Leaf Cutting Ant Forum

Not at all, the humidity in the large unit the fungus chambers are in sits at 55% humidity. Only this I've had to do is sit a 3 inch celotex panel again the window as in the winter the moisture was condensing on the in-insulated side. This solved it.

Yep, that works!

Short update but an interesting one.
Previously I mentioned how I had bought a cheap temperature/ hydrometer-well when I placed this in the empty fungus unit adjacent to the main garden I put around 7.5ml of water on the plaster.
The humidity was 100% and temperature 1.3 degrees cooler than the whole unit.
Now the humidity is 75% and temperature still 1.3 degrees cooler.
So from this information I can say suitable humidity is lasting roughly 12 days after which the humidity is to low for the ants to start a second garden.
My watering regime will now be every 10-11 days until a garden has began, I'll also make even smaller vents in future.

Deansie26 wrote:Short update but an interesting one.
Previously I mentioned how I had bought a cheap temperature/ hydrometer-well when I placed this in the empty fungus unit adjacent to the main garden I put around 7.5ml of water on the plaster.
The humidity was 100% and temperature 1.3 degrees cooler than the whole unit.
Now the humidity is 75% and temperature still 1.3 degrees cooler.
So from this information I can say suitable humidity is lasting roughly 12 days after which the humidity is to low for the ants to start a second garden.
My watering regime will now be every 10-11 days until a garden has began, I'll also make even smaller vents in future.

Or.... you could say your 'cheap' hydrometer is performing to expectations!

I know it's throw away rubbish but after adding another 7.5ml it's back to reading 99%
I'd say it's giving me a rough idea.

The following comparison picture shows 7 weeks of growth from left to right. I'm going to see how much faster the second garden fills the tub once it begins.

Looking good... if we're having a sweep stake, put me down for 3 weeks 2 days...

Edited - Let's have a sweepstake... You have to guess the no. of days from today that the 2nd fungus reaches the top of the chamber...I'll donate a prize... I've had a quick look and I've got a spare pair of tweezers... deliverable to anywhere in the EU.. unless it's after June 23rd... then I might not be able to deliver to EU without a form and an import duty..

Jamie please could you move this to its own thread

Bit of development as you can see lol. Andrew had a client who was in need of a larger colony than he had available so a deal was done and voila! Back to a smaller colony for a while. As you can see I've put it in the aquarium for the time being as I'm going to change the cupboard set up. I'm going back to using Stewart hatching boxes and the feeding area is going to be totally relocated, the foraging side will be for fungus boxes also.

Starting again after doing so well, i couldn't have parted with them. Still it's more fun getting it all going

Andyj wrote:Starting again after doing so well, i couldn't have parted with them. Still it's more fun getting it all going

Gives me a chance to re-design the set up as it wasn't working having the foraging table lower than the gardens. Think I enjoy the building part, wife says Im always up to something lol. My new Acromyrmex unit is starting to take shape, just getting the time!