71 replies to this topic

[AntBoi3030]

Great pictures! Having this colony must be like taking care of a picky kid. You even had to get a fungus transplant and special organic food. 

[AntsTopia]

Hi everyone that's keeping up with this rollercoaster of a journal. I bring sad news. The colony's fungus has perished. Over the last few weeks it's been slowly shrinking and the queen can't seem to understand to slow worker production. As of now, the queen and 2 large brood piles +700-1,000 workers is still alive. Their fungus completely died yesterday. I had to move the queen and all her brood + workers into another wakooshi pod because their previous one was filled with dead fungus. Some workers are slowly dying of starvation. I'm trying to get donor fungus but it seems the lack of active online atta owners in the US is a problem. I will update again if I get fungus or if they didn't make it. Fingers crossed. Here is some pictures of them now.

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[AntsGodzilla]

Dang that's tough. Just keep giving them leaves and hope for someone to donate fungus. I hope they make it.

[jaysocal]

That’s crazy that things went downhill so quickly. Any idea what happened?

Do you know if it’s possible to donate fungus from Acromyrmex? You may have better luck, that seems to be kept more often than Atta in the US.

[AntsTopia]

That’s crazy that things went downhill so quickly. Any idea what happened?
Do you know if it’s possible to donate fungus from Acromyrmex? You may have better luck, that seems to be kept more often than Atta in the US.

Honestly, the lack of local flora accessible to them has been declining over the past few months because of winter and the constant snow flurries every now and then. They stopped liking the dry rose petals and don’t like lettuce or any kind of vegetation from the store that’s organic. Also, they had way too much workers compared to their fungus size. This alone could be the reason the fungus shrunk and eventually died.

The only Acromyrmex species in the US that’s commonly kept (as far as my knowledge goes) would be Acromyrmex Versicolor which has very different fungal preferences and necessities that Atta can’t simply care for. It’s worth a shot if there really is no possibility of me obtaining Atta fungi. I’ve seen colonies of Trachymyrmex Septentrionalis caring for and accepting donor Acromyrmex Versiclor fungus so there is a chance. That also might just be because they care for their fungus in similar ways which Atta does not perform. I don’t know for certain so I’m not gonna knock it till I try it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[AntsTopia]

Day 554| 2/28/25

So. Long story short, they survived. Recently after posting about their fungus dying, a whole bunch of workers died. Like a LOT. I had to vacuum up dead ants from their outworld because there was so much.

I received donor Atta Mexicana fungus on 2/28/25. Not as big as their previous fungus garden, but there was still a decent amount of fungus (filled a deli-sized cup). I had to dump the vial containing queen Fafo (check page 3) and brood because it was in the way of where I planned to put the fungus chunks. They were a bit spooked and did their whole erratic thing but luckily I had PTFE on the underside of the Wakooshi lid. I then dumped the fungus onto the Wakooshi mesh thing where Queen Fafo was + her brood. Now, usually I wouldn’t have gone and rushed everything like I did but while I was doing all of this, the tube to their outworld disconnected which meant angry, very angry Atta soldiers everywhere biting my hands and arms. So what’s worse than very large Atta soldiers you ask? Very large Atta workers that think they don’t have any fungus. After closing their fungus container’s lid and happily reconnecting their tubes, they were finally settling in.

I immediately placed leaves and whatever else I could find in my neighborhood in their outworld. They started cutting leaves to my surprise and bringing them back to their newly established fungus garden. The fungus has started to retain a shape which means the minims are at work. There is very little green newly added fungus on top which bothers me but it hasn’t even been a day so I’ll give them time. What concerns me is that they refuse to move some dead workers and other garbage from the side of their nest. There’s nothing I could do honestly because they keep putting it back there. Hopefully, they will eventually understand that putting garbage in their nest chamber isn’t the best idea and could spark a deadly mold outbreak. Anyway, I put a towel right after I added the fungus over their pod to try to help them calm down and start caring for the fungus. They are about I’d say maybe 500 workers strong which is small compared to what they used to be. The fungus has shrank quite a bit since when I put it in the pod most likely since the workers and pretty much the entire colony have been starving for about a little under a week which is a long time considering they’ve had food constantly since the first workers arrived.

So I plan to have a lot of plans for this colony (that is they don’t decide to flatline again) including rope extensions, tons of nests, and hopefully an interesting outworld that depicts these very unique and intriguing ants. I also feel like I have always had them in too big of a nest which shrinks their fungus significantly and slows down their growth 10 fold. I’ve seen people have big colonies of Atta Mexicana only to find out that they’re about a year old. I’ve been doing something wrong most likely nest wise and plan to fix that up as soon as they get back up on their feet. Well, overall their old OG fungus may have died and a few hundred workers but at least Queen Fafo and the majority of the workers live on.

And lastly here are the pictures you’ve all been waiting for of a current day colony with a newly established fungus garden. About 15 hours after adding fungus. As you can see the fungus is vastly overpopulated and either will get eaten immediately or grow exponentially fast with a large workforce. Only time will tell. I will continue to update this journal and will try not to disappear.

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Edited by AntsTopia, March 1 2025 - 1:41 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Long live Queen Fafo!

[AntsGodzilla]

I'm so glad everything worked out! 

[Zhuge]

Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

[Ernteameise]

I am keeping my fingers crossed!

[AntsTopia]

Update 3/7/25 or Day 561 

 

I finally have great news! To say they are doing well would be an understatement. They have grown their fungus garden by 2-3 inches and have a smaller second fungus garden, just like they did before their old fungus died! I've been feeding them daily, sometimes 2 times a day. This is unlike their previous self, which would only forage every other day at their max colony size. It's awesome to see them have this new ferocious appetite. I've been feeding them iceberg rose, steel cut oats, orange peel skin, carrot tops, sprouts, dried rose petals, and other various leaves that I can scavenge around my neighborhood.

 

Queen Fafo has been laying very frequently now, and I'm happy the colony has recovered. The workers are always transporting larvae from the small fungi to the larger one, and it's pure cinema watching them fight over which is better to house brood.   

 

They finally got rid of their trash (mostly). 

 

I'm starting to think that the fungus somehow has its tastes and preferences and how the ants just carry the request out instead of the ants having preferences. For instance, their old fungus garden apparently did not like steel cut oats because no matter how many times I offered it to them, they would always refuse it. With their new fungus garden, they can't get enough of it. If that's true, then it would be interesting to find out how they do it. I mean, it's most likely chemicals and pheromones, but who knows? Maybe it could be something different.  Overall, the fungus has retained a healthy look; their chance of survival is very high now. But I know queens randomly just drop dead out of nowhere, so I won't count on anything. 

 

Here are some pictures of them on the current day. Sorry for the bad photos; they're container has been very humid, and condensation is just about everywhere in their Wakooshi pod. I'll be updating it 1 or 2 weeks from now, depending on how things go. 

 

Watching them cut up leaves to add the chopped pieces to the fungus is so satisfying and relaxing.

 

The soldiers crowd around the tiny fungus piece as if to protect it. They're so weird, lol.

 

This is their outworld right now. It's looking a bit empty, but that's all their fault. I'll fill it again tomorrow.

 

Their fungus growth is absolutely crazy compared to a week ago.

 

Atta stockpilin their goods like usual. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by AntsTopia, March 7 2025 - 9:11 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Try the cherry branch trick: cut a thin branch with buds on it, hammer the end a bit to help it absorb water, then put it in a jar of water. Place it in a warm, sunny spot, and the branch will blossom weeks earlier. Fafo and her fungus will love the fresh petals. This works for pear trees and Forsythia, too.