Leaf Cutting Ant Forum

Well, yesterday the temperature hit 33 degrees, it's not my Thermostats fault but rather the house heating was turned on because it was too cold, typical. But it was only for an hour or so, now everything is stable...

Look at the progress

They took the trip from England to France very well, and although the fungus was completely ruined I'm transport, they quickly reassembled it and it's already started re-growing! I gave them a lot more peat than before which seems to have helped a lot

Great news Marco, must be pleased.

Deansie26 wrote:Great news Marco, must be pleased.

Yeah I'm really chuffed. After 4 tries at Acromyrmex, I got atta right so far on the first go haha.

But I'm not going to jinx it now...

There's been a nice amount of fungus growth overnight, I'll post pictures every week I decided so it will be a big surprise at how much they've grown

Marco, nice to hear things are going well. Did you carry them in your hand luggage or in the hold.

Acromyrmexbob wrote:Marco, nice to hear things are going well. Did you carry them in your hand luggage or in the hold.

In the end they just went in the hold, it's a lot less strict and not as many worries when opening bags etc

All aircraft holds are pressurized these days. I have never lost any livestock via this route. Traditionally the problem with this route is not temperature related, its handling by the baggage handlers. Chucking cases around and not being there to watch the damage caused is the most common source of damage to colonies travelling by that route.

Acromyrmexbob wrote:All aircraft holds are pressurized these days. I have never lost any livestock via this route. Traditionally the problem with this route is not temperature related, its handling by the baggage handlers. Chucking cases around and not being there to watch the damage caused is the most common source of damage to colonies travelling by that route.

Yeah, I squealed when my bag was thrown onto the coveyer belt in the airport, even after I'd said to be careful, the fungus was in a bad state, but they've rebuilt it now.
Queen still hasn't laid eggs

Not sure Ive ever interpreted the health of a colony by whether the queen is laying eggs or not. Not even sure how I would know this. If the fungus is being added to and the ants are active, the colony is fine. Egg laying by the queen is not a measure of the health of the colony, I would think it is more likely a measure of the availability of resources such as healthy fungus. The more fungus, the more stimulus to lay eggs. I wouldnt worry about, or try to monitor, the egg laying or otherwise of your colony.