ANTSTORE World of Ants

[dudamota]

Hi,

I new in the Ants World and i am from Brazil.
I just got one Atta ssp queen.
She had no wings, and she was digging.
So i think she`s fertilized. She`s HUGE.
The problem is...
She`s depositing eggs.. But in separated places..
She doesn`t look like care about their eggs.
So the eggs keeping disappearing.
I saw the small eggs,,, and in the other day the eggs miss.
What can be ??

Thanks and i sorry for my english.

[baumarkthammer]

Does she still have her fungus?
That is very important for the queens. Without fungus they can´t found their own colony.

[dudamota]

Other problem is..

I bought the "famous" ant works gel...
So i placed de queen there...
She was accting wierd so i took her off and put with red sand aquarium.. She`s still there now.
I readed before that this gel has some product wich kills fungus..
This product on gel do not let the fungus grow to not cause diseases in the colony.
So i think this product kills the fungus that my queen had.

I had the atta spp queen before and her fungus was immediate growing at beggining.

I saw today and she laided 6 eggs,,,

Let`s see if they not disappeared..

[baumarkthammer]

If she hasn´t any fungus she can´t grow any. She has to take it from the nest she was born with her (inside her) to found an new colony. You now have to add new funugs or she will die if she hasn´t got any fungus left.
You can use the fungus of nearly every Atta species because it is nearly the same one as far as I know. Only adding fungus of Acromyrmex and of all lower Attini (Apterostigma, Chyphomyrmex and so on) doesn´t work.
I hope that helps you.

[dudamota]

Maybe if some works grow up they can start to cultive de fungus,,
I will leave some plants close for the works create the fungus..

It`s impossible to find atta spp fungus...
They are too deep to get...

I just have to pray to my works grow up fast.. And get some plants and start the fungus colony..

Any suggestions ??

[baumarkthammer]

That is not possible. They have to have a small pice of fungus to start cultivating it, they can´t just generate some.
There will be no workers without fungus, that is also a problem.

You have to add sime fungus.

[dudamota]

So HOW can i find this fungus ??

I have i friend who has a real farm and i saw a live atta spp colony there.

If i I grab a shovel and dig realy deep maybe i can find the fungus right ??

I just have to pic a little piece and put close to my queen ??

Iam just worried how DEEP i have to dig..

[uta]

Hello dudamota and welcome in our forum!

I bought the "famous" ant works gel...
So i placed de queen there...

Please don't use ant works gel-farm for antkeeping. You can use sand/loam or granulated material as example.As baumarkthammer says: it is important, that the queen get some fungus or she will die.
For short time untill you have fungus, you can give the queen honeywater.

Good luck!

[baumarkthammer]

Well I would digg up a big colony only if I had no other chance.
If I was you, I would search small nests. The problem is to discover them, what can be a problem as big as digging in a big colony.
Besides you would have to digg very deep I don´t think you would like all the ants (especially the soldirs) to bite you.
So maybe invest some time in searching a small colony.
I´m sorry that I can´t help you more, I have never been to Brazil and can´t tell you how the nests look.

[dudamota]

I was very nervous when I discovered the truth about this gel..

I read several posts here saying how much is bad this gel..

And I bought two of these ant works gel and here in Brazil is much more expensive..

Is very disappointing to know the truth.

But Why ?? Why is so bad ?? The gel for me is not for FOOD... it was just for dig..

If i keep the ants in the gel i will keep provind protein and suggar...

So why the ants will die some way..

Obs : I tried putting a drop of honey near my queen and drop fell on her head ..
she was disgusted at the time but she recovered well from disaster

[Phasmid]

From what I understand Atta queens take a tiny piece of fungus from the colony they came from. I don't know if they hold onto it until the eggs develop or they begin cultivating it immediately. Either way the piece of fungus will be very very small, maybe too small to notice.

[baumarkthammer]

As dudamota, uta and me already said, the queen takes some fungus with it.
Then she splits it out and it grows rapidly, please first read the thread before answering.

The main problem with that gel is that it is highly unnatural, would you like to live in something like that?
Also the stuff it is made off isn´t good for keeping ants, it is to whacht them die and is called "observation" by the maker.
I can not imagine rising a colony in that.
When it is to dry it shrinkes and that is not good and when it is too wet it also changes it form, what is fatal for the ants living in that.
It has nothing to do with sand and ants just don´t want to found in something like that.

[dudamota]

as I said before :

I've created one of these before and she began to establish the fungus in about two days.

In the beginning I thought eggs were huge but looking closely I saw that they were not eggs.

I started researching and saw that it was the fungus growing.

But now after 2 weeks she just lays eggs and do not see the fungus growing.

and eggs that she puts in time disappear.

I am seriously considering the chance to dig and search the fungus.