Leafcutter's Oecophylla smaragdina (Australian)

[Leafcutter]

Bit of a change of scenery as the ivy leaves dried up really quickly. Instead I got some [latin]Pachira aquatica[/latin] leaves and added those. There is a pile of eggs which is hidden from view by the leaf. Lots of pupae and larvae though, and seeing new workers daily including some larger workers. The Queen is difficult to spot but I do see her amongst the mass of workers sometimes.

I'd like to start breeding Turkistan cockroaches [latin]Blatta lateralis[/latin] soon and try them out with my colony. They are slightly thinner than Dubia roaches so a bit easier to munch into apparently.

[Leafcutter]

Day 54 -

The colony refuses to nest in any plant which is very odd indeed. I suppose they are naturally happy with the conditions in the test tubes that there is no need for them to move. They are fast and efficient at pinning down insects, they have slight trouble with meal-worms as they do no have as many 'ends' to pull. Lots of pupae now in the test tubes and I am expecting serious exponential growth very soon. Anyhow, I have placed some freshly cut Pachira aquatica leaves in to cover the test tubes as it can get quite hot in the direct light. A continued observation is after spray with water, the ants retreat almost immediately to the test tubes, instincts of nature most likely. I also added a new sugar water dispenser but the ants prefer the original one and I have not yet seen an ant on the new dispenser.

Three pictures today:





Here you can almost begin to see the beauty of these ants:

[Acromyrmexbob]

Raj, those last two pics are stunning. Looks like everything is going very well. I suspect that the ants are not favouring the test tubes but rather are not finding conditions in the leaves humid enough since the air humidity may be quite low if there is direct light and heat in the tank. Seems strange there seems to be no silk activity to speak of, in test tubes I have seen before they have built chambers inside. Is there any silk spinning? One of the things I recommend you do is sweep netting. Cant really say what, if any, a varied diet of different insects would be as a benefit against crickets but I arranged for the Koreans to sweep net each day and load their freezer with bags of insects whilst the summer was allowing them to do this. Then you can offer the ants a selection of flies, spiders etc which will add a lot of variety to their diet. Long term the prognosis for keeping these ants thriving is not good. Most colonies tend to crash after a year or two even although it appears the queens natural life expectancy would be around 7-9 years. This must be due to a deficiency in the captive strategy we are employing. So I have been looking at diet as well as other factors. This year I have arranged the import of the Green variety from Australia, the red asian type and I am also setting up a trip to Tanzania to collect the African variety so it is in my best interest to establish a viable regime for their long term care. Hopefully you have seen the pics from Korea, everything went very well with the collecting and set up.

[Leafcutter]

Raj, those last two pics are stunning. Looks like everything is going very well. I suspect that the ants are not favouring the test tubes but rather are not finding conditions in the leaves humid enough since the air humidity may be quite low if there is direct light and heat in the tank. Seems strange there seems to be no silk activity to speak of, in test tubes I have seen before they have built chambers inside. Is there any silk spinning? One of the things I recommend you do is sweep netting. Cant really say what, if any, a varied diet of different insects would be as a benefit against crickets but I arranged for the Koreans to sweep net each day and load their freezer with bags of insects whilst the summer was allowing them to do this. Then you can offer the ants a selection of flies, spiders etc which will add a lot of variety to their diet. Long term the prognosis for keeping these ants thriving is not good. Most colonies tend to crash after a year or two even although it appears the queens natural life expectancy would be around 7-9 years. This must be due to a deficiency in the captive strategy we are employing. So I have been looking at diet as well as other factors. This year I have arranged the import of the Green variety from Australia, the red asian type and I am also setting up a trip to Tanzania to collect the African variety so it is in my best interest to establish a viable regime for their long term care. Hopefully you have seen the pics from Korea, everything went very well with the collecting and set up.

There is a lot of silk inside the test tubes. The ants have made mini-chambers in them and silk against the inside of the test tubes too, so side viewing is difficult. I agree, diet could be a factor. I have tried to use bee pollen too as a protein source in a liquid form but it doesn't dissolve very well. The long term plan is a large enclosure for them, a 1200 high glass tank with a few smaller plants and one larger Pachira aquatica plant. Day/night temperature controlled units and a variety of foods.

Currently the Queen is a very active egg layer and there is a lot of brood, so I'm thinking The previous owner of the colony did say to me that they are not quick to move nests, so I am not worried about it at the moment. Another keeper of Oecophylla said to me his ants remain in their original test tubes even after the water has run out and providing new fresh test tubes. I can see this from offering them a young Mango tree and a Ficus benjamina plant too.

[Leafcutter]

WEAVING!!!

We have ants weaving a nest in the Pachira aquatica leaves! Hallelujah! There are plenty of larvae visible now and the workers have decided a new nest is needed. I was beginning to think these were fake weaver ants. This began yesterday when I found them pulling the leaves together and forming worker chains, they soon dissolved and went back into the test tube nest. Today I came home to find the work of art in progress, they had pulled the leaves and glued them in place with the silk excreted by the larvae. Unfortunately the two SD cards for my DSLR have been misplaced so there are no decent pictures until they are found .

[Leafcutter]

Managed to find the SD cards so here are a variety of pictures outlining the leaf nest and the ants in the test tube. Even though they have made a new nest, they have made no attempt to move the Queen into it, as far as I have seen. They are eating very readily and pounce on anything, even the 3cm long dubia cockroaches - you'll see the shell in the tube.

[Bitterlime]

That's great! Finally they are acting like proper weavers. Nice pictures you can actually see where the leaves have been knitted together with silk.

[Acromyrmexbob]

Raj, got myself 17 colonies of these ants. I am housing them on 5 foot tall Portugese Laurel. They are all large colones, some have built nests the size of footballs! Got them in a new specially heated room, rows of plants with nests on them in trays of water. So chuffed I got the permits for them.

[Leafcutter]

Yesterday I decided to introduce my Australian Oecophylla smaragdina colony to the small Pachira aquatica tree, to allow them to weave and expand their nests as the test tubes were quite overcrowded and dry. I fashioned a test tube hanger from an old wire hanger, so that the test tubes could sit up high in the plant. They began the weaving process after a mere 30 minutes of navigating around the tree. Lots of pictures here and a short video. I am very pleased with this colony and overjoyed that they have found a better home in the leaf nest . Overnight the test tubes were emptied of all the brood and the Queen also made the move into the nest. Exciting stuff to witness in person .































https://youtu.be/LmGEGB4t3XA

[Acromyrmexbob]

That looks amazing Raj. Leaves must be live and connected to a plant. The secret of keeping Weaver Ants long term is to keep the plant they are on healthy and transpiring. Thats the key. You are doing amazingly with these. I am amazed you are thinking about selling them. Are you going to Uni this year? Did you get a place?