So I've been hearing that Formiculture loves Leafcutter journals. Is that true? Well whether you say yes or no I'm still making a journal hahaha! Yesterday I caught 2 lovely Acromyrmex versicolor queens down at my secret anting location 2 minutes from my house where I caught my Myrmecocystus placodops queen and many other species of ants. The sad and troubling thing is that 1 of the leafcutter queens was found in a wash where it had flooded due to all the rain that's been falling. I felt pain and sadness of seeing it drown there in the more than 3 inch deep water. So I decided to look for something long as fast as possible! Of course where I found her all of the trees and plants either had thorns on them or weren't long enough! Time was running out! So finally after a lot of scratches and a few small cuts I found it! The perfectly perfect stick with some perfectly perfect leaves sticking out of it! Amazing am I right?! So I quickly rushed to where I found the poor leafcutter and was able to fish her out. She looked very skinny though. And I knew there was no chance she had a fungus pellet. I was determined to finally get a leafcutter colony going strong and healthy after all these months of waiting! My last leafcutter colony passed away around 5 months ago. 5 Months! Imagine living in the desert where leafcutters are a famous and easy ant to find and you have to wait 5 whole months until you have another chance at getting some?!? 5 months! That's almost 150 days without a leafcutter colony! So I dried her off on a cotton ball and put her in my leafcutter setups that were supposed to be for Atta mexicana but of course I can't go down to Southern AZ so I was definitely not going to let those setups go to waste! I hopped onto my bike and peddled away back home as fast as possible! Well... by fast as possible I mean as fast as possible where I can still see ants and not miss any queens! And it was a good thing I did because right in front of my eyes was a Acromyrmex versicolor alate! Had just flown... Had just mated... Had just dropped on the ground... Had just walked in front of my eyes! I instantly took her in and put her with the queen that almost drowned and this time didn't stop and look for ants. I went as fast as my bike could take me and home at last! The queens were safe and sound! Along with the Novomessor queens I collected that same day that I need people to buy.........This totally isn't a shameless plug. But that is besides the point! The point is now that they're home I had one more problem. Did the female alate that had just taken off her wings have a fungus pellet at all? Well... I left them alone and came back today and guess what I found! A little bit of fungus growing! She had a pellet!!! So she's happily sitting in the nest right now with her sister caring for the fungus until it's big enough to have some leaves be placed on it. I will try to update this journal as frequent as possible and try to do the same with all my other journals but I won't always have the time to do so. So please don't get irritated about me not updating in a long time. It's just that I'm really busy. Well on that note I don't think I have anymore to say for now so enjoy the pictures!
Attached Images
Edited by NicholasP, February 6 2022 - 10:52 PM.
