Leaf Cutting Ant Forum

For a while now I've spotted quite a lot of mushrooms in our nests soil. It's not the usual ant fungus but more like mushrooms you'd find in your garden. You can see it deep in the soil all around the tank when looking through the glass and when they sprout up at the top the ants just chop it up and take it away.

It doesn't seem to bother them but I just wondered if it could become a problem?

We had a little in our old colony but not to this extent

Hi Emma, our colony had this too, a white fruiting body, quite small? I checked this with Andrew and he said it's nothing to worry about, it actually comes and goes, particularly found in areas of the nest chamber where there is no fungus garden. I think our colony either remove it, or use it, because it never stays too long. Other than this, may be worth posting some photos for Andrew to have a look at.

Hi, I think its spores in the soil which germinate when the conditions are good, ie high temperature and humidity. They grow and then either die or are removed by the ants, depending on where they grow in the nest.