Leaf Cutting Ant Forum

Marco that set up looks great, like the big lids. That should keep them going for a while.

Fungus has grown quite a bit over the past night - the pods are definetely doing the trick. The humidity is perfect inside of them. My idea to stop the dreaded pool of water was this:
Use crushed clay pebbles (about 1 inch layer) on the bottom of the pods and then a small tile made of plaster of Paris on top where the fungus sits. This way excess water is a couple of centimetres underneath the fungus and the tile doesn't get drenched. Seems to be working so far.
Also, the ants have made the rubbish pile in the 3rd pod away from the nest! Couldn't be happier!

I would say 'beware any standing water within the nest at all'. The reason for this is that debris and any waste that falls into this water, from the ants or the fungus, will turn the water brown. This starts to smell and the smell, which is like ammonia, gradually gets stronger until it will inhibit fungal growth and, if left unchecked, will kill the fungus. In the field, when I am collecting leaf cutters, years ago, I used to lose a few colonies when i placed wet tissue paper into the tub and it started to smell. I would drill a tiny hole in the bottom so any excess water can drain away.

Hi guys,
Nice bit of fungus growth which I'm happy about. But I'm worried about the colour of the fungus, it's almost a little 'too' dark? No?
They have made a pocket in the middle where the queen usually resides which is cool too.
Currently taking bramble leaves, rose leaves, orange slices, apple, and organic quinoa. Somebody tell me if they look ok?

Morning Marco, your fungus looks a good colour but with the amount of condensation on the side is concerning, it suggests your box is not insulating well for the environment it is being kept. This as Andrews mentioned many times will be leading to lower humidity in the fungus chamber. Styrofoam would be OK in the home but I would be very wary of using only that if there being kept outside on cold nights buddy. Just something to keep an eye on.

Agree with Jamie. Condensation also says the air immediately outside the 'pod' is very cold so the polystyrene is not performing well at the temps you have it at. Very dangerous situation for the colony, sooner of later something will not work properly and there will be tears!

Acromyrmexbob wrote:Agree with Jamie. Condensation also says the air immediately outside the 'pod' is very cold so the polystyrene is not performing well at the temps you have it at. Very dangerous situation for the colony, sooner of later something will not work properly and there will be tears!

Hmm, weird. I've got 2 probes set up. The one on the inside of the pod, and the one in the inside of the tank. The tank is at a constant 25-26 now with 2 aquarium heaters, and the pods at a constant variation of 24. So how could the condensation be forming?

Condensation follows strict rules. The fact that it is forming means only one thing and that is that the walls of your 'pod' are cooler than the air in the pod. The walls can only be cooler than the air in your 'pod' if the air outside your 'pod' is cooler than the air inside. So one of your probes is either in the wrong place or is misreading the conditions. I would guess if you move the probe around you will find that the temperature in the external tank suffers from a temperature gradient across the tank although it might very well be the temperature you are reading right where the probe is.