306 replies to this topic

[Antkeeper01]

arizona, and new mexico have amazing ants while in colorado known for its "rich diversity" in wildlife has no amazing ants other than Pogonomyrmex's we don't have fungus growers, we don't have trap-jaws, we only have ants that nest in wood and dirt, and it will take well over a decade for any other amazing ants to make it where I live.

[ANTdrew]

arizona, and new mexico have amazing ants while in colorado known for its "rich diversity" in wildlife has no amazing ants other than Pogonomyrmex's we don't have fungus growers, we don't have trap-jaws, we only have ants that nest in wood and dirt, and it will take well over a decade for any other amazing ants to make it where I live.

That’s not the right mindset; every species is amazing in it’s own way.
Congrats, Cheeto. This is now the longest running Atta journal in FC history.

[DDD101DDD]

arizona, and new mexico have amazing ants while in colorado known for its "rich diversity" in wildlife has no amazing ants other than Pogonomyrmex's we don't have fungus growers, we don't have trap-jaws, we only have ants that nest in wood and dirt, and it will take well over a decade for any other amazing ants to make it where I live.

Well Colorado is a lot colder then Arizona or New Mexico, so it makes sense that you won't have those. You do have Myrmecocystus, Neviamyrmex, and Pheidole that are bigger then Lasius though.

 

[CheetoLord02]

Do atta always need to be fed this much? Or are you powerfeeding

Leafcutters in general are some of the easiest ants to control the population of. They're able to use basically as much or as little food as you like, so technically if I really wanted I could keep this colony at this size for basically forever. Of course, being me, I want these guys as big as possible, so I'm trying to give them basically as much as they'll eat.

 

 

arizona, and new mexico have amazing ants while in colorado known for its "rich diversity" in wildlife has no amazing ants other than Pogonomyrmex's we don't have fungus growers, we don't have trap-jaws, we only have ants that nest in wood and dirt, and it will take well over a decade for any other amazing ants to make it where I live.

That’s not the right mindset; every species is amazing in it’s own way.
Congrats, Cheeto. This is now the longest running Atta journal in FC history.

 

And it only took 3 days, who knew! Of course, as long as the colony doesn't miraculously die one day this journal is here to stay, so get comfortable!

[ANTdrew]

In his new book, EO Wilson writes about keeping an Atta colony small in his lab like a form of bonsai.

[Antkeeper01]

 

arizona, and new mexico have amazing ants while in colorado known for its "rich diversity" in wildlife has no amazing ants other than Pogonomyrmex's we don't have fungus growers, we don't have trap-jaws, we only have ants that nest in wood and dirt, and it will take well over a decade for any other amazing ants to make it where I live.

Well Colorado is a lot colder then Arizona or New Mexico, so it makes sense that you won't have those. You do have Myrmecocystus, Neviamyrmex, and Pheidole that are bigger then Lasius though.

 

 

havent seen them in my life

[Devi]

 

 

arizona, and new mexico have amazing ants while in colorado known for its "rich diversity" in wildlife has no amazing ants other than Pogonomyrmex's we don't have fungus growers, we don't have trap-jaws, we only have ants that nest in wood and dirt, and it will take well over a decade for any other amazing ants to make it where I live.

Well Colorado is a lot colder then Arizona or New Mexico, so it makes sense that you won't have those. You do have Myrmecocystus, Neviamyrmex, and Pheidole that are bigger then Lasius though.

 

 

havent seen them in my life

 

Really?  I've seen some Myrmecocystus, (no queens though) and pheidole...  Where are you looking?  I think we have a great diversity of species in CO!  Although maybe that's just because we have pogonomyrmex and I love them.  They are my favorite.  Lol 

[Antkeeper01]

arvada around Standley lake

and in westminster

[ANTdrew]

CO must have good diversity. Isn't it basically a dividing line between eastern and western species? Tons of microhabitats with all the elevation changes as well would lead to lots of diversity.

[Devi]

arvada around Standley lake

and in westminster

Oh, nice!  I went fishing at Standley a few weeks ago.  

[Devi]

CO must have good diversity. Isn't it basically a dividing line between eastern and western species? Tons of microhabitats with all the elevation changes as well would lead to lots of diversity.

It totally is.  In the mountains I see loads of Myrmecocystus and other awesome species, and down here in the frontrange, we have tetras, lasius, Pogonomyrmex, formica, crematogaster, etc.  I think we have it pretty good. 

[AntsDakota]

 

Wow!  GREAT journal.  I will be 100% following...  Gotta love leafcutters. 

I feel like CO has some of the most boring ants.... aside from P. occidentalis

 

Ugh... hello.... you have Myrmecocystus.....

[Antkeeper01]

but I havent seen them before at least I don't think so.

[Antkeeper01]

 

CO must have good diversity. Isn't it basically a dividing line between eastern and western species? Tons of microhabitats with all the elevation changes as well would lead to lots of diversity.

It totally is.  In the mountains I see loads of Myrmecocystus and other awesome species, and down here in the frontrange, we have tetras, lasius, Pogonomyrmex, formica, crematogaster, etc.  I think we have it pretty good. 

The crematogaster were found in durango way down south

[CheetoLord02]

Update 10/29

Until now I've been mostly focusing on the growth of this colony's fungus, but I'd also like to draw attention to the actual ants themselves here. First of all, their brood is about to go pretty crazy. The queen has definitely been busy, and there are at least a few dozen newly hatched larvae seated right inside one of the fungus chambers. I was just barely able to get a glance of them here:

 

 

Another part of the colony that's easily overlooked is the tiniest of the tiny workers, known as minims. These tiny workers are able to get around basically anywhere, through all the intricate architecture of the fungus, around the legs of other workers, everything. I often time see them clinging to various parts of the queen, cleaning her. One time a minim tried getting on the queen's head and got kicked off by her. She got flung probably at least a centimeter across the nest!

Typically these workers are hard to spot, because they mostly sit among the brood, tending to it. However when they do come out to clean the other members of the colony, it's so incredibly cute! It'll be crazy to see the size difference between these guys and the massive soldiers that they'll eventually get. Even now seeing them against the queen is absolutely hilarious. They're only around the size of her foot!
 

 

 

Of course, this entry wouldn't be complete without some updates for the fungus garden. It's still doing really well, and growing more and more every day. Now that it's finally to a respectable size, the growth will be less noticeable day by day, but even over a relatively short period of time it'll continue to grow at an amazing rate. Even looking back to the original video I took the fungus is significantly larger and even appears to be healthier! 
 

 

Edited by CheetoLord02, March 11 2021 - 3:18 PM.

[Spazmops]

 

CO must have good diversity. Isn't it basically a dividing line between eastern and western species? Tons of microhabitats with all the elevation changes as well would lead to lots of diversity.

It totally is.  In the mountains I see loads of Myrmecocystus and other awesome species, and down here in the frontrange, we have tetras, lasius, Pogonomyrmex, formica, crematogaster, etc.  I think we have it pretty good. 

 

Where have you seen Myrmecocystus? Those are in the southernmost parts of CO, down near/in the Rio Grande park.

[Spazmops]

I love the minims, I've only seen a size difference that huge in Carabara diversa. This difference might be even more significant though.

[CheetoLord02]

A quick bonus update, I decided to do a timelapse of them harvesting today's clovers. I was hoping to make it longer but my phone ran out of storage... oops.

[TechAnt]

Awesome! I found it funny how in the start that one worker was trying to take that really long stem of clover into the tubing, and eventually succeeded after bumping it repeatedly.

Edited by TechAnt, October 29 2020 - 11:49 AM.

[Manitobant]

Remember to give them some other plants and not just clover. I've heard of people's acromyrmex not accepting rose petals after being fed them for months straight.