Leaf cutter nest questions

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Kalidas
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Leaf cutter nest questions

Post by Kalidas » Sat Oct 19, 2019 11:05 pm

So I have noticed most if not all people keep their leaf cutters in large clear (mostly plastic or glass) boxes with the fungus kind of just sitting there.

Is there a reason people keep leaf cutters like this instead of the more common formicarium design we see with most ant colonies?

I also had a question of whether an idea I kind of had would work. I wondered if keeping leaf cutters in a sort of large open spaced cavelike formicarium could work (think mini hearth from tar heel ants but at least twice as large). I love the idea of keeping leaf cutters (I live in Cali so Acromyrmex Versicolor is what I have eyes set on and have already had some queens last year), but I won't lie I am not a fan of the standard glass box with fungus most people use, I prefer the more naturalesque look of a formicarium.

Any thoughts or advice on this would be great thanks.

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Acromyrmexbob
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Re: Leaf cutter nest questions

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Tue Oct 22, 2019 4:12 pm

Hi, so the reason most people keep their leaf cutters like this is simply because leaf cutters are much more demanding in terms of environmental parameters. Actually not the ants but the fungus. Because this is a symbiosis, you are not strictly speaking keeping ants only, but a community, each with its own requirements and each essential to the survival of the colony. The plastic containers you are talking about are the easiest to control. If you use another method, this is fine so long as you can ensure that temperature stays within a degree or two of 24C, and humidity is maintained at greater than 85%. |The key here though is that these two parameters must be measured exactly where the fungus is. So the probe must be in the fungal chamber so you know it is correct where the ants are growing their garden. Many many times I come across colonies which have died because the humidity and temperature are being measured in the housing unit, some distance away from the nest. Especially in the case of humidity, the value of this can change within a few cm's.

Kalidas
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Re: Leaf cutter nest questions

Post by Kalidas » Tue Oct 22, 2019 10:22 pm

Yeah I thought that's what it was

Maybe I'm just being stubborn and should stick with what works the best, even if it doesn't fit to my "esthetic taste" lol.

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Acromyrmexbob
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Re: Leaf cutter nest questions

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:15 am

I would certainly encourage you to experiment and get creative. My advice though would be to go with tried and tested until you yourself are happy with everything, and then go for something that pleases you more. That way you are on top of the issues and pitfalls you may come across. Interesting to see your experiments though.

Kalidas
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Re: Leaf cutter nest questions

Post by Kalidas » Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:32 pm

Well I could always test it out between now and next what's flights I got plenty of time. If it sends up not working then oh well.

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Acromyrmexbob
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Re: Leaf cutter nest questions

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Wed Oct 23, 2019 8:12 pm

Just ensure your humidity is high and temp constant and you should be fine.

Kalidas
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Re: Leaf cutter nest questions

Post by Kalidas » Mon Oct 28, 2019 6:08 pm

So what I am going to try and do is take two firebricks and epoxy them together and then begin carving. I want to carve out a kind of rounded cave like shape (think a hearth style formicarium). Then fill the inner cavity with grout and a layer of sand to give it that nice natural look. And stick the bricks in an acrylic box. If the box is too big I will fill in the spaces with hydrostone.

At each corner I want to drill a long thin hole and stick a long thin sponge inside that will actually stick out past the bricks on the bottom. In the center bottom I want to hollow out a round disk shape and again stick sponge in there. All this will be placed on top of a large water reservoir with holes drilled into the top and the sponges will hang down into the water.

Then a heat gauge and aquarium heater will be added to the water the idea is to heat the water a couple degrees above the desired levels I want the formicarium to be. The warm water will evaporate into the empty cooler space of the formicarium heating it up and humidifying the entire thing.

My big worry so far is if the layer of grout and sand will be too much of a barrier for the water. If so no grout wouldn't be a big deal it's really just there for aesthetics

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Acromyrmexbob
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Re: Leaf cutter nest questions

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Mon Oct 28, 2019 6:21 pm

Sounds interesting. You should do a quick sketch of your idea. One thing, if you want to be picky! Yes, the warm water will evaporate and provide wet heat to the chamber, as you say. But then this humid air will release a fair proportion of its water in the form of condensation onto the outside, cooler walls of your bigger nest chamber. What you would have to do to eliminate this would be to place your nest chamber into a larger chamber so the walls of the container where the ants are are not the external walls of your system, if that makes any sense!

Kalidas
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Re: Leaf cutter nest questions

Post by Kalidas » Mon Oct 28, 2019 6:47 pm

Yeah I should,my drawing skills are bad though lol.

Do you mean like the outer wall of the acrylic would get condensed and I would just have to wipe off? Because that's not that annoying. Now if the inner wall gets all fogged up and I would have to open it up to view them THAT would get very annoying and would risk escapes.

If so just stick the box in a box? Like the acrylic box with the nesting chamber in it would be in an even larger box?

Really if I could I would just add a single pane of glass attached with magnets to the bricks and avoid having to buy acrylic boxes at all. Plus it would mean no need to worry about sponges, just stick the bricks on a platform above a warm water bath, but I was told that the ants would probably dig into the firebrick and destroy it. That's why I went with the acrylic box idea

Kalidas
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Re: Leaf cutter nest questions

Post by Kalidas » Mon Oct 28, 2019 10:36 pm

https://i.imgur.com/KLPTYeJ.jpg

Here is my poorly drawn design.

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