Jack's final gambit Atta colony.

[Shamual]

Also does anyone know how to make the pictures smaller, its very frustrating.

[Formica123]

No. But the fourth resizes them when u post

[Acromyrmexbob]

Jack, the queen wont move. You should stop worrying about the queen. She will not react when you open the tub or do anything. Its not a sign that she is ill or dying, its just that the queens dont move. If you disturb her she will not run away or attack, she will curl up. But thats not a problem.
None of the things you are worrying about are problems. If they are not going into the outworld as you call it then feed them next to the nest. Moving things around is housekeeping. Dont try to move waste and ants into the dump chamber to show them where it is, just accept for the time being that they are dumping into the water. Again, not a problem. At this stage you need to establish that right at the fungus the humidity is very high and the temperature is constant around 23-25C. Food next to fungus. If they are feeding, leave well alone. If they are not feeding, also leave well alone but try offering different foods such as orange peel etc (food plants section will give you all info you need) The biggest destroyer of a new colony is fretting and changing when there is no need so let them do their thing and all will be well. Relax. And if the fungus starts to deteriorate or shrink significantly then we can start to look at things. For now its just a case of letting them establish and start to behave normally. All of the other things can be adjusted later once we are going forward with the basics. I would get a humidity meter with a probe asap. Dont trust that humidity is correct at the fungus.

[Shamual]

Right ok. Sorry for being alarmed by the queen, I guess you keep other species long enough and you don't get used to it lol. They are dropping the waste on the clay granulate is this a problem?

[Shamual]

Oh and I bought a new hygrometer and the humidity is only 86% so is there any way that I can raise this?

[Acromyrmexbob]

Can you post pictures of your setup. Are they elsewhere. Sorry if they are.

[Shamual]

Yeah no problem, my setup is under build projects.

[Shamual]

Right, 3rd day in and I'm very happy! They started cutting overnight! Thank the fricken Lord for spotted laurel. However I did sprinkle the fungus with spotted laurel pieces first, I'm not sure if that triggered something in them or something, but I woke up this morning to find the whole leaves with chunks taken out of them! So at least their feeding. It's quite obvious what part of the fungus they're working on (I'll post pictures later.) but so far it's all good! They have spotted laurel again tonight, and again I cut a little bit for them, but tomorrow I'll just put in the leaves and leave them be.

Oh and a learning curve, leaves don't like boiling water ;P

[Acromyrmexbob]

Jack, you should reserve these emergency techniques for when they are needed. Cutting up leaves and putting them onto the fungus is a last resort treatment for a colony in difficulty. You need to give them a chance to behave normally. The more you interfere and panic, the less you know about your colony. For instance if they are not eating there is a reason. Now you do not know if everything is perfect or they started to feed because you put leaves on the fungus. Basically the fungus is fine for a long time, there is no panic, no need for emergency measures. The best approach to this is to let them establish themselves, offer them food so its always available, and monitor them from a distance. Dont go into the nest area all of the time with interventions designed to make them behave in a certain way. If they are feeding now, give them a chance to build up a little before doing anything to or with them. Just my advice to you.

[Shamual]

Okok remember I'm pretty crap at this keeping stuff. So no more sprinkling cut leaves on to the fungus. But they still won't go in the outworld so is it still OK to feed them in the nest chamber?