Queens and males in Leafcutterkeeping

[PierreE]

Hey,
I have a question who never could answer..
Does somebody know when Atta form males and Queens in Keeping?
How big msut be the colony? Is it possible in Keeping?!
I know many Acromyrmex Keeper with males and Queens...But not one person with Atta.

I'm clooking forward to the answers

Thank you very much!

Best regards,
Pierre

[Acromyrmexbob]

Great question. Atta rarely get big enough to produce winged sequels in captivity but there are exceptions. I have set up colonies all over the world over the past 25 years and of the hundreds I have done only 2 have produced queens and males. One was in Sweden, at Helsingborg. The colony was housed in a glass tank, 750mm long, 1200mm high and 750mm front to back, filled with substrate and the Atta. This colony did very well and Magnus told me three years ago they had winged sexuals. A fantastic achievement. They cannot mate though because this takes place at altitude and after the actual nuptial flight. The triggers for all of this are complex but I doubt it would be possible to get viable mated queens from a captive colony. Interesting topic though.

[PierreE]

Hey,
Thanks for your answer!
It looks very hard to get them...
Do you know how big the colony was? How many litres fungus?


Best regards,
Pierre

[Acromyrmexbob]

I suppose there were 20-30 rugby ball sized fungus gardens.

[Britishants.com]

That's an F20+

[Acromyrmexbob]

Nicely done!