Heating Leaf Cutting Ants

[Acromyrmexbob]

The first rule of keeping Leaf Cutting Ants is to ensure that however you heat them you are not drying them out at the same time.
That means light bulbs, heat bulbs and any type of fan heater are pretty much ruled out. The secret is to install heating that not only achieves the correct temperature but also helps humidity. And the easiest way to achieve that is to make sure that whatever heating you use heats water or wet soil which then, in turn, heats the environment. Examples of this would be an aquarium heater is water or a heat mat beneath wet soil.

[Deansie26]

Heating has many tricky aspects, it can be hard for experienced keepers never mind new leafcutter keepers to handle, soil-less set ups especially are tricky and condensation is a real issue.
Think the difference is if you have kept them before you can see things not going well before it's to late, I'd defo recommend soil set ups for beginners on the most part.

[Acromyrmexbob]

The best way, of course, is a heated room. Not possible for most, I suspect, but this type of setup allows you to play with everything on a global leve. Whenever I have space heated an area I have got the best results. And an added bonus, no condensation!

[Britishants.com]

I agree about soil, also raising a colony up! There's a degree different in every 45cm in my dining room. My unit houses the cooler species on the lower shelves and Leafcutters are top shelf! ooo errr

[Jackie62]

Our colony benefits from a large heat pad under the main tank, which is filled partially with water. Their main nest tank sits in this....plus it stops them escaping (unless they raft on something!). It's been like this for 11 years, so we must be doing something right!

[Acromyrmexbob]

I was amazed by this display. The number of ants, for an Acromyrmex colony, was awesome. And if they had a walkway to a feeding station and more room, this colony could have become bigger again. I wonder if there would be a case for trying to introduce a fertile queen into this within the next year or so. My thinking is that they would probably accept her and the original queen is probably more than 11 years old so quite near the end of its life span. A second young queen might ensure the longevity of the display for another 11 years. Just a thought.

[Jackie62]

Would be a good idea to try I think Andrew....I wouldn't want the colony to run into any problems after all this time.

[Acromyrmexbob]

I'll sort something out next year then.

[Jackie62]

I have a large heat mat under the main tank, which holds the nest chamber. The main tank has water in it, so the water heats gently and provides a good level of humidity. Works very well.