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Zeiss' Acromyrmex versicolor (18-9-2019)


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#1 Online Zeiss - Posted March 23 2019 - 1:12 AM

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23-3-2019

Here I show you the two colonies I have had for a while that I got from dspdrew.  They started out as queens with a little bit of donor fungus I think?  I can't remember.  I keep them at ambient room temperature, which ranges from 70-74F in my apartment.  They're tucked into a cabinet I have specifically for ant use, so they're always in the dark.  I have nothing to measure the humidity in the chambers, so no values there.

Both Colonies

This first set of images are from my best colony:

Colony 1
Colony 1
Colony 1 pupae
Colony 1 Queen.

This next is from the other:

Colony 2
Colony 2.

The second queen ended up dying after bringing her fungus garden back from almost going completely dead.  Her first round of workers died while the fungus was going downhill, so she probably died from exhaustion of growing it and then getting a bunch of brood reared to pupae.  The following pictures are of me putting her fungus into the other colony's chamber:

Colony 2 queen died
Colony 1 with new fungus
Colony 1 with new fungus.

They didn't take care of the fungus for a few days, but they did take the pupae and brood almost immediately for their own piles of brood.  After a bit of waiting, they finally started taking care of the newly added fungus and a bunch of pupae started to eclose.


Edited by Zeiss, September 18 2019 - 12:14 AM.

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#2 Offline Antking117 - Posted March 23 2019 - 1:32 AM

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These types of ants are so fascinating. I cannot wait for someone within the forum to have a large colony to share.



#3 Online Zeiss - Posted March 23 2019 - 1:33 AM

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These types of ants are so fascinating. I cannot wait for someone within the forum to have a large colony to share.

I love them as well.  This is the first time I've had a colony grow to this size after the past few years of trying.



#4 Offline Antking117 - Posted March 23 2019 - 1:47 AM

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These types of ants are so fascinating. I cannot wait for someone within the forum to have a large colony to share.

I love them as well.  This is the first time I've had a colony grow to this size after the past few years of trying.

 

When did you get these?



#5 Online Zeiss - Posted March 23 2019 - 2:01 AM

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When did you get these?

I got them in September of last year, I think.



#6 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted March 23 2019 - 5:39 AM

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The closest thing I can get to these is Trachymyrmex.

#7 Offline MegaMyrmex - Posted March 23 2019 - 7:01 PM

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That, my friend, is a lot of ants you will have in a few weeks.

Proverbs 6:6-8 New International Version (NIV)

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
    consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
    no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
    and gathers its food at harvest.

 


#8 Online Zeiss - Posted March 23 2019 - 7:09 PM

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That, my friend, is a lot of ants you will have in a few weeks.

They've already started to eclose and it's nice seeing all the workers.  Still plenty left as pupae.



#9 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted March 23 2019 - 7:10 PM

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Are those Drew's leaf cutter nests? If so, do you think they would work for Trachymyrmex?

#10 Online Zeiss - Posted March 23 2019 - 8:43 PM

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Are those Drew's leaf cutter nests? If so, do you think they would work for Trachymyrmex?

They are, if Trachymyrmex grow their fungus the same style as Acromyrmex, then I would say they might work.


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#11 Online Zeiss - Posted September 18 2019 - 12:37 AM

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18-9-2019

So it's been a while since I've updated, as per Zeiss tradition. 

 

I'm down to just one colony of my Acromyrmex versicolor and it's doing pretty well.  I've been keeping them in the low 70oF range for the most part with some days getting up to the low 80oF range.  It's lower than most people keep, which keeps them growing more slowly, but it seems like I have more consistent fungal growth.

20190917 213822

 

As one could guess, with the slower fungal growth, there are more dead workers along the way.  In their outworld they have a pile of dead workers on top of dirt they removed from the fungus chamber.  I feed them dried culinary grade rose petals and cichlid fish food pellets for their main source of food with an occasional harvester seed mix.  

20190917 213856

 

Speaking of dirt, they began to excavate and shape the dirt in their chamber.  I'm not able to get great pictures, so this is the best I could do for some of the entry holes.  I'm not quite sure what they keep in there.

20190917 214035

 

And to end this update, here is a picture of the queen on some of the hanging fungus.

20190917 214249

 



#12 Offline antsandmore - Posted February 12 2021 - 10:34 AM

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update? I know this journal didn't have an update for a long time but...


Edited by antsandmore, February 12 2021 - 10:35 AM.

Ants I am keeping:

 none for now, planning on being more active this year


#13 Online Zeiss - Posted February 12 2021 - 11:17 AM

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update? I know this journal didn't have an update for a long time but...

Yeah, I should get better at updating stuff.  I'm super lazy, haha.  They're still going.  Over they winter they had a fungus die-off, so now they're growing it all back.



#14 Offline antsandmore - Posted February 12 2021 - 12:31 PM

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update? I know this journal didn't have an update for a long time but...

Yeah, I should get better at updating stuff.  I'm super lazy, haha.  They're still going.  Over they winter they had a fungus die-off, so now they're growing it all back.

 

nice! I thought you didn't update because they died, but not the case! thanks 


Ants I am keeping:

 none for now, planning on being more active this year


#15 Online Zeiss - Posted February 12 2021 - 1:17 PM

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Yeah, I should get better at updating stuff.  I'm super lazy, haha.  They're still going.  Over they winter they had a fungus die-off, so now they're growing it all back.

nice! I thought you didn't update because they died, but not the case! thanks 

I'll actually try to update sometime soon if I don't forget to.  Feel free to just bump this to remind me if you want.  I'll get an email notification.


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#16 Offline mmcguffi - Posted February 12 2021 - 3:53 PM

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...bump?  :)






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