So I set up my camera to take a shot every 30 seconds and photographed this....
This is how the nest looked, immediately following a rain storm.
With the surface scraped.
Can start to see the fungal chamber
and the fungus garden
clearing debris as I go
Making the hole larger in order to get to the garden.
Removing the fungus garden with the queen on board
Into a waiting container
Then tidy up the site.
Digging up an Atta, series of pictures
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- Deansie26
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Re: Digging up an Atta, series of pictures
Great post!
The fungus looks like its a blue/ green colour in parts??
Is the ground soil clay based?
The fungus looks like its a blue/ green colour in parts??
Is the ground soil clay based?
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Re: Digging up an Atta, series of pictures
Yes very clay like. But mainly wet. When it rains like it did prior to this everything gets very very wet. The soil is heavy.
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Re: Digging up an Atta, series of pictures
I can't see any workers, I guess they hide inside the fungus?
I keep over 20 species of ant, inc. Acromyrmex Octospinosus
Owner of AntKeepingShop (www.antkeepingshop.weebly.com)
Owner of AntKeepingShop (www.antkeepingshop.weebly.com)
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Re: Digging up an Atta, series of pictures
The workers were inside the fungus but they also tend to be on the sides of the chamber. If you stuff a tissue into the cavity they all attack it and you can place that beside the fungus so all of the workers are caught.