Help! My nest has died!

[Aarron Dingle]

I am after some advice into why my nest may have died.

I set an Atta colony up last March (sourced from tropical house), and it has been on public display for the last year. Up until 2 weeks ago the colony was readily taking vegetation, though it never really had a population explosion that I would have expected. The nest was heated by a 25l container with a water heater inserted (the container was 3 quarters buried in the substrate and set to 25 degrees). When I took the nest apart, I found a large void opposite the heater (I presume the garden was here) and chambers leading away to 2 entrances. The soil was not wet, probably more of a potting compost consistency, though around the heater the soil was bone dry. I have a dump chamber at the bottom of the nest, though the ants never used it, it acted more like an overflow for excess water.

I believe the problem was humidity, but as I have deconstructed the nest I now cannot check. Any advice would be greatly received as I would like to rectify the problem before establishing a new colony.

Thanks Aarron

[Deansie26]

Hey Aarron, very sorry to hear about your colony dying out, nothing worse.
If your substrate looked that dry when the colony was alive I'd be 99% confident to say your dry substrate was the cause as it looks very dry and this would have translated into low humidity. Even a good going colony bringing back lots of vegetation wouldn't be able to hold the required humidity levels when the soil is to dry.
Did you spray the soil on a regular basis?

[Acromyrmexbob]

Aarron, I would agree with Jamie(Deansie). The soil needs to be almost wet enough that you could take a handful and squeeze out some water. Perhaps you would be better with a compost with a peat like consistency so it holds water well rather than the fast draining type you seem to have used. Leaf cutters only die when either the temperature is outwith the range, 22-27C or the humidity is below 85%. Otherwise they are fairly bullet proof. My advice is that you replace all of the substrate, we go again and you post on here weekly with a picture of how things are going so we can discuss progress. If you look on the Public Displays section and at 5 sisters zoo, Jamie posted a video of a colony we set up 13 months ago. It is very large and will give an idea of how they can grow in a year!

[Aarron Dingle]

Thank you very much for the help.

I will ensure that the humidity is above 90% for the next nest.

Out of curiosity, what are peoples thoughts on possibly mixing the substrate with vermiculite to help hold the moist as I am unable to see inside the nest?

With the humidity prob, shall I leave it in situ? (say straight in the center or bottom? or regularly prob around to try and ensure an even reading?

I probably sound like a real amateur (I am really when It comes to ants, even though I am running a small zoo collection!) but I really don't want to loss the next nest and I need to ensure that the advice and guidance I am giving out to my staff is correct.

Thank you for you help and I will try to post pics to show how the colony progresses.

Aarron

[Deansie26]

Hi, I don't see any problem with mixing your substrate with vermiculite.

Didn't understand what you where say about the humidity?.?

A window cut into your box half way down with a glass cover would help and let it you see what's going on with moisture etc