Leaf Cutting Ant Forum

Hello Andrew, good to be in touch again. I was just going to add a bit more info in that today, here, the temperature has dropped and the colony are moving brood from one of the new fungi (the second largest) back to the main one, which is in a warmer position, with the heat mat underneath...the main tank temp has dropped to 23 degrees C (was at 28 degrees C), so I'm guessing the unheated tank has perhaps become too cool? Humidity seems fine though.

Intra movement of brood and sometimes fungus is a very normal housekeeping activity of Acromyrmex and Atta. You can darken a fungus garden and they will move everything into that. Moving material is the short term reaction to a temporary problem, if the situation continues they might abandon the unsuitable garden. Although 23C is not really that low. 28C is quite high but they obviously like it.

Lots more young queens and males walking about today.....I feel a nuptial flight coming on....! Better get the gauze ready to enclose the main tank!!

Wow! Nuptial flights! Should comsider selling the queens with some fungus and workers from the main colony, population control with extra benefits

It would probably be very interesting Marco, but I'm more concerned with keeping the flight under control, as they are situated in a working lab!! It took me quite a while to collect them all up last time!

What would be interesting, Jackie, would be to prepare for the nuptial flight and experiment with beheading males and trying to artificially inseminate queens. A ready made project for some erstwhile undergraduate with side benefits of potentially creating new colonies.

Oh, if only Andrew, but students are off campus now and working on their projects elsewhere....they used to do project work on the colony, such as resource preferences, but not in recent years. I'll report on the nuptial flight if it happens.

Would you consider selling queens? A captive bred colony... I'd snap one up! If they do have a nuptial flight, please oh please record it!

I'll do my best Andy, but I have a responsibility to the University to contain the colony. I've discussed sending out queens on here before, but it would need proper coordination.

Sorry Marco! Got your name mixed up for some reason!