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Post by deansie on Dec 31, 2013 10:54:19 GMT
Hey all, had these since 10th of October. 2 queens with some workers. Fungus was size of golf ball broke up in little bits. Set up initially below-have had to put a canopy on it as the evaporation produced some mould spots on corner of room. Canopy eating Orchid leave
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Post by deansie on Dec 31, 2013 13:51:08 GMT
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Post by deansie on Dec 31, 2013 16:45:02 GMT
It's John Innes Number 1 compost with a little coco fibre thrown in as I thought it might provide a little structure. N1 one was recommended here www.easyinsects.co.uk/site/content/view/12/30/I really like the idea of the closed set ups without soil so you can watch everything but to start I thought it safer to go with the soil so the ants can adjust things to set the humidity to what they want. Hopefully get an added garden at some point without the soil.
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Post by deansie on Jan 12, 2014 17:12:24 GMT
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Post by deansie on Jan 13, 2014 6:40:31 GMT
Deansie, how much heat variance do you get with the water set up? Also do you have to add water much due to evaporation? Hey Joona, you get very little movement in temperature, it's a pretty solid 24.5- 25 degs, I've got cardboard sides that I hang on all four sides with picture hooks just to help insulate as the room is cold. There is major evaporation thou, I've the green house canopy on top that I've now trimmed to the correct length and directly on the lid a pitched plastic cover with just each end opened. I initially only had the pitched top but had to much evap with just that. Now the green house catches all the water and drops it in the moat. I can get pics of pitched to get an idea
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Post by deansie on Jan 19, 2014 23:18:26 GMT
Got new digital hydrometer/ thermometer today. Tank reads 25 degrees and relative humidity of 100%
Can anyone tell me why I see fungus gardens that are almost grey where's mine is just off white? I know when they add food to the fungus but it's more little green specs or what ever the chosen food colour is, are you more likely to get a whiter fungus in a a soil set up? Easier to maintain higher humiditys?
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Post by deansie on Jan 24, 2014 18:23:39 GMT
I think its the moisture in the soil, my Atta fungus is white in places and grey on top, if the grey touches any moisture it goes white although the ants still eat it. If the fungus turns redish / brown then you have trouble as thats the dead stuff which is normal to find at the bottom of a mature garden due to the weight on top of it. The grey fungus is the new stuff which is added on top. I have come to the conclusion the white is mature fungus. From my research (I say research I mean what I've read or observed) a wet heat set up like yours are great for high humidity but have very little control over it, the heat will be constant. The set up like I have with heat mats and thermostat is no where near as acurate temprature wise as my stat will drop to 23'c before it kicks in and then takes the temp up to 27'c. The humidity I do not personally check anymore as the ants finally bit the probe off although being air tight the only humidty came from the leaves being cut and condensation. There are pros and cons of both types of set up. Although I have no experience with Acro's I have read they like more heat / humidity but are no where near as fussy as Atta. Belive me (and I know AJ will back me up) your fungus looks great and its growing so id say its all good. Mark Hey Mark, I think your right about it being the humidity as since I put the gauge in its constantly 100% RH in the tank. When I look at keepers fungus gardens I've not see any as completely cream/ white as mine, I wonder if this is what there like in there natural habitat? I've noticed that the appearance goes in cycles in that its almost completely white then explodes in little orange dots-which I'm assuming is what they feed on, interesting to watch. This set up is at 24/7 constant RH but not totally in temperature. During the day when the central heating has been on it sits at 25 degs but when I check first thing in the morning it sits at 23 degs, probably quite a natural cycle. After speaking to you I'm considering getting a more accurate thermostat than a mat stat Jamie
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Post by deansie on Jan 24, 2014 18:41:34 GMT
Thought I'd post a few pics of my up and coming Acromyrmex set up. The tank is a discus breeding cube that I was going to use for my discus fish. I've put 2 heat mats on either side of the tank and then used radiator insulation on all the sides to keep the heat in, on the front I'm going to have 2 Velcro strips running vertically on the side's so I can have a insulated detachable front for viewing. The substrate is a thin layer of sand followed by a 60/40 clay ball and coco mix. I've drilled two holes in the rear of pane of glass for a foraging tank and expansion if required, I was initially not going to attach the foraging tank but am now thinking it may be better to do so as removing the lid of the main tank may not be great for the ants as they would be losing the humidity every day when feeding. Easier as well to do so when there are no ants ha ha. I've also attached a thermostat which I'm going to change to a pulse stat or digital stat. Any opinions or suggestions welcome.
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Post by deansie on Jan 28, 2014 20:09:03 GMT
Just thought I'd post this picture of one of the fungus gardens as I think there's been significant growth in what is 4 weeks. Seen one of the queens also but couldn't get a good picture, seems like each queen has their own garden in the cube but they're both interconnected via a tunnel.
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Post by deansie on Jan 30, 2014 14:34:09 GMT
New exo foraging tank acquired yesterday. Still to get pvc tube and fittings, was going to use acrylic tube but will keep that for later use to make it a feature when I want to put some more distance between the fungus and foraging tanks. The fungus tank should fit quite nicely underneath. Hopefully can do a nice twisting design with the acrylic tube, maybe round one of the legs, not sure yet.
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Post by deansie on Jan 31, 2014 15:03:29 GMT
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Post by deansie on Feb 10, 2014 20:53:20 GMT
Few new pics of the army, defo growing quick. I do find the Acromyrmex more skittish than the Atta but I'm not sure if that's because the acro's are more established in their set up. this is what there doing to 2 stalks of privet and a cherry (cherry is cored, just don't see in pic ) over night Looking to move them into new set up possibly in next 2 weeks, how I go about digging them out?? should be fun. Can anyone tell me if leaf cutters will go through silicone?
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Post by deansie on Feb 11, 2014 20:10:58 GMT
The jaws of large workers can cut through soft plastic if this answer is any help Dean? Thanks wood ant, I knew they had a hard extremely strong jaws I thought silicone might be a funny one for them-obviously not. I'm going to get bitten to bits when moving them
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Post by deansie on Feb 12, 2014 21:31:50 GMT
I envy you for managing to keep this species! Last year when I was doing an animal care course, our class had a visit to Marwell Zoo and I spent most of it staring in awe at their colony of leaf cutters. And that's true about the jaws, I remember reading someone journal on leafcutters (Might've been Kyle's?) and at one point they chewed a hole in their plastic tubing to escape. They are a real joy to keep I've got to say, so interesting to watch. I would get rid of my discus tank if I had to to keep them and that's saying a lot. And with a new baby on the way that's not so unimaginable lol. I've ordered an epoxy called JB Weld which I'm going to use to reseal the outside of the pipes, the 4 feet of the unit that the whole set up will be on will be in some sort of vases/ containers with water and a head of oil as a final safety feature incase they broke out. I'm also going to carry out fortnightly all over set up checks lol, incase I can see any holes being engineered lol.
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Post by deansie on Feb 18, 2014 16:08:57 GMT
Hi, doing the re-housing of my acromyrmex tomorrow and I'm not looking forward to it. Handled, housed etc every big tarantula you could think of and this seems more bother than any of them lol. I'm going to place the cube in a washing basin with water around it, probably wear tight washing up gloves with a ring of Vaseline round the tops to stop them going up my arms. Then I'll gently remove soil gently rehousing ants fungus as I go. Any tips would be appreciated!
In regards to acromyrmex and atta I find the atta far more oblivious to my presence than the acro's, acro's will retreat in my presence and send out one or 2 larger ants to bite anything that moves while my atta don't bat an eye lid.
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