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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 1:49:43 GMT 1
I finally, after years of wanting and loving leaf cutters I decided to build a formicarium and buy a 51-101 worker colony of Acromyrmex octospinosus. I bought the colony from Antstore on the 31/08/12, they were shipped on the Monday; the 03/09/12 as Antstore only ship Monday to Friday (I ordered late Friday). They then arrived on the Wednesday, only 2 days delivery! I have to say credit has to go to Antstore for their thorough packing and service. The fungus garden was covered by a secondary plastic box, upside down over the fungus to protect it and to keep it as humid as possible during shipping, with leaves included to allow the ants to cut on the go! Brilliant! When it came to putting them into the formicarium, I was worried I would damage the fungus trying to place it inside with a pair of BBQ tongues. Though and behold the whole thing crumbled before my eyes! I then delicately poured in the fungus bits with the whole colony into the formicarium and let them get on with it The formicarium has perlite in it. I will add a picture of my set up now, and more details in the following post
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 2:12:42 GMT 1
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 2:20:12 GMT 1
After going to sleep and waking up I was amazed to see the fungus rebuilt and new like it had never been touched! Here on the photo below you can see the fungus ball reassembled, sadly I didn't do a before and after shot Just after...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 2:22:42 GMT 1
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 2:26:21 GMT 1
I will add some more photo's tomorrow as I'm tired now Thanks for reading what I've posted so far!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 4:03:55 GMT 1
Nice setup love the pictures!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 7:17:48 GMT 1
Good luck with these!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 7:53:30 GMT 1
They are expansive aren't they?! I'd really love to read about them, so please, keep us updated! ;D
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 8:46:10 GMT 1
Lovely set-up its my dream to keep a colony of Acromyrmex octospinosus or any other fungus growing ants. I have some questions, How do you keep the nest humid and heated? What temperature does the fungus grow at best?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 10:21:03 GMT 1
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 14:18:02 GMT 1
Hi guys, thanks for reading! Just before I add anymore pics etc.. I'll answer Antboy888's questions
The formicarium is filled with Perlite, the white stone like substrate you can see in the pictures. This retains water and releases it slowly, this helps greatly when trying to maintain a higher humidity. Even the presence of the fungus itself adds a lot of humidity, when the fungus gets to a certain size it will regulate its own humidity with the help of the ants and you won't need to touch it. For the time being I use a pipette when I think its getting a little too low in humidity and put water on areas in the tank where the fungus isn't growing. It is VERY important not to get the fungus into direct contact with water as this has very bad effects on the fungus and can damage it severely. The ants are smart enough to put the fungus just back from the sides of the tank where the condensation appears.
The nest isn't heated at present, my room never goes below 23 degrees this time of year. But in the winter I will either use a heat mat or lamp to heat the nest.
Good question about temperature and humidity and with surprising answers! I contacted the Antstore team and they informed me that for this species they must be between 22-28 degrees centigrade and humidity for the fungus is 50-80%. Now I was quite surprised how low the humidity could be, temperature included!
However, the minimum temperature and humidity is the minimum the fungus can stand, which means fungus growth wouldn't be as fast at a lower temperature nor humidity. Though the colony would grow and survive at these lower amounts it is best to find their pinnacle of growth to gain the best results. Personally I would go for around 25 degrees, and around 70% humidity. Because again on the other end of the spectrum, the higher end is the maximum they can take, so anything over 80% humidity is a big no, the foricarium will simply be too wet and it will hinder the fungus growth. The same with 28 degrees, the condensation in the tank will be too great and water lost will need to be replace constantly by pipette and it will again hinder fungus growth.
Hope this helped
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 14:41:44 GMT 1
So here we have a side view of the nest the morning after they were put in and as you can see they have dug large tunnels harbouring pieces of the fungus to start smaller gardens around the cylinder. Which I will show in more deatil in close-up pictures.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 14:42:23 GMT 1
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 14:53:03 GMT 1
Here are some close up of the various pieces of the fungus garden. One containing a close-up of the queen.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 14:53:49 GMT 1
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