Formica123's Acromyrmex Octospinosus

[Formica123]

My Acromyrmex colony is one from Andrew and has around 300 workers and 1 nice healthy queen. The workers of this colony are orange/reddy compared to my old colony which was brown.

They arrived with little fungus and had a very bumpy start. I did experiments and gave them atta fungus which they few until a problem with te heater causing it to die. They now have a golf ball size fungus garden and brood! All is going well and growing steadily
Pics soon

[Deansie26]

Bring on the updates

[Formica123]

I'm going to bring all my past updates onto this journal on Saturday as I'm busy at school and other work now

Here is a quick vid of the colony at this present time:
http://youtu.be/8vd0YYnBt_E

As you can see the fungus is now giant and about 8x the size of the queen! And there's lots of new growth on the top

[Formica123]

Updates from old forum:
Hi guys,
thanks to Andrew ill be receiving my medium colony on Tuesday! Approx. 500 workers and an apple sized fungus garden! Literally cant wait.

Today i set up my exo-terra tank.
Half layered with clay pebbled (where the fungu will sit) and half layered with soil (for them to dig with) about 2cm deep.

There is a heat mat connected to the back and an elevated feeding plate Smile

Temp. 25.3 Degrees C and Humidity gently rising around 85% now.

Hopefully they will do well this time!
Wish me luck.

[Formica123]

Quick pic of their temporary setup before we move house after xmas
Similar design do deansies but more suited for a bigger colony.
2 large, acrylic cylinders with front holes and ventilation on the top. These are placed inside the tank with clay pebbles and peat for the humidity.
Heat mat underneath tank.
A plate is placed on top where the leaves will go or any other foods.


Temp.
24.9 *c and 90% Humidity

[Formica123]

Just noticed how small everything looks in the pics because of the camera angles! Dont worry its a much bigger setup thank it looks haha

(The leaves placed on top are just for the picture the real food will be much fresher and nicer!!) haha

[Formica123]

Ok guys ill be getting the ants tomorrow i really cant wait everything is ready conditions right i want them to do perfectly

[Formica123]

Well, the ants have taken to the Atta fungus supplied by Raj!
Gave them some strawberry leaf and orange peel as this Seems to be a firm favourite.
I have put them in a small acrylic box which is inside of another which has a moat around and a lid on top to build up humidity - then a heatmat is placed underneath and the temp/air humidity is now perfect!
Some darker fungus on top today!
It's beginning to form it's proper shape!
The queen:

[Formica123]

As you see the queen looks A LOT more dosile and relaxed in the fungus compared to when she went without

[Formica123]

Fungus garden has grown since yesterday and has formed it's shape 50% more!
I used a spoon to move them to the corner of the pot for practical reasons, as you can see in the video many workers died when there was no fungus but still plenty.

And an obvious growth in the fungus garden!
They are feeding on strawberry plant leaves (a firm favourite), bramble and the inner layers of Organic Sprout.

http://youtu.be/KueJrag6a18