Acromyrmex Octospinosus (Arrowing)

[earthtiger]

yes, with dry food like cornflakes, oatmeal, wheat bran, fish food sticks, rabbit food / pellets, etc. one can control the humidity in the fungus chamber a little bit: dry food in => moist waste out!

And when you feed a lot of cornflakes, the fungus turns golden. Here two photos of the funungs of my Aromyrmex echinatior after I fed them some cornflakes:

[earthtiger]

...and my Acromyrmex cf. octospinosus collecting some food four "wild animals" (pellets I bought in a zoo to feed the goats, deers, and other animals) and rabbit food pellets:


"wild animal" food pellets:






rabbit food pellets:

[Arrowing]

@earthtiger; wauw, that looks amazing! I haven't tried cornflakes yet (as they take oats) i will try it in the future
You give it to them dry or a bit wet? I assume you give a regular/natural brand (no colouring or other additives?)

I keep giving them the clementine white because i think it is in the dry category? As wel as oats.
My ants refuse grapes, orange and apple i'm now looking for a new fruit to try
I would say they use 75% clementine white, 5% oats, 15% privet (only superfresh and superyoung, they reject most privet) and 5% blackberry leaves.

As i read in Andrew's post (leafpreference between large and small colonies) its not unusual for small colonys to be picky. So i keep giving them as much choises as i can (fresh wild leaves become rare this time of the year) and will try new stuff on the way

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I'm really happy to see that they have new brood on its way, this makes my day

[earthtiger]

You give it to them dry or a bit wet? I assume you give a regular/natural brand (no colouring or other additives?)

Completely dry, I use it also to reduce the humidity in the fungus chamber: dry cornflakes in => moist fungus waste out!
I just crumble them a little bit, that the pieces are not too big. ...even they can carry huge pieces, since cornflakes are very light. See the photos below.

Yes, small colonies can be a bit picky / selective.

[Kalidas]

This is funny. Last year when I ahd my Acromyrmex Versicolor queens they LOVED cornflakes. I tried other things too like rose and black berry (both of which I have in my backyard) and they far preferred the cornflakes.

The golden specks on the fungus was spretty neat looking, almost like golden nuggets. The best upside to cornflakes is they are pretty mold resistant

[earthtiger]

I tried other things too like rose and black berry (both of which I have in my backyard) and they far preferred the cornflakes.

same here. And they take them faster than I can take photos - when I put them in, the first are carried away before I can take out my cell phone and open the photo app to take some photos!

[Arrowing]

Hi all,
Not so much to report, they take clementine whites, some curly andive and privet
The fungus isnt growing (they do put stuff in) they cleared some space around it, i asssume they will expand shortly.

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[Acromyrmexbob]

Try to remember that the fungus is a resource that the ants use to feed the brood. When it is large enough to do this they will not simply keep growing it bigger and bigger because they can.. When the requirement for food increases within the colony beyond what the fungus is capable of providing then the ants will expand the fungus. This is how a colony grows. In the absence of detrimental factors causing the fungus to decline, the fungus s maintained at a size commensurate with the needs of the colony. This is why it sometimes stalls and does not increase in size for a while. Generally nothing to worry about.

[Kalidas]

Try to remember that the fungus is a resource that the ants use to feed the brood. When it is large enough to do this they will not simply keep growing it bigger and bigger because they can.. When the requirement for food increases within the colony beyond what the fungus is capable of providing then the ants will expand the fungus. This is how a colony grows. In the absence of detrimental factors causing the fungus to decline, the fungus s maintained at a size commensurate with the needs of the colony. This is why it sometimes stalls and does not increase in size for a while. Generally nothing to worry about.

I would argue it's a sign you're doing the right thing. Occasional breaks in fungus growth means you have done a good job providing enough food for the fungus that they no longer need to feed it for the time being.

[Arrowing]

Thank you guys, i also agree with this!
What we see the last days is that they add only little pieces of clementine in the fungus (as you guys say, only maintaining)

We had a nice sunny day yesterday so we gave them a big buffet again

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As Andrew (and many others) state: variety is key so we gave them a lot off choice;
Chicory, apple, wild rose leaves, wild blackberry leaves, young privet, a dandelion leaf, clementine whites and an unknown green plant (center of the photo)

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Also worth notifying:
We used to change their leaves daily (the fresher the better right?)
We noticed that they prefer their curly endive and young privet the second day
What we now do; day 1 fresh stuff in, day 2 add fresh stuff, day 3 remove stuff from day 1 and add fresh stuff
They seem to like it like this and sometimes prefer the older privet and endive