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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 1, 2018 14:20:31 GMT
It turns out that they don't like raisins. They immediately started burying them and they were completely hidden by this morning. I can't say I blame them, personally.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 7, 2018 19:53:22 GMT
There hasn't been a lot to report recently. The fungus seems healthy but it still seems smaller than last week. I'm guessing that the whitish fungus from then was sickly and now that it's gone, the healthy grey fungus will carry on growing from now on? In addition, I haven't seen any evidence of brood for some time. I'm guessing if there is any it'll be hidden in the garden where I can't see it, but I'm still a bit paranoid. Queen's gaster. I love the colour of her hairs. The fungus has lots of bits of leaf and apple embedded in it. Soldier:
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 9, 2018 15:11:00 GMT
The Atta's favourite foods at the moment seem to be apple slices and rose leaves. Unfortunately the rose bush in the garden hardly has any leaves left at this time of year so I might need to look further afield for them. As you can see, the leaves are chewed up and arranged into a sort of scaffolding that the fungus grows over, which gives the garden its shape. It's definitely a bit bigger now than it was in the last update! Queen. I often think that the three ocelli on top of her head look a bit like little jewels:
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 10, 2018 17:27:46 GMT
I was very pleased just now to catch a glimpse of some larvae, the first evidence of brood I've seen in a while!
Update: I've just caught the queen eating for the first time. She was chewing on a piece of fungus in her jaws. I wonder if she harvests it herself or the workers bring it to her?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 16, 2018 15:25:51 GMT
Once again the fungus has fallen over. Hopefully it'll be fine and carry on growing as usual though. I've been able to see several larvae and pupae being carried across its surface, but no eggs, which are probably hidden deep inside the garden if there are any. The colony seems to be in a different mood whenever I'm checking on them. Sometimes, like now, they won't register the lid being removed and quietly go about their business. At others they will go mad and workers will charge up the sides of the tank. The workers will try and bite me when I'm removing old bits of leaf and apple but they're not so bad as long as you don't go anywhere near the fungus.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 17, 2018 16:58:43 GMT
Today the colony seems to have arranged their brood in a pile on top of the garden, next to the queen. There's some very young looking larvae there. I wonder how old they are?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 19, 2018 1:16:37 GMT
Today I decided to try the Atta on something different! Oat flakes which you get in cereal. And as it turns out, they adore them. I'm told that they collect oats in the wild. Straight to the garden! Her Majesty: The fungus garden is growing quickly now and is almost the size of a golf ball. It's not easy to tell in this photo, but the dark new growth, which has been getting taller, is now starting to curve and grow horizontally. I suspect it'll form a roof over that brood pile, creating a living nursery chamber.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 24, 2018 1:59:14 GMT
The colony and its fungus is still doing nicely. The brood chamber on top is mostly covered now by new growth and I see plenty of larvae and pupae within. I have on occasion spotted tiny white specks being carried by workers but I'm uncertain if they are eggs or not. They could just as easily be bits of harvested fungus and they're always gone by the time I can get my camera out. The queen is still behaving like her usual self and hardly moves when you're watching her (And she's very slow when she does), but she's always in different spots on the garden throughout the day with a group of workers on her back. A few days ago (And sadly I was too late to get a photo) I saw a worker sitting on her back and grooming her whilst an even tinier worker sat on her sister's back whilst grooming her! As you can see, for some reason they pulled a thorny bramble twig over to the left of the garden. Perhaps they're using it as a makeshift ladder. Brood: Worker carrying a larva:
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Post by Camponotus7 on Dec 24, 2018 10:52:48 GMT
Beautiful photos, I am very envious and wish you luck with your colony TenebrousNova
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 24, 2018 13:46:02 GMT
Beautiful photos, I am very envious and wish you luck with your colony TenebrousNova That's very kind of you!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 30, 2018 3:07:18 GMT
Things are still going well. Not only is the fungus getting bigger but I've spotted a few callow workers hiding in the crevices. In this photo you can see that they are constructing a new brood chamber on top of the one I showed in previous entries, which is mostly closed off but you can still see a few larvae in it just below. I'm looking forward to seeing them build the queen's chamber eventually as I'm sure it'll be impressive. I'm not sure if later there will be tunnels deep within the fungus that she can move through or if she'll be confined to the one chamber, but she'll have overcame the dangerous part of her colony's growth where she's still exposed. Then the egg laying will begin in earnest! Here's a photo from another angle to give you an idea of the fungus garden's height. And here's the brood in that new chamber. A few of those larvae look really young. Once a week I clean out the tank, which involves brushing angry workers off rotting bits of vegetation so I can bin it. The colony doesn't take kindly to this intrusion and I got bitten a few times by minors just by taking those above photos. The substrate also gets dry so I make sure to wet it with a pipette each day. To help them process their waste, I bought a culture of springtails and introduced some. They should hopefully help and they're too small for the Atta to notice. I did also get some tropical grey woodlice but decided against adding them to the tank. I don't think the colony would tolerate them and I was also concerned they'd find the fungus appetising. Hope you enjoyed this update.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 1, 2019 10:51:48 GMT
Sorry about the poor quality, taking photos through the sides of the tank is difficult due to condensation (And they won't have any of it if you try wiping it away). You can see how tall the fungus garden is getting though! The new grey/green growth at the top and the mature, fluffy growth lower down. The whole thing is now a bit bigger than a golf ball.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 3, 2019 15:41:05 GMT
The fungus is still growing rapidly upwards. Here's the brood chamber from the photo just above the springtail one: I'm a bit concerned that unless it starts growing horizontally as well, it'll fall over again. I've been told I could use a few toothpicks to secure the fungus in place but that sounds like a good way of getting my hand shredded by furious ants.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 7, 2019 18:02:51 GMT
Just now when I was wiping the sides of the tank, the tissue was attacked by an angry minor who absolutely refused to let go for almost five minutes! Vicious little monsters. Unfortunately I can't clean the sides too close to the fungus or most of them would've probably joined in. Top down view of the fungus today. Most of the new chambers are almost completely closed off. All the red/orange spots on the fungus are bits of apple, they used up an entire slice in less than two days! I gave them another earlier. The garden is still leaning quite a lot. Hopefully it doesn't topple over again. When I add more water to the shallow substrate the workers sometimes try and dig in it. In the wild these ants do live underground, but for the purposes of observation and to keep an eye on their health I'd rather the colony remain visible at all times. Perhaps one day if/when they outgrow their current set up I'll let them have a proper soil nest.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 12, 2019 21:41:25 GMT
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