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Hello Bugsy i will be starting off with a small colony hopfully about 50-100 ants maybe. The humidity isnt really a problem ive found all the boxes are sealed and the ants will regulate the humidity by blocking up and narrowing the entrences. Also the containers are lined with bisque tiles these will be wetted to start off and then i will let the humidity from the fungus gardens do the rest. I found out with keeping my last colony that once the fungus garden was over a tennis ball size it wasnt necessary to add water , i only had to add leaves that had a higher water content or dryer leavs to lower the humidity. the ants really are good themselves at keeping the conditions right. As for heating the colony i didnt heat my last one, My bungalow is kept fairly warm throuout winter with my heating and during the spring and summer it gets warm enougth. Also once the fungus gardens get bigger they put out alot of heat thmeselves which will keep the chambers warm enought.
I may have been lucky with my first colony but i didnt really have any problems and other then adding leaves i left it upto the ants. The entrences were blocked one day then opened the next etc im sure they know what to do lol. The only problem i did have was when it gets too hot outside i have to close all curtains , blinds etc and keep my bungalow as cool as possible.
And finally i will allow the colony full access to the whole setup. But i will feed them via the chambers next to where the fungus gardens are to start off with. When the fungus is filling one container i will spoon abit off and place it in a new container and slowly this way i will fill up all the containers.
Hope ive answered your questions , if not feel free to ask away :lol:
Regards
Adam
Sounds like its all going to work well, cant wait to see your progress. I also agree on an Atta soldier bite, it does hurt, wouldn't want them roaming freely around my living room. Have you decided on your sub-species yet?
Hello Bugsy , im thinking Atta cephalotes as they are abit more easy to keep and more forgiven out of all the atta colonys i have looked into , plus my last colony was Atta cephalotes aswell.
The subspecies i would really like would be Atta texana , they are the only Attas known to be polygnes and mature colonys commonly contain more then one queen. I think thats a great advantage if adding a new queen was needed or you could start of the colony with two or three queens. Only problem is no one sells this subspecies :cry:
Regards
Adam
Excellent stuff mate, i have thought about making the same kind of thing myself... Stunning stuff.. i really cant wait now to see some ants in there :D
Hello Steve Cheers buddy , i cannot wait to buy my ant colony im just waiting till pay day in first week of may then i shall get them :P
Regards
Adam
Great thread and very inspirational, oh and i've got my boxes now thanks :)
Adam how have you joined the tubes to the boxes ? looks like youve just made a hole and glued or is there a bulk head fitting/connecter in there. Can't quite see.. I love the joints youve made that must have taken some figuring =D>
Hello Andie the tubing is in two pieces theres is the 34mm diameter tubing that connects the boxes together but i wanted them to be detachable but very tight fitting. drilling a hole wouldent form a tight enougth seal and still give me the flexability to change and remove boxes at ease . So i bought some 40 mm tubing that had a internal diameter of 34mm. This was then cut into 3 cm lengths and glued with hot glue into holes drilled into the boxes and then the 34mm tubeing could connect into each box and boxes could be removed and swaped around at will. Unfortiantly the 34 mm tubing wouldent fit in and we had to cut a slit into the 3cm length rings so i could slide the 34mm tube into them then seal the small gap with the glue gun glue which made the rings slightly larger. These rings were then glued into the sides of the boxes and the 34mm tubeing can now slot in and be removed at will.
:D
Hope that explains it and isnt to mind boggling lol , :? , i feel i may have over wrote the explanation lol.
Regards
Adam :D
I understand perfectly :^o lol :D
Im thinking perhaps pond pump parts as there are all sorts of inners and outers and converters but nothing that isnt black or dark green unfortunatley. I like how youve made everyting clear and can see everything.
One thing i' m thinking and i have no experience with leafcutters is that if you have little ventillation in the fungus box, could it be a problem if any condenstaion drips onto the fungus ?
Lol the tubing you can get of ebay , its really good and fairly cheap depending wot lengths or diameter you go for. they have a varied diffrence in sizes. Just look up clear acrylic tubing. Also the humidity in the box is not a problem. The condensation does drip onto the fungus but it hasnt ever caused me any problems well none the ants havent already covered up before i had looked in. The one thing that will cause damage is if the fungus sits in water, it will rot very quickly and slowly turn to mush :shock: but the good thing is that the bisque tiles absorb moisture like a sponge so none collects around the floor. Also as soon as the garden fills the boxes there doesent seem to be alot of condensation anymore.
:D
Drips on fungus can be an issue when the fungus is small, easy problem to solve tho. just heat the top of the lid with a small heat mat. Drips are caused by warm moist air touching a cold surface then forming back to water. Warm the lid no more drips. But Adam is correct as the fungus becomes larger it wont be a problem the moisture will be regulated by the ants and the warmth of the fungus will stop drips. Your making me want to start my project early. ha ha, keep us updated mate. :mrgreen: envy. :roll: