15 replies to this topic

[TheDrW6]

The atta Texana that I’m taking care of are putting honey water on their fungus. Is this a bad thing?

Edited by TheDrW6, October 26 2022 - 8:09 PM.

[United-Ants]

No it is a bad thing

[Manitobant]

Why are you even feeding them honey water in the first place? Leafcutters do not need sweets or protein, they get all their nutrition from the fungus they feed leaves to.

[ZTYguy]

Never give fungus growers sugar water! They get everything they need from the fungus. BIG NO NO

[mmcguffi]

-1 to Manitobant and ZTYguy

 

Adult workers get most of their nutrition from cutting leaves and drinking nectar, with only small amounts coming from fungus. I do not feed my Atta sugar water (any more), but that's because I'm intentionally trying to shorten their lifespan so the colony doesn't grow too big. I used to regularly feed them sugars.

 

TLDR: leafcutters very much appreciate sugars

 

My guess is the "honey" you are seeing is little brownish/yellowish liquid beads on the fungus? Is the colony less than a year old? I'm not entirely sure what these are, but my best guess is it's bundles of gongylidia liquifying (the organ that the ants feed their larvae). I saw this all the time in the first year of my colony, but it eventually just disappeared. As long as the fungus is at proper humidity and temp, it's nothing to worry about -- the ants know how to regulate the fungus, including dealing with honey.

Edited by mmcguffi, October 27 2022 - 7:49 AM.

[NicholasP]

Never give fungus growers sugar water! They get everything they need from the fungus. BIG NO NO

I wouldn't say never. They really appreciate it, and it will help grow their fungus because they don't need to eat as much. Watch Arthropod Antics' video on their Atta mexicana regrowing their fungus that was severely damaged and solely surviving on sugar water. And I know you guys read CheetoLord's Atta mexicana journal at some point so please refer to that for more information.

Edited by NicholasP, October 27 2022 - 8:10 AM.

[Ant-nig321]

I don't think u should be feeding them honey water.or why do you think they're fungus growers.

Edited by Ant-nig321, October 27 2022 - 8:23 AM.

[NicholasP]

I don't think u should be feeding them honey water.or why do you think they're fungus growers.

It's perfectly fine to do and beneficial.

[NicholasP]

I'd just like to say please guys... If you haven't ever kept Atta or done extensive research on them then just don't say anything. It's confusing for new people with situations like these.

[Ant-nig321]

Sorry,so what should he do to prevent this from happening again?

[NicholasP]

Sorry,so what should he do to prevent this from happening again?

It's something that can't be prevented. That orange stuff on the fungus is likely not sugar water but a liquid the fungus secretes during the first year or two of the colony. It's fine and doesn't seem to harm the ants.

[Ant-nig321]

Hmm good info.

[TheDrW6]

Thanks for all the info!
How long does it take for eggs to go to workers? The tiniest ones

[mmcguffi]

Are you in West/South Texas? Only populations near the US/Mexico border fly late summer/fall, and the last flights I saw on iNaturalist were a couple of months ago

 

If you do somehow have an incipient colony (new colony)... why are you feeding honey at this stage? Atta texana are fully claustral and the queens won't take any

 

In any case, to answer your question, ~5 weeks from eggs -> nanitics

[TheDrW6]

No they aren’t a new colony- they have about 40 workers and I was just curious how long a regular (non nanitic) worker span from egg to worker was.

[mmcguffi]

That I'm not sure of -- no faster than the nanitic development time, so at least ~5 weeks

 

but keep in mind Atta lay constantly not in batches, so the numbers will just continue grow

Edited by mmcguffi, October 29 2022 - 5:12 PM.