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Post by deansie on Feb 18, 2014 16:10:46 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. Will post pics/ videos tomorrow 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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Post by deansie on Feb 18, 2014 17:24:48 GMT
Thanks Jenant and wood-ant for the handy tips, hopefully prevent a some nips. Definetly there final move!
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Post by Joona on Feb 19, 2014 17:28:27 GMT
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. Give it time lol mine wait to ambush me now! How did the move go by the way?
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Post by deansie on Feb 19, 2014 19:51:14 GMT
I bet Mark. Move went ok I'm glad to report, no bites at all I wanted to try and locate the queens and straight away when I lifted the feeding tile I found a queen along with a 3rd fungus garden that I hadn't seen before which was nice. I thought I'd put the queen in a small tub for safe keeping till the end but 5 minutes later I checked on her and she looked like she was in a death curl!! I touched her and she moved about so don't know what that was all about but I put her straight into the new set up and hoped she would be ok. No sign of the second queen. Feeding tank on top, heated fungus tank below. You can see how the tanks are connected, included is the trash bottle that they will hopefully use. Unit feet made water tight than will fill the tubs with oil as a final escape protection should the worst happen, which it will not. Picture of the queen in the new set up that I found straight away-still alive. Picture of the second queen who must have been hidden in the fungus-was very pleased to see her later marching around. The fungus in new set up I've a few clips of when I first lifted the tile etc that ill post tomorrow, need better internet connection to upload. Any opinions welcome.
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Post by deansie on Feb 19, 2014 22:11:16 GMT
Managed to get one clip up after a few hours, sorry about the focusing. and another finally lol
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Post by deansie on Feb 24, 2014 13:54:58 GMT
Hi folks, Had a few issues since ants where transferred to there new set up so thought I’d update you. Unforeseen problems are: *With 3 pulse stat controlled heat mats positioned on front, left and right side of the tank with little air movement the heat entering is rising to the top of the cube. *The temperature range is huge- 29 degrees at the top of tank but the ground/ coco fibre only just reaching 23 degrees. *Humidity not greater than 82% RH *Fungus gardens deteriorating *Ants not foraging I knew I had to try something quick- *I thought about adding more coco fibre but didn’t think this would really help. *Obtain and fit some kind of small fan to gently move the heated air about, I’m not the best electrically minded and need something now. *Do the no no and fit a heat mat under the cube. I decided to try a heat mat but first I placed a digital thermometer in my atta soil to see what the temperature was in that set up and was surprised to find it at 27 degrees, so the acromyrmex have went from 27 degs to 23 degs I raised the tank an inch on small bits of tile. I this placed the mat under and packed under the mat with cardboard so the full tank weight is not on the mat rather I’ve loosely packed the mat up to the height of the tank. I then checked the digital thermometer I had positioned on the soil over the next 5 hours and the temp rose from 23 degrees to 26 degrees which it settled at, the temperature at top settled at 28 degrees from 29 degrees. The humidity also rose to 90% with no dripping condensation. So far its looking good and the fungus already looks healthier I think and the ants have started to forage again after 3 days of not doing so. Will post some new pics soon. Learning curve for me, hopefully out of the woods now
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Post by deansie on Feb 26, 2014 11:34:25 GMT
Few pics, thought this was quite cool. This ant would have thought I was destroying the colony but he still tried to save this new guy They have dismantled some of the gardens and have focused on 3 at the moment. Some pupae can be seen here. Moving fungus Will give it a while before updating again
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Post by deansie on Mar 18, 2014 15:46:56 GMT
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Post by deansie on May 5, 2014 20:35:40 GMT
Hi folk, just thought I'd post a few updated fungus pictures. I apologise for the quality-best I can get through the glass. There has been significant fungus growth as you can see and now there are some foragers out during the day which there never used to be. There also not as quick to retreat as they used to be. I've recently tried feeding the almond nuts which they seem to love, almond flakes seem the best and easiest for them. Haven't seen the queens for ages but there working hard as many pupa can be seen. Tank maintaining an even 26-27 degrees with 94% humidity.
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Post by deansie on May 7, 2014 15:30:43 GMT
HD Video, clearer than photos
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Post by Black Ant on May 7, 2014 16:03:55 GMT
Nice video of the fungus gardens and ants. I didn't find a comments topic for this so had to post on your journal. Maybe you can re-post a link if you still have a comments thread for this journal Deansie
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Post by deansie on May 8, 2014 14:13:18 GMT
Nice video of the fungus gardens and ants. I didn't find a comments topic for this so had to post on your journal. Maybe you can re-post a link if you still have a comments thread for this journal Deansie Glad you liked the video Black ant The link for the comments thread is at the bottom of any of my posts.
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Post by deansie on May 10, 2014 8:13:41 GMT
Tile in feeding tank has soil excavated from under and some fungus has been taken under. Temperature is 20 degrees and humidity is 50-60% Wouldn't have predicted that.
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Post by deansie on May 10, 2014 10:18:22 GMT
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Post by deansie on May 20, 2014 11:22:22 GMT
Another clip, tried talking ha ha, doesn't come naturally!
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