11 replies to this topic

[NicholasP]

Hello. I see that Ants Emporium sells Atta Texana but was wondering what do those that live in northern states with no plants that are the same as those in Texas. My question is. What should people in the Northern United States feed Atta Texana? Because my biggest concern about keeping Atta Texana up North is what to feed them since rose bushes could have a disease that the Atta Texana are not used to and they die from it. I'm not trying to start any war or anything about Garret here. I'm just asking a question so that I know how to take care of Atta Texana when I move to Michigan.

[Mettcollsuss]

I don't have any experience with Atta, but I am keeping some Trachymyrmex septentrionalis. Food-wise, I'd imagine they're similar with the exception of Atta being scaled way up and also less picky. You can offer leafcutters plants that you find outside, as long as you're sure they are growing in an area that doesn't use pesticides or fungicides. I feed my Trachys some plants from my garden, since I know for a fact that I don't use any sorts of chemicals on my plants. During the winter months when there aren't any outdoor plants to feed, they do fine on dried plants. You can get packs of dried flower petals online. Rose petals are a favorite of my Trachy, but they enjoy a variety of other types as well. Oats, especially steel cut oats, are available at grocery stores and are another favorite of my Trachy, I don't see why Atta wouldn't like them as well. In this paper, myrmecologists use Cream of Rice cereal to feed lab colonies (as well as insect frass, orange peel and apple). Mine have accepted Rice Krispies cereal, as well as assorted types of fruit (except for citrus, which they seem to despise, but I've seen Atta enjoying citrus). Just be sure that if you use fruit, it is free of pesticides or fungicides. 

 

You shouldn't have to worry too much about your ants getting a disease from plants from an area they're not used to. One, it's outside their range so no leafcutter-targeting diseases should be just sitting around in the wild. Two, ants are good at dealing with disease, especially leafcutters. Infected ants often quarantine themselves. Leafcutters grow multiple smaller gardens instead of one large garden so that if one garden gets infected, they can just quarantine it. They're generally pretty good at detecting if a plant is poisonous or dangerous in some way. If memory serves, when given a new food for the first time leafcutters will only put in on one of the gardens, so that in case they messed up the safety check only part of the fungus dies instead of all of it.

Edited by Mettcollsuss, January 7 2022 - 10:28 AM.

[NicholasP]

The thing with Trachymyrmex Septentrionalis is that they're native to Illinois. Atta Texana is not.

Texana are native only to texas in the US and Mexico and only Southern texas with some up in Dallas.

Edited by NicholasP, January 7 2022 - 10:25 AM.

[Mettcollsuss]

The thing with Trachymyrmex Septentrionalis is that they're native to Illinois. Atta Texana is not.

Texana are native only to texas in the US and Mexico and only Southern texas with some up in Dallas.

 

Food-wise, I'd imagine they're similar with the exception of Atta being scaled way up and also less picky.

I know they're not from the same area. I was saying that they should be able to eat similar things, so the foods that work for Midwest-native fungus-growers should work for Atta as well. 

Edited by Mettcollsuss, January 7 2022 - 10:42 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Cheeto feeds his clover.

[Mettcollsuss]

Yes, I've heard of Cheeto feeding his Atta a lot of clover, mesquite, and I think sorrel. Clover and sorrel should be very easily available in Michigan. I don't know how much this holds over to Atta, but mine have always preferred the flowers over the leaves. Just experiment with local plants and find out what they like. Like I said above, as long as its from and area that doesn't use pesti/fungicides, you should be fine. From what I've heard, Atta aren't too picky, especially once the colony gets larger. The only difference with living further north is that you'll have to switch over to buying plants instead of collecting plants in the winter, but that shouldn't be a challenge. There are plenty of types of fruits and dried plants to try offering them. If you don't want to buy dried plants, you can even collect local plants during the warm months and store them to feed during the winter.

Edited by Mettcollsuss, January 7 2022 - 10:53 AM.

[NicholasP]

Cheeto feeds his clover.

Ok. But my biggest concern that I wrote about here was about plants from outside in states that Atta Texana aren't native to like Michigan for example what should I do with them? My concern is about diseases the plants that I raise for my texana can have and the Atta Texana not being able to survive the disease.

Edited by NicholasP, January 7 2022 - 11:13 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Don’t bring Atta to states they aren’t native too. Problem solved.

[NicholasP]

Well, Garret ships them to Michigan so I wonder how people up north care for them.

[Mettcollsuss]

Ok. But my biggest concern that I wrote about here was about plants from outside in states that Atta Texana aren't native to like Michigan for example what should I do with them? My concern is about diseases the plants that I raise for my texana can have and the Atta Texana not being able to survive the disease.

You shouldn't have to worry too much about your ants getting a disease from plants from an area they're not used to. One, it's outside their range so no leafcutter-targeting diseases should be just sitting around in the wild. Two, ants are good at dealing with disease, especially leafcutters. Infected ants often quarantine themselves. Leafcutters grow multiple smaller gardens instead of one large garden so that if one garden gets infected, they can just quarantine it. They're generally pretty good at detecting if a plant is poisonous or dangerous in some way. If memory serves, when given a new food for the first time leafcutters will only put in on one of the gardens, so that in case they messed up the safety check only part of the fungus dies instead of all of it.

Using local plants should be fine. There aren't going to be Atta-targeting diseases in an area that Atta don't occur. It isn't impossible for them to catch some sort of generalist infection, but that's possible in their native range as well. And, like I mentioned, ants are good at dealing with diseases. It's impossible to be 100% shielded from any chance of infection, but I'd say the chances are low. If you want to be as safe as you can when using wild plants, I'd recommend

1. Make sure plant is from an area free of pesticides and fungicides
2. Offer only a tiny bit of the plant
3. See if it has any negative impact on the colony
4. If not, then it should be safe. If it does, then just avoid that plant.

 

Well, Garret ships them to Michigan so I wonder how people up north care for them.

Where you live really doesn't have that big an impact on care. The only major difference keeping leafcutters in the north is that you have to buy plants in the winter instead of collect. Everything else should be the same. Atta aren't picky, they're probably not going to care that the plants aren't a species that's native to the area they came from. 

[NicholasP]

I might just ask Garret what he thinks and ask him to put whatever his answer is into his common questions and answers post for AntsEmporium so others know how to care for them.

[NicholasP]

 

Ok. But my biggest concern that I wrote about here was about plants from outside in states that Atta Texana aren't native to like Michigan for example what should I do with them? My concern is about diseases the plants that I raise for my texana can have and the Atta Texana not being able to survive the disease.

You shouldn't have to worry too much about your ants getting a disease from plants from an area they're not used to. One, it's outside their range so no leafcutter-targeting diseases should be just sitting around in the wild. Two, ants are good at dealing with disease, especially leafcutters. Infected ants often quarantine themselves. Leafcutters grow multiple smaller gardens instead of one large garden so that if one garden gets infected, they can just quarantine it. They're generally pretty good at detecting if a plant is poisonous or dangerous in some way. If memory serves, when given a new food for the first time leafcutters will only put in on one of the gardens, so that in case they messed up the safety check only part of the fungus dies instead of all of it.

Using local plants should be fine. There aren't going to be Atta-targeting diseases in an area that Atta don't occur. It isn't impossible for them to catch some sort of generalist infection, but that's possible in their native range as well. And, like I mentioned, ants are good at dealing with diseases. It's impossible to be 100% shielded from any chance of infection, but I'd say the chances are low. If you want to be as safe as you can when using wild plants, I'd recommend

1. Make sure plant is from an area free of pesticides and fungicides
2. Offer only a tiny bit of the plant
3. See if it has any negative impact on the colony
4. If not, then it should be safe. If it does, then just avoid that plant.

 

Well, Garret ships them to Michigan so I wonder how people up north care for them.

Where you live really doesn't have that big an impact on care. The only major difference keeping leafcutters in the north is that you have to buy plants in the winter instead of collect. Everything else should be the same. Atta aren't picky, they're probably not going to care that the plants aren't a species that's native to the area they came from. 

 

Thank you so much! I'll keep a mental note of this for later this year when I try and get Atta texana from Texas.