Leafcutter's Atta cephalotes 2018

Let everyone see the story of your colony(ies) over time. Pictures, developments, success and failures, what works / what doesn't, and your plans for expansion as time goes by!
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Leafcutter
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Leafcutter's Atta cephalotes 2018

Post by Leafcutter » Thu May 31, 2018 7:13 pm

So after messing up the upload of the photos, I'll start again haha!

Hi guys,

So it has been a while since keeping my first colony of Atta cephalotes a few years ago, which is now on display at the Amazona Zoo in Norfolk :). I have been developing a new solution to keeping leaf cutter ants in the form of an all-in-one set which is fully heated and humidified without any other equipment needed. The system incorporates the existing design of the GroPods Starter Set which I currently sell, to those who don't know I run LC Ants (http://www.lcants.com). I call it the HT (HydroThermo) Series GroPods.

This method of housing is very exciting as it is extremely simple to set up and a stable 25C and high humidity can be achieved within hours of plugging in, making housing leafcutter ants a breeze! The insert is where all the magic happens, releasing humid warm air into the GroPods, without allowing the ants to enter and shred the electronics! The insert is thermostatically controlled via a water heater inside, this means you can say bye bye to heat mats, heat cables, incubators, thermostats and aquariums altogether! This is an exciting prospect for all leaf cutting ant keepers and more so to those who are considering keeping them. The first of its kind, this system will revolutionise the way we keep leaf cutting ants, and will be available for purchase from our store very soon.

I will be documenting the progress of the Atta cephalotes colony here.

This morning I received the Atta cephalotes colony and transferred over the ants and fungus to an XL HT Series GroPod, connected up to a smaller standard GroPod. They have been busy rebuilding the fungus and started cutting the privet I added almost instantly after locating it! I'll attach photos below:

Overview:
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Vents which can be opened or closed:
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Fungus and ants in, mostly:
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Bits of fungus and the stragglers added to the smaller GroPod (foraging area):
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Photo from the side:
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Overview after adding the privet:
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Fungus taking shape and freshly cut leaves:
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Visible brood:
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Temperature and humidity spot on:
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Queen visible with brood and darker fungus:
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Thanks for reading! Exciting times ahead in the world of leaf cutter ants!

Atta cephalotes (2019)
Camponotus detritus (2018)
Camponotus maculatus (2018)

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Andyj
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Re: Leafcutter's Atta cephalotes 2018

Post by Andyj » Thu May 31, 2018 7:26 pm

Looks interesting Raj. Do you need an insert for each growpod or does one manage several?

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Re: Leafcutter's Atta cephalotes 2018

Post by Leafcutter » Thu May 31, 2018 7:31 pm

Andyj wrote:Looks interesting Raj. Do you need an insert for each growpod or does one manage several?

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With the current system an insert for each fungus GroPod would be needed to maintain the temperature at 25C, however you can get away with one for two fungus filled GroPods. The larger one pictured is the XL HT GroPod and measures 200mm wide x 250mm tall :).

Atta cephalotes (2019)
Camponotus detritus (2018)
Camponotus maculatus (2018)

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Re: Leafcutter's Atta cephalotes 2018

Post by Andyj » Thu May 31, 2018 7:38 pm

Following with interest.

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Re: Leafcutter's Atta cephalotes 2018

Post by Leafcutter » Mon Nov 11, 2019 8:17 am

Haven't updated this since the last post. The colony was doing very well, i'll upload some photos soon, hoping that photobucket won't force me onto one of their subscriptions to be able to upload more.

I sent this colony as a free replacement to a customer in Italy who lost his first colony in transit. This colony arrived to him in good condition and the fungus was rebuilt fairly quickly. I will contact him and see if he's able to do some updates on it.

Atta cephalotes (2019)
Camponotus detritus (2018)
Camponotus maculatus (2018)

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Acromyrmexbob
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Re: Leafcutter's Atta cephalotes 2018

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Mon Nov 11, 2019 5:20 pm

You sent a colony to Italy?!
Wow. It arrived okay. I have never tried this, infact I have always refused to send outwith UK. Amazing. Need to pick your brains as to how you packed it. But..... even if its packed to survive, that method almost certainly falls foul of regulations within EU. But very impressed!! :o Especially Atta. Do you currently have and colonies or are you drilling too many teeth to keep them?

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Re: Leafcutter's Atta cephalotes 2018

Post by Leafcutter » Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:37 pm

I just have one leafcutter colony, the colony I bought from you a few months ago. Once I've figured out how to upload photos without having to pay a monthly fee to photobucket, I'll start a journal on it. I have 2 other ant species but you're probably not interested in non-leafcutters anyway :lol:.

This was back early last year but previous to that I sent an Acromyrmex colony to Italy a couple of years ago - the owner actually sent me a link to his live stream which he operates on his ant room and his colony is very impressive. Last time I spoke to him he said the colony was quite large and started producing alates. It seems like Italy doesn't have a source for leafcutters as of yet - maybe something you might want to explore?

UPS is actually one of the only couriers in Europe that allows "beneficial insects" to be sent. They have a specific section on advice on packaging bees too. As far as I am aware, there isn't any rules that disallow movement of ants within the EU, only the restrictions that couriers themselves apply.

As for how it was packed, I lined the inside of a medium lunch box with some kitchen paper and placed the fungus garden inside, the fungus completely filled the box and the tissue provides the padding and support to stop it from being wrecked. It was via UPS 24hr, which combined with a heat pack and a polystyrene lined double wall cardboard box, seemed to do the trick.

Atta cephalotes (2019)
Camponotus detritus (2018)
Camponotus maculatus (2018)

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Leafcutter
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Re: Leafcutter's Atta cephalotes 2018

Post by Leafcutter » Tue Nov 12, 2019 4:31 pm

Seems Photobucket was lying the whole time, 38% full doesn't mean I have to upgrade at all!

Here's the colony before packaging:

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And here's after packaging:

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Virtually all the fungus arrived broken up but was rebuilt was expected.

Here it is a few weeks after arrival:

Image

Image

Atta cephalotes (2019)
Camponotus detritus (2018)
Camponotus maculatus (2018)

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Acromyrmexbob
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Re: Leafcutter's Atta cephalotes 2018

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Tue Nov 12, 2019 6:14 pm

That looks great!
Do you know how long it was in transit?

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Re: Leafcutter's Atta cephalotes 2018

Post by Leafcutter » Wed Nov 13, 2019 8:03 am

Less than 24hrs as it was collected early afternoon, delivered before 12:00 noon the next day, so very quick indeed!

Atta cephalotes (2019)
Camponotus detritus (2018)
Camponotus maculatus (2018)

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