Another Hello and questions from Brazil

[fepeco]

Hello, my name is Felipe and i live in São Paulo, Brazil.

Inspired by AntsCanada i decided to build my first formicarium to fulfill my dream of child of owning a "AntFarm".

I choose the Atta by they single way of living, I'm fascinated by the way they cultivate their own fungi to live and I'm thinking is going to be the easiest to maintain.

The formicarium

My is design is two transparent plastic boxes (like toy boxes) connected by one tube glued with hot glue, one for the ants fungi the "nest" and another to food giving the "outworld". (Ideas are welcome, even cheap ideas since every thing on Brazil is overpriced for this simple design I expend already R$70), later on I may develop something more appealing to the eyes.



Questions

So I'm new to all this, so forgive me if I'm making some nonsense questions.

1. The first one it's is pretty simple, by the lack of fucks my country gives about another knowledge, I'm having trouble to find some information about the period of nupictal flight of Atta. (It's summer already)

2. Living in a tropical region, do I need to have controlled temperature and humidity for Atta?

3. Do I need to make some formicarium for Atta or they just live in to the fungus? (Remember my formicarium it's just two empty boxes.)

4. My formicarium must have some soil or cement on both boxes or just the outworld?

5. Are other ants communities? Or even Brazilian ants keepers community?

[Formica123]

Hi!
First of all. Welcome to the forum!
It's great to have some Brazilian members, especially when atta are native to your land!

To answer your questions:
1. Atta usually mate in the rainy season (I've been told) so usually October to December I believe?
2. As you live where atta are native, the temperature should already be decent for them - you just need to control humidity. I'd suggest using a layer of plaster of paris at the bottom of the nesting box and keeping it damp.
3. Atta just live in the fungus.
4. Like I said, I'd suggest using a 1-2 inch layer of plaster of paris at the bottom of the nesting box.
5. There's loads of ant communities! But no others specialised to leaf cutter ants - so you're at the best place!

[Formica123]

Also - if you can't wait for nuptial flights - you can even dig up small colonies in soil with a small space/shovel!

[fepeco]

Thank you for your answers especially for the plaster of paris, and the design is OK? I just noticed that I just bought wrong tubes, they too small for they carry the leafs on it, Gonna have to buy larger ones.

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[Formica123]

Thank you for your answers especially for the plaster of paris, and the design is OK? I just noticed that I just bought wrong tubes, they too small for they carry the leafs on it, Gonna have to buy larger ones.

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The design looks fine as long as the conditions are right. And yes you will need some bigger tubing

[Andyj]

Welcome aboard.

[Acromyrmexbob]

Felipe, hi, sorry to take so long to reply to you. I am travelling just now so only just seeing this. Welcome to our community, very small and focussed on only one type of ant but I think this makes it very relevant and useful, especially when looking for specific advice and help. Your design will work with some careful modifications. Firstly the size of your nest area for single queens is going to be too large and difficult to control the humidity. If it was me and I was based in Brazil, I would definitely go for year old colonies. These can be collected very easily and have passed the difficult stage where many, if not most, will die. Atta are all charactarised by their turrets which they build to prevent the rains from washing them away so they are easy to spot once you get your 'eye' in and recognise what to look for.
Plaster in the bottom, I would almost recommend that you house your starting colony in a small plastic container within the large on and feed right next to the nest so they are not walking any distance for food. Once they outgrow the smaller container which should be just big enough to accommodate the fungus that you collect with the ants, they will start to build fungus outside the starter tub and at this stage I would connect the darkened nest container to the outworld and feed there. Get a humidity meter and monitor the humidity right at the fungus. Make sure the probe from the meter is almost inside the fungus so your measure is accurate as to what humidity the fungus is experiencing. And start a journal of your colony, everyone will wade in and give you pointers as things develop.
Nice to make your aquaintance and hopefully get to know you over the coming time.
Andrew

[fepeco]

Hi Andrew, there is nothing to apologize (:, thank you for your welcoming.

I noticed that while doing some research, i got huge boxes for a start, i might only leave the test tube with the queen inside the grey box or use another small box inside. To get the humidity I came with this design:



Formica123, gived me a lot of tips, including a video of how to dig for new colonies, i did a visit at nearest square but just check if it was possible haha, and i did find a lot of new colonies but nothing Atta, some Fire ants or carpenter ants (i guess), but this gives me hope, i going to try later on other locations.

[Acromyrmexbob]

Design will work well and allow you to hydrate the ants without disturbing them.

[fepeco]

ok, tomorrow i will start building it.
thx