ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Andie]

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

[adam james]

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.



Hope that explains it and isnt to mind boggling lol , , i feel i may have over wrote the explanation lol.

Regards

Adam

[Andie]

I understand perfectly lol
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 ?

[adam james]

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 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.

[bugsy]

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. envy.

[adam james]

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

Regards

Adam

[Andie]

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.

[adam james]

Hello Andie yes of course you may 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

[Andie]

Ah yes, i didnt explain my idea too well 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 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

[adam james]

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 . 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

[Andie]

I'm probably just over complicating things, heating the room would be easier.

[adam james]

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 . 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. 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

[adam james]

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 .

Here are a few pictures for you to see

My Exo terra tank 30x30x45cm size

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.

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 , Also my piping comes that week so my setup will be complete and more pictures will follow .

Regards

Adam

[adam james]

Hey guys , tommorow i will be able to order my colony of Atta ants !!!! 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.

Many Greetings

Adam

[Gortello]

Good luck, and a nice setup. Can't wait for more updates.