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Thankyou Bugsy yes i agree small fungus gardens may suffer from the drips , but to be honest in raising my last colony from a tiny fungus garden i didnt have problems with humidity and drips. Then again i only wetted the bisque tiles slightly so they were just damp to touch and i also didnt have air holes in the box only a entrence ( which the ants quickly narrowed and sealed up) so i didnt add any water after that first dampening so maybe the humidity wasnt that bad to encouage alot of drips.
I also am excitied to get my ants this project has been on my mind awhile now. Just have to wait till 6th may to payday then i will finish the setup and obtain a colony :D :P
Regards
Adam
Cheers both. Just 1 more question if i may. How critical is the temp for the fungus to remain stable ? This could be a problem for me but from my dartfrog breeding days i used to control temps with circulating heated water. This would probably be the way to go for me.
Hello Andie yes of course you may :grin: by all means mate ask as many questions as you like , i think more of people that do , at the end of the day we all have to learn and myself personally love advising people and sharing my experiances lol.
Ok so temperture , well i will advise from my own experiances and what worked for me , i say from my experiance being as it goes slightly against what some people advise. :? I find while the fungus is small then temperture is abit more important. But most colonys of leaf cutters are sold during the spring anyway so during the starting stage from april onwards our spring and then summer heat should be more then enougth alone without any need to add extra heat, but this also depends where the ants are being kept. If you think where the ants come from yes it is a warm climate but the ants are only exposed to this , the fungus is deep down , somtimes a couple of feet , its not so warm down underground proberly about 18- 19 max. Of course as the gardens grow they heat up the chambers so it gets warmer but i have found as long as i purchase my colony in spring it does fine all the way throu and by the time autumn comes the fungus garden should be of a deacent size to warm up the box its in itself. :)
The heated water pipe thing you mention im not to sure about , Dart frogs are very diffrent to ants lol , i mean they love very warm moist wet places, and will live quite happily in really damp areas but ants wont nor will the fungus , id be too worried about workers drowning or a pipe leaking and killing the fungus garden etc.
Just keep the setup in a nice room temperture anywhere between 15c and 27c and as long as they are collecting leaves etc they should slowly thrive then after a couple of months will greatly increase in population.
Also just a word of advice in winter , the fungus garden will start to shrink , if this starts happening but the ants are still cutting leaves then dont be immediatly alarmed , its just in winter the leaves we can get arnt to high in vitemins , minelras etc due to plants dont grow that well so the fungus gardens do shrink abit.Also i will say i have never had the temperture where my setup was go below about 13c , i feel below this and the ants will be fine , slighlty slower but fine , but i feel the fungus will not like it this low, i just switched on my central heating abit more and in the one room turned the radiator up full lol and turned the rest of my radiators down low to save on the gas lol.
Hope that helps
Regards
Adam
Ah yes, i didnt explain my idea too well :oops: I meants for the fungus box to sit within an aquarium with a few inches of heated water in the bottom which would hopefully maintain the air temp around the fungus box, the ants wouldnt be in contact with the water if you get my drift #-o :D this way temps can be more stable . Saying that though it would just look ugly. :(
Thanks for the info's, i'm soaking it all up :)
Ok i understand , well i think it should be ok but it would need regular maintenence , warm water will quickly go mouldy or algafied and maybe will be to much hassle, also the colony will grow massive ,im wondering will you be able to cope with a large colony and lifting the tank out every time for a water change :? It a good idea but maybe too much a nusience ??
I myself wont be heating my colony , i will hope there is more then enougth heat from the sun warming up my house lol, it was 22 c in my house yestarday and at night didnt go below 18c , and summer hasnt came along yet :shock: . Im thinking if we are due a hot summer this year then i may have to close all my blinds in my house and hope the temperture doesent get too hot. I lost my last colony due to a really hot summer :? :cry:
I'm probably just over complicating things, heating the room would be easier. :)
Well sounds good to me lol , i cannot wait to see other peoples setups it be good to watch out for each others developing colonys :D . Also im hopeing to get my colony upto a reproductive state in the future so i would be interested if anyone else does . I am going to experiment to see if i can get my alate queens to mate with any unrelated males. I have a large tropical greenhouse i could release them into supervised and watch to see if they pair up and mate. :P If they do i will then see if i can reintroduce succesfully one or two queens back into the colony which would be a excelent prospect.
So maybe in a few years somone might be interested in swapping male Atta Alates ?? ( Of course the same subspecies thou lol)
Regards
Adam
Hello Guys just anouther quick update , I have now bought the foraging tank and set it up , all i have to do is wait for the clear acrylic pipes to connect it up to the next setup :D .
Here are a few pictures for you to see :grin:
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My Exo terra tank 30x30x45cm size
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Tank now setup awaiting attachment to foraging pipe.Also now fitted with a 60mm pipe, it was a nervous time drilling the hole throu the glass. :shock:
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Feeding bowl with small water bowl aswell , i placed pebbles into the water bowl to stop ants falling in and drowning.
Well not long now i will order my ants on the 4th may , cannot wait to recieve them :P , Also my piping comes that week so my setup will be complete and more pictures will follow 8).
Regards
Adam
Hey guys , tommorow i will be able to order my colony of Atta ants :P !!!! I cannot wait , this means i will get them before the weekend which will be great , i will make sure to upload loads of pictures. :grin:
Many Greetings
Adam 8)
Good luck, and a nice setup. Can't wait for more updates. :D