect parts as a substrate/nucleation point for the fungus. Chitin is molecularly pretty different than keratin (sugar polymer vs protein), but functionally they are both relatively-inert structural macromolecules, so ::shrug::

I did dig up the fungus, as my queens had no pellet. Also, they were using(clearly pre chopped) roots to grow it in the wild. Maybe due to similarity? Would be something interesting to look into.

Also btw, I removed the hair just because it annoyed me so much…