16 replies to this topic

[TruSlide]

Hello everyone, I am a dad to a 7 year old ant enthusiast. He loves these guys and watches antscanada and YouTube videos about it and all the sorts. Recently at a reptile show he saw a leaf cutter queen ant and begged me to get it, so naturally I did. The queen came with one worker, and a small fungus, the main chamber and a chamber for the cuttings. The tubing is 3/8 and the chambers are like little Petrie dishes.

Well, over the past few weeks the fungus has gotten smaller, and I’m afraid we’re going to loose them. I don’t want to, I really enjoy caring for these guys with my son, but I have no idea how to do this.

I have some acrylic square containers I want to move them into, and make new holes for bigger tubing. I just have no idea the best way to do it. I really need help and recommendations.

I have a 25G zoomed tank for a snake, and I was thinking of moving the 3 boxes into there. My idea was to lay substrate in the tank, keep the heating pad and set the temp to 25*C, and then have the feeding chamber—fungus chamber—waste chamber. I thought of putting some plants into the reptile tank so the ants can forage and cut fresh leaves.

1. Is this a good idea for such a small colony so far?
2. What plants/leaves should I give them to strengthen the fungus?
3. Can I move the fungus from the Petrie dish to the new chamber?
4. How big should I make the holes/how big should the tubing connecting the chambers be?

Any recommendations and advice will help tremendously. I am happy to attach pictures also.

Thank you in advance


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[SleepyAsianAnter]

Hi, do you happen to be Californian? If so, those are probably Acromyrmex versicolor. 

 

First and foremost, A. versicolor is far from a beginner species, and they are rather hard for newcomers to raise. 

 

Do not heat Acromyrmex fungus, the heat will kill it fast. Typically people use a wine cooler to keep the fungus cool. Keep them in the petri dish setup somewhere cool and without light.

 

Acromyrmex will cut up leaves and dry them before feeding it to their fungus, skip the wet leaf part and feed them dry unscented rose petals, since there's only 1 worker, you can drop 1-2 crushed up petals into their fungus chamber so the worker doesn't need to search everywhere for them. 

 

Petri dishes are fine but need to be kept wetted, you can buy a better permanent setup from Dspdrew's nest shop page. 

 

Do not cut new holes and do not try to move them into a new setup

[TruSlide]

I am in California. Let me attach some pictures and let me know what you think. The fungus has gotten smaller so I’m worried. I read it’s bad if it gets wet. Based on the images what do you think?




I bought some small organic plants from Home Depot, pesticide free. Strawberry, cucumber, and squash in hopes that the leaves will be better. I also got 3/4 inch tubing for them to move through


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[TruSlide]

Hi, do you happen to be Californian? If so, those are probably Acromyrmex versicolor.

First and foremost, A. versicolor is far from a beginner species, and they are rather hard for newcomers to raise.

Do not heat Acromyrmex fungus, the heat will kill it fast. Typically people use a wine cooler to keep the fungus cool. Keep them in the petri dish setup somewhere cool and without light.

Acromyrmex will cut up leaves and dry them before feeding it to their fungus, skip the wet leaf part and feed them dry unscented rose petals, since there's only 1 worker, you can drop 1-2 crushed up petals into their fungus chamber so the worker doesn't need to search everywhere for them.

Petri dishes are fine but need to be kept wetted, you can buy a better permanent setup from Dspdrew's nest shop page.

Do not cut new holes and do not try to move them into a new setup

Based on your recommendations this is what I did.

I cleaned the old feeding chamber out and hopefully they use it for waste. I moved the new feeding chamber on the other side of the fungus chamber, and I added a larger chamber with substrate in case they want to move into the new chamber. I also dropped some crumbled petals and leaves into the fungus chamber directly.



And you DO NOT recommend putting them near heat? Do they regulate on their own? It just gets cold in the house at night so I don’t want the temp to drop too much. I have them in a shoebox currently to try and contain the heat.


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[SleepyAsianAnter]

Looking at it now, I would recommend disconnecting everything besides the one deli cup. Those extras are much too large for a singular worker to forage. That type of petri setup need to be watered a little bit once a week for consistent moisture, just enough to wet it but not enough for water to start pooling, more exits/entrances means more humidity is escaping. Stick with dried rose petals, but I know people who swear by clovers for recovering Acromyrmex, so you can try that out. Grind them up first before you give it to them so the worker doesn't need to work as hard cutting it up. 

 

And yes, the only people I know who heat Acromyrmex use setups like incubators and wine coolers for consistent temps, if you can't maintain that constant temperature, it's better to just not heat at all. Acromyrmex chambers in the wild are very deep underground and surprisingly cool, the heat is only needed for brood to grow a bit faster.

 

I sent you a private message.

[TruSlide]

Looking at it now, I would recommend disconnecting everything besides the one deli cup. Those extras are much too large for a singular worker to forage. That type of petri setup need to be watered a little bit once a week for consistent moisture, just enough to wet it but not enough for water to start pooling, more exits/entrances means more humidity is escaping. Stick with dried rose petals, but I know people who swear by clovers for recovering Acromyrmex, so you can try that out. Grind them up first before you give it to them so the worker doesn't need to work as hard cutting it up.

And yes, the only people I know who heat Acromyrmex use setups like incubators and wine coolers for consistent temps, if you can't maintain that constant temperature, it's better to just not heat at all. Acromyrmex chambers in the wild are very deep underground and surprisingly cool, the heat is only needed for brood to grow a bit faster.

I sent you a private message.

Thank you so much. I will do as you recommend? We’ve had the colony about 4 weeks and it hadn’t grown which is why I began to worry. I will try some clovers, I think there’s some in the yard down the street.


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[TruSlide]

Looking at it now, I would recommend disconnecting everything besides the one deli cup. Those extras are much too large for a singular worker to forage. That type of petri setup need to be watered a little bit once a week for consistent moisture, just enough to wet it but not enough for water to start pooling, more exits/entrances means more humidity is escaping. Stick with dried rose petals, but I know people who swear by clovers for recovering Acromyrmex, so you can try that out. Grind them up first before you give it to them so the worker doesn't need to work as hard cutting it up.

And yes, the only people I know who heat Acromyrmex use setups like incubators and wine coolers for consistent temps, if you can't maintain that constant temperature, it's better to just not heat at all. Acromyrmex chambers in the wild are very deep underground and surprisingly cool, the heat is only needed for brood to grow a bit faster.

I sent you a private message.

Also, do you recommend I just drop the leaf grinding directly into the fungus chamber?


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[SleepyAsianAnter]

 

Looking at it now, I would recommend disconnecting everything besides the one deli cup. Those extras are much too large for a singular worker to forage. That type of petri setup need to be watered a little bit once a week for consistent moisture, just enough to wet it but not enough for water to start pooling, more exits/entrances means more humidity is escaping. Stick with dried rose petals, but I know people who swear by clovers for recovering Acromyrmex, so you can try that out. Grind them up first before you give it to them so the worker doesn't need to work as hard cutting it up.

And yes, the only people I know who heat Acromyrmex use setups like incubators and wine coolers for consistent temps, if you can't maintain that constant temperature, it's better to just not heat at all. Acromyrmex chambers in the wild are very deep underground and surprisingly cool, the heat is only needed for brood to grow a bit faster.

I sent you a private message.

Also, do you recommend I just drop the leaf grinding directly into the fungus chamber?


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Yes, just drop it straight in, just a pinch at a time, you should notice the worker start to pick them up and place them onto the fungus. If you place too much then the worker will stack them on the sides of the nest and they'll start molding. 

[DevinTheAntKeeper]

 

Looking at it now, I would recommend disconnecting everything besides the one deli cup. Those extras are much too large for a singular worker to forage. That type of petri setup need to be watered a little bit once a week for consistent moisture, just enough to wet it but not enough for water to start pooling, more exits/entrances means more humidity is escaping. Stick with dried rose petals, but I know people who swear by clovers for recovering Acromyrmex, so you can try that out. Grind them up first before you give it to them so the worker doesn't need to work as hard cutting it up.

And yes, the only people I know who heat Acromyrmex use setups like incubators and wine coolers for consistent temps, if you can't maintain that constant temperature, it's better to just not heat at all. Acromyrmex chambers in the wild are very deep underground and surprisingly cool, the heat is only needed for brood to grow a bit faster.

I sent you a private message.

Also, do you recommend I just drop the leaf grinding directly into the fungus chamber?


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I only have a bit of experince from taking care of leafcutters but yea what my boy SAA is saying is true. And which reptile show did you go too?

[Hothkinstroy]

Hi! There are a lot of really good tutorials to keep leafcutter ants you can find on the internet. The colony you have is probably part of the genus Acromyrmex, so if you want more information on their care you can look up tutorials on how to keep them.

 

Many people who've kept leafcutters recommend following this series, starting here:

 

 

Although I've never personally kept them, I've seen keepers feed them lots of things like rose petals, oats, clover leaves, etc. All of these things are really common outside or in stores, so it won't be very hard to feed them.

 

As for what others have said, definitely drop some leaves inside the petri dish. It will be a lot easier for her to find and a lot easier to grow the fungus.

Edited by Hothkinstroy, April 30 2023 - 4:12 AM.

[Daniel]

This will have all the info you need.

https://www.formicul...™/?fromsearch=1

At certain times of the year and with different plant matter they may prefer dried or fresh. Try rose petals and clover leaves dried in the oven at 200 degrees for 6-10 minutes (dried, not burnt). Also try other flowers fresh. For some reason mine love fresh trumpet vine flowers tear- round.

Daniel

[TruSlide]

Thank you everyone for the replies. I appreciate this info. Unfortunately the queen died this morning. I’m not sure how or why, my son checked on her before school and my wife called not too long after and said she died. Apparently she was in the feed/waste chamber. Maybe got stuck or something..? I don’t know what happened, but I’m really devastated. Thank you all so much, I think I’m going to give it another go with this same species tho. Of all the species his favorite is leaf cutter so I’m going to learn as much as I can and try to build a solid starter build and hopefully get him another queen.

If anyone has recommendations on how to prepare to introduce a new queen into an environment ease let me know. Currently I have 5 separate contacto can use as chambers (2 acrylic cubes, 1 with substrate, 2 acrylic Tupperware, and 1 plastic Tupperware all cube shaped), 3-4in tubing, and a variety of plants.


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[TruSlide]

Looking at it now, I would recommend disconnecting everything besides the one deli cup. Those extras are much too large for a singular worker to forage. That type of petri setup need to be watered a little bit once a week for consistent moisture, just enough to wet it but not enough for water to start pooling, more exits/entrances means more humidity is escaping. Stick with dried rose petals, but I know people who swear by clovers for recovering Acromyrmex, so you can try that out. Grind them up first before you give it to them so the worker doesn't need to work as hard cutting it up.

And yes, the only people I know who heat Acromyrmex use setups like incubators and wine coolers for consistent temps, if you can't maintain that constant temperature, it's better to just not heat at all. Acromyrmex chambers in the wild are very deep underground and surprisingly cool, the heat is only needed for brood to grow a bit faster.

I sent you a private message.

Also, do you recommend I just drop the leaf grinding directly into the fungus chamber?


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I only have a bit of experince from taking care of leafcutters but yea what my boy SAA is saying is true. And which reptile show did you go too?

We went to repticon back in March, in Orange County, CA.


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[ANTdrew]

Sorry for your loss. I highly recommend learning the basics of ant keeping with a more forgiving species.

[TruSlide]

Sorry for your loss. I highly recommend learning the basics of ant keeping with a more forgiving species.

Yea. I’m definitely doing this. I didn’t realize the gravity or depth of responsibility until it was too late and I was in over my head. I definitely want to be better informed and prepared and teach my son everything he’ll need to know so he’s ready for next time.


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[DRpepper]

 

Sorry for your loss. I highly recommend learning the basics of ant keeping with a more forgiving species.

Yea. I’m definitely doing this. I didn’t realize the gravity or depth of responsibility until it was too late and I was in over my head. I definitely want to be better informed and prepared and teach my son everything he’ll need to know so he’s ready for next time.


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I would start with tetramorium or phedole both are really easy to keep and are almost impossible to fail with as long as they have water, protien, and sugar.

[Manitobant]

Solenopsis xyloni is also a great choice, as they grow wicked fast and are super fun during feeding time.