139 replies to this topic

[AntsBrazil]

Yeah, I'm trying to spend more time planning and editing the videos, thanks 

[AntsBrazil]

Update 04-02-17

 

The weeks after.

After 2 weeks from the moving process I can tell that the colony likes the setup and have adapted well. No ants died and the fungus seems to be healthy, even the worker with the weird legs still alive.

I wonder if I should connect another fungus chamber so they can start another garden, because if somehow one of them gets infected or invaded by something they would still have something to work with.

 

[AntsBrazil]

Update 04-16-17

 

Cutting leafs.

I decided to place the leafs closer to the fungus so I could get some more cutting activity, since they are still a small colony. They probably have 300+ workers, but still a small colony for Atta, they can't make those great lines of ants carrying plants.

The colony is doing well, haven't noticed bigger ants(new castes), but I can see some different colors in their exoskeleton, so new ants are always coming.

It is getting colder here, I'll probably have to place a incandescent lamp to heat them in the future.

 

[AntsBrazil]

Update 04-22-17

 

The Royal Chamber. 

The ants decided to build the queen's chamber this week, now I can't even see her anymore. It's incredible how they managed to make this huge chamber inside the fungus, and the queen can even move inside it. The colony seems to be doing well, I found out that they like avocado leafs, that's good, because I have a big tree here at my home, and the leafs are huge. 

 

[MegaMyrmex]

These are by far on the top 10 list of my favorite ants...it's like I am keeping them right now.

[AntsBrazil]

Update 05-07-17

 

It's getting cold here in Brazil and it's affecting the fungus growth a bit, but it's still doing fine, it's not dying. I think we have a new caste of bigger ants now, but I'm not entirely sure.

 

These ant's are very cool indeed 

 

Edited by JPSMedeiros, May 7 2017 - 6:06 PM.

[Aaron567]

I love this journal! The thing that fascinates me the most about fungus growers is the entire fungus structure that they live inside, that started off as a tiny pellet.

[AntsBrazil]

Good to see that you like it. It's really awesome, sometimes I watch some of my old videos and can't believe that she started almost from nothing, that's a true success in evolution.

[AntsBrazil]

Update 05-16-17

 

Apparently the fungus is changing it's color, I'm worried that the cold could be killing it. I decided to place a lamp trying to raise the temperature to 23º inside the chamber. I'm not home 3 days of the week so I hope they are OK with the temperature meanwhile. 

 

[AntsBrazil]

Update 07-08-17

 

 

After a long time I'm updating this journal. The colony isn't growing much, they aren't collecting leafs very well and the fungus still dying due to the cold, but not as much as before. It's starting to stabilize, maybe the ants are "learning" how to deal with this situation.

In this video update the queen decided to go for a walk I'm not sure why. We can also see a worker carrying a big pile of eggs around, so that's a good sign that the queen still laying and they are fine.

I can't wait until the summer so they can start growing again.

 

 

[VoidElecent]

Wonderful footage. Some of those minors reminded me of Aphaenogaster workers.

Edited by VoidElecent, July 8 2017 - 1:47 PM.

[AntsBrazil]

They do, it's incredible how in the same colony we can see a huge difference between the ants. 

[JackPearl]

Awesome journal! Made he want to do some research on if Australia actually has any species of Atta or Acromymrex!

[AntsBrazil]

Update 09-19-17

 

After more than 2 months without videos and info about the colony, here I am. If you watch the videos you probably know that I started working and now have almost no time for the hobby, that's truly sad, because I love keeping ants. 

 

This video was recorded in July(yeah that's a long time ago), but I recorded the videos on July, recorded the audio on August and finished editing the video this month, that's how hard it is to find time hahaha. Here's the only place that I'm saying that the footage is old, because I hope this info will be helpful to antkeepers for research and stuff.

 

Now, let's talk about the colony.

In the video(July) the colony was doing well, they had their first Major, a very tiny major but I think it's a major, because of the proportions of the head. Majors indicate that the colony is comfortable with their available resources, so every thing was doing good. The colony had collected almost no plant material, but the fungus wasn't going down in size.

 

The situation between July~The begging of this month, here's where the things get really scary. The colony was still collecting no plant material, NO FOOD FOR THE FUNGUS FOR MONTHS!! The fungus started dying rapidly, their outworld had a layer of almost 1cm of dead brown fungus that the ants removed from the garden. The fungus was dying and the ants didn't want plants at all, I tried a lot of different types(even types that I know they like). Those months were very cold here in Brazil, the ants really suffered. The fungus is now, I would say, 30% or less in size, comparing with the period that it was big.

That's also one of the reasons that I stopped making videos, this situation of the colony not doing well was making me sad about them, I didn't want to record them dying. Even tho I should for the channel and for people that might use this for research or are only trying to learn. 

 

The situation at the moment, it's getting hot again, the colonies from the wild are slowly starting to go out ant collect again. I already see a huge Acromyrmex colony every day with their awesome lines carrying plants to their nest. This week the ants started accepting plants again ( =D ), I hope they manage to grow a lot in this summer.

I'll also try to find new Atta and Acromyrmex queens to increase my chances of having a huge leaf cutter colony. I really want to have a colony that collects in the wild, that's probably one of the coolest things that I came across in the hobby, having a colony that would go in the wild, take plants and then come back to your nest, that can be done with Atta.  

 

I had no time to review the text, sorry for eventual mistakes.

 

[AntsBrazil]

Update 01-13-17

 

After a long time I'm updating this journal again.

 

The colony is not growing and is not collecting enough. 

 

Here is a video recorded one week ago:

 

 

The week after this video something happened and all the base of the fungus died, it's half of the size that we can see in the video now.

 

After that I decided to transfer them again, into a small setup, I moved them into their initial setup again. I hope that fixes their problem. If it doesn't I'll have to take them with me too the coast (where I study and captured them), I think they will do better in higher temperatures. 

 

Their new setup have 2 small containers, one with plaster in the bottom, that's the fungus garden, the other without plaster is the outworld, and also a test tube attached in the tunnels where I can place more chambers. 

Here are some new photos of their new setup:

 

 

 

[nurbs]

Great thread! Who doesn't love leafcutters?

Skimmed through the entire thread - hope the fungus recovers with the new setup. Dying fungus seems to be a common theme with leafcutters in captivity in any part of the world.

Been wanting to start a colony of Acromyrmex here in CA, but always fail. Finding the queens is easy. Finding the starter fungus is like pulling teeth.

Edited by nurbs, January 14 2018 - 6:18 AM.

[AntsBrazil]

Update 01-14-18

 

This is a quick update.

 

The ants decided to place all their trash in the test tube, I know that it wouldn't work so I had to make some urgent changes to the setup.

 

I added a new place for them to deposit their trash and placed their trash there, it's a good method to make they understand what they should do.

 

OBS: check out my new home made T connection and the removable trash container with some tubing tricks.

 

Some photos of the new setup and the fungus, they accepted corn =D

 

 

Edited by JPSMedeiros, January 14 2018 - 4:24 PM.

[nurbs]

Cooked canned corn? Or raw?

[AntsBrazil]

Raw, but cut into pieces. We use it here to feed the chicks, I'm trying them now with my Acromyrmex too to see if they like it.

[Leo]

update?