Leaf Cutting Ant Forum

I'm taking a 'leaf' (see what I did there?) out of Che's 'book' and keeping a daily forage diary...it's a great idea!

03/05/18

Today I put in privet (always loved), wild rose (was loved, but not so much at the moment) & some new bramble (not so keen on the newer leaves). I picked an inflorescence off of horse chestnut, the ants looked at it, studied it and started cutting, but I need to go back and check on what happened next. Tried agave syrup this morning too, will see later what happened. They always love their apple.

Sycamore leaves were hardly touched, but they had gone very limp.

I must get some hawthorn tomorrow....

Jackie, do you offer such a mix for a reason? We have always given only one food type per day. Does this make it more interesting to watch? I find that runs out of options much quicker and you end up giving same mix after a while. Just interested in the strategy.

Nice one Jackie! I'll have to try some horse chestnut from what you and Andy have said. Your colony should really like the Hawthorn tomorrow. All I had to clean up was some bare sticks.

A little tip for Sycamore is to cut of the little shoe on the base of the leaf stalk where it attaches to the heel ( is it called ? ) of the branch, this stops it going limp, well it worked for me

I would be lost without bramble as it is my Acros main stay. There are however over 300 species of Bramble in the UK with 5 subspecies. Mine don't like the hairy leaves variety and prefer the leaves with a leathery surface. The leaves are quite large with redish stems. Trouble is many new leaves are hairy to start with when young. Also new leaves tinged with red are toxic and apparently Phasmid keepers tend not to use these as they can be poisonous.

My Acros can be fussy to what leaves they will cut but never turn down fruit and nuts ( not Cadburys ) which are always available to them. If i never provided, leaves what do you think might happen to the fungus?

Finally it's not fair that everyone has Atta except me, i want to be in the big school too or i'm taking my ball home

I always saw you as an Atta man, Andy! It would be like going out on a 50CC moped when all your mates have Harleys or 1100cc Kawasaki's. You'd get bullied and left behind. I was going to have a special section of the forum where only people with Atta can go, where they can order stuff for free and get prizes for just being themselves. Whereas the Acro keepers need to pay per post and get permission every time they want to log on. Just a thought!
You could eliminate leaves entirely if you wanted to and the fungus would be perfectly happy on whatever the ant were providing it with. All the leaves or the fruit etc are to the fungus is a source of nutrients.

Well, ive owned three Harleys so if you dont let me in your club ill go for a ride......but i sold em all and can only afford a moped now

I do notice a difference if they are in leaf cutting mode, the fungus seems to grow, then declines then grows and so on. Since i moved the fungus into a bigger container it hasn't really done much. Is it possible there is to much room, or do they prefer it more confined ?

Whenever you look at a captive colony to assess progress, it is best to compare it to a wild one. In this case a wild colony continues to grow its fungus fairly constantly unless, during a dry season, the humidity drops in the nest chamber and the fungus growth falters. Normally in a very active colony, the ants compensate for this by using the moisture held in the leaves to boost the humidity in the nest chamber and this is when you see piles of cut leaves in the vicinity of the fungus. In your case, with the fungus in a larger chamber, the only parameter that could be affected is humidity. Normally with perfect humidity, the provision of more space and also more food, leads to a growth spurt. If not then something is amiss, my guess would be humidity, possibly linked to ventilation?

Acromyrmexbob wrote:Jackie, do you offer such a mix for a reason? We have always given only one food type per day. Does this make it more interesting to watch? I find that runs out of options much quicker and you end up giving same mix after a while. Just interested in the strategy.

Well the 'daily' thing didn't last long did it?!!

They were not too keen on hawthorn, but they did cut it over the Bank holiday.....and I came into uni with an escape on my hands this morning. The colony had thrown leaves into the water moat and clambered out, they were searching for forage. I can't believe what they got through over the 3 days!! I put in a variety Andrew to keep them happy....I wouldn't want to eat the same food all the time! But I see what you are saying. They do not tire it seems of rose and privet, with apple. They do not like green apples, only organic, red ones. Am I spoiling them?

They seem to cut privet and rose equally, but over the long weekend they cut everything, including pyrocantha leaves (which they had gone off of) and savoy cabbage leaves. I'm going to do what you said Andrew and place a savoy cabbage (or two) on the platforms over long holidays.

Why are they now dumping their waste into the water moat? I had to fully clean it out and water change this morning, it was so full!

Occultus wrote:Nice one Jackie! I'll have to try some horse chestnut from what you and Andy have said. Your colony should really like the Hawthorn tomorrow. All I had to clean up was some bare sticks.

The horse chestnut flowers were gone this morning...but I think they got so desperate over the long weekend that they took them! hawthorn is something that I think I'll try again soon...

Andyj wrote:A little tip for Sycamore is to cut of the little shoe on the base of the leaf stalk where it attaches to the heel ( is it called ? ) of the branch, this stops it going limp, well it worked for me

I would be lost without bramble as it is my Acros main stay. There are however over 300 species of Bramble in the UK with 5 subspecies. Mine don't like the hairy leaves variety and prefer the leaves with a leathery surface. The leaves are quite large with redish stems. Trouble is many new leaves are hairy to start with when young. Also new leaves tinged with red are toxic and apparently Phasmid keepers tend not to use these as they can be poisonous.

My Acros can be fussy to what leaves they will cut but never turn down fruit and nuts ( not Cadburys ) which are always available to them. If i never provided, leaves what do you think might happen to the fungus?

Finally it's not fair that everyone has Atta except me, i want to be in the big school too or i'm taking my ball home

Yes Andy, our old Acros loved their bramble. The leaves at the moment here are still quite soft, so I'm waiting to offer the toughened ones as soon as this happens. The Atta took them early in the year, but they don't like the new, soft bramble leaves. The red colouration in the leaves is anthocyanins, a sign of a stressed plant, so perhaps the ants know it is perhaps unhealthy? What nuts do you give? I'd like to give that a try..

Acros are lovely and gentle, Atta are hooligans, I'm always getting bitten by them! You's have thought they would love me by now......