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Post by Jenny on Jan 18, 2014 12:47:12 GMT
I am so pleased they are doing well for you Mark as they are a big investment. The Macro shot of the Stewart box shows such detail, and activity well worth seeing and shouldn't be missed. The Attas certainly take this forum to a higher level so thank you for sharing......
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Post by deansie on Jan 18, 2014 15:12:39 GMT
Great journal Mark! Looks like they're doing amazing- won't be long before you run out of space lol
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Post by Joona on Jan 18, 2014 18:18:56 GMT
Thanks The pics are just with my iPhone 5's macro lens I've been practising with what Adam told me. I still need a memory card for my camera lol! Thats just a temporary set up there in I have to move them back to their shelf but that has enough room for six hatchling boxes but there are two shelves so thats twelve boxes then I'll have to start thinking about storage, maybe a large tub like 50ltrs or something. I just want them to produce queens then ill be happy lol.
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Post by adamjames20 on Jan 27, 2014 7:13:02 GMT
Congratulations on such a thriving colony Mark loving the photos Adam
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Post by Joona on Feb 1, 2014 16:53:34 GMT
Just a little video I got the other day, I came home from work and noticed a big black blob on the fungus fearing the worse I put the light on and saw the queen, I haven't really seen her for a month or so on the fungus she is normally buried in it lol.
Sorry its short, I did try to also get the brood in too.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Feb 2, 2014 14:33:54 GMT
I am always fascinated by the size of Atta queens, and it is nice to see her in such a large healthy fungus garden.
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Post by deansie on Feb 2, 2014 21:10:32 GMT
Nice video Mark, its looking really great! cannot wait to get to that size.
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Post by Joona on Feb 25, 2014 16:00:36 GMT
Hey guys, major news, I had noticed an increase in activity in the box where I put the leaves to be cut, every day there were more and more ants gathered in there and feeding had become so difficult I was killing most of the escapers as it was quicker then catching them all and getting painful bites all over me. I was doubting my physical ability to look after them. I just this second arrived from work and switched the light on in the incubator to see if they had taken all the privet I had put in last night when much to my surprise I found this: There was nothing in the tub last night at 10:30pm as this was when the lights went out, I do now have a problem that I haven't got another tub to put there leaves in so I have a bit of thinking to do but I'm sure I'll sort something out. As for everything else the soldiers continue to appear at a steady rate and the fungus is growing very very fast lol. Mark
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Post by Wood~Ant on Feb 25, 2014 16:09:34 GMT
You certainly can't keep those girls from their fungus gardens, so you will just have to find ways of expanding the nest Mark.
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Post by Joona on Feb 25, 2014 17:18:24 GMT
Lol that was always the plan I just didn't click that they needed to expand right now lol. Crisis over I got a big food tub from a local B&M lol its now currently being transformed into a leaf feeder whilst I await the lid for my tank
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Post by adamjames20 on Feb 26, 2014 7:58:17 GMT
Looking fantastic mate , another garden ready to grow : D , wait till spring kicks off , all the new leaves will have gardens growing at amazing speed ha ha
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Post by deansie on Feb 26, 2014 11:45:34 GMT
Fantastic Mark, mind put up some pics when your finished the current expansion! I'm thinking of making an open feeding table for over the summer, be good not having escape artists trying there luck all the time eh. I've already found 2 walking on top of the feeder box, no idea how they got out.
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Post by Joona on Feb 26, 2014 15:30:13 GMT
It gets worse the new tub now has a third garden in it!! Privet has put them in a fungus frenzey!
Now I'm out of Ideas, I need a make shift feeding area.
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Post by Joona on Feb 27, 2014 16:45:26 GMT
I think the best way to do an open feeding table is with water and ropes, Andy uses fine fishing string to hold the ropes but they will eat it over time! I'm just on my way to pick up a exoterra viv I managed to get for £40 with a lid light too. Sunday I'll start building it all so hopefully I'll get you some pics. Oh and there wasn't another garden waiting when I got back from work lol thank God
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Post by Joona on Mar 2, 2014 11:19:51 GMT
Well after a long time of planning I gave up on the fish tank idea, and turned my attention to an exo terra viv instead, sadly the cheapest I could find was £50 for just the viv and an extra £22.99 for the light. Luckily after an ebay bender I found a 30x30x45 viv with the light for £40 that was about 10 mins from my house! I moved the fungus to the shelf and added the pipe work, I didn't want to drill the viv as to be honest I liked it and if I ever get the urge to get another gecko it would be perfect lol so I just made a hole in the mesh on top and added tubes with a wire for them to walk up and down. Anyway when it was all put together it took them all of 5 mins to find the leaves sadly around 10 minutes later they found the air vents at the front so I had to block them off, then they found a very tiny gap below the doors and this morning they hosted a prison break style escape because I forgot to close the sliding vents behind the light canopy, but its all ok now and there haven't been any escapes for a few hours lol the shelf is just a temp thing as I need to tidy it up and add lighting. They are still adding to the second garden but the third one has been neglected and has turned white and they're not paying much attention to it. The bulb in the viv is 15watt so I added a small heat mat to the bottom that keeps the viv around 24'c and its not very bright, more like dusk. Mark
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