Leaf Cutting Ant Forum

Excellent... let's hope you can fill all those nest boxes... that would be incredible

Daubz1977 wrote: this should give me enough room for around 45 30cmx30cmx30cm cubes i may never need all of it but better safe than sorry i think.

OK, if you even get 50% of the way to your ambition this could be epic! I like it!

The loft is now all boarded out both my shelves are in and the fan is mounted to the wall, Im going to wire and 2nd fix my loft tomorrow so i could potentially turn the heating on but i dont get my insulation until saturday so i will wait, i have made a shelf out of solid wire mesh which is over the top of my heater which will have a bowl of water on it for a bit more humidity which was advised by Acromyrmexbob.

Great stuff Dale, any new pics? So all your units will be clinical with no aquarium set ups like your using now?

Im going to keep them in a tank setup until they have filled the first 20cm cube, i think i want them established before i move them into a clinical setup, but i am getting the clinical setup ready for when the colonies big enough, im moving them into a 4ft fish tank tomorrow as long as my display case arrives, will i still need to use the aquarium heater to heat the water or will the room temperature which will be 24.5 create enough humidity. Anyway all i have left to do to complete the loft is insulate it which will be here tomorrow morning. I will get some photos later or tomorrow it looks like a building site at the moment.

Dale, if you heat the room and the water is not warmer than the air then your room will be VERY dry. In order to create humidity you have to have the water considerably warmer than the air. So I suggest that you have the room at around 23C and the water at 30C. The nests directly above the water will be humid and will sit at around 25C.

ok mate thanks, so when i move them into my clinical setup will i then turn the room up to 24.5ish and moisten the media in the fungus gardens and also put water above the heater.

Daubz1977 wrote:ok mate thanks, so when i move them into my clinical setup will i then turn the room up to 24.5ish and moisten the media in the fungus gardens and also put water above the heater.

Okay, your clinical setup will be free standing? Not in a big tank? So you need to make sure your air humidity is very high. There are some very weird characteristics of small containers within a larger room that you need to think about. Firstly remember that condensation forms on surfaces that are cooler than the air temperature where the water vapour is suspended, ie, within the nest tank. If you heat the room to 24C ish then the activity of the ants and the respiration of the fungus will raise the nest tank to be slightly higher than this, probably around 25C. This means that the container walls will be approx 24.5C. This half degree difference will cause some of the humidity within the nest chamber to condense on the walls of the nest tank because they are 1/2C lower in temp than the air inside. This condensation causes the relative humidity within the nest to fall. So your room will be sitting at say 95% RH but your nest tank will be much lower than this. I cannot tell you how many commercial displays I have consulted on where this exact problem is the reason for colony decline. In some cases the Humidity meter outside the nest was reading 95% and the actual humidity inside the nest at the fungus was 65% or lower. So you are really trying to set up a situation where the heat that keeps the nest warm is travelling up from below the nest, through a wet medium and into the area occupied by the fungus. This will mean that your nest area is warmer than the outside and there will be lots of condensation. Removing this condensation is then the next thing on the agenda. I was at Blackpool Zoo this week preparing to build a very large setup of Atta and the keeper was talking about these kinds of problems with the Herps they keep there. I think condensation and RH are the most important elements to conquer when keeping tropical livestock of whatever species once a stable temperature is achieved.

I personally don't see the point of raising humidity in your loft when your going down the clinical route? The fungus tubs will be sealed so humidity is created inside with what ever moist substrate you use and the reduced ventilation.
Andrew's ant room maintains a humid atmosphere because his ant colonies are all in pretty much open tubs, yours won't be.
His ant room is lined with glass if I remember, your loft won't be so mould/rot could become an issue possibly.

Is this room not just the same as a heated viv in essence?

Deansie26 wrote:I personally don't see the point of raising humidity in your loft when your going down the clinical route? The fungus tubs will be sealed so humidity is created inside with what ever moist substrate you use and the reduced ventilation.
Andrew's ant room maintains a humid atmosphere because his ant colonies are all in pretty much open tubs, yours won't be.
His ant room is lined with glass if I remember, your loft won't be so mould/rot could become an issue possibly.

Did Dale decide not to have an open system on the shelf? Is he going with pipes to connect the boxes? If so then thats true, you should beware the effect of humidity on your house, it could fall down!