The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

ooper01 wrote:Thanks for the close-up of the caterpillar turd!

i do like turd talk.......

I know right? Such a lovely photo... someone should paint it!

I currently live in Texas and I'm looking for a fungus grower. I dont even know if Cyphomyrmex lives in Texas but I do know there are a couple of fungus growers here. I wanted one but dont really know where to look and how to care for them.

martinnate wrote:I currently live in Texas and I'm looking for a fungus grower. I dont even know if Cyphomyrmex lives in Texas but I do know there are a couple of fungus growers here. I wanted one but dont really know where to look and how to care for them.

im like 99.% sure you guys have them there. check out the tips i gave AntsRule. thats how i find them. feel free to pick my brain though. if i remember correct their queens wont fly for a couple more weeks...... but your climate is a little different over in Texas, so it could be a little later or sooner. Usually when i start to see caterpillars in numbers, i start looking fungus growing sp.

I will have to look around trees for caterpillars, and then for the ants. How do you keep the fungus growing? Do you have to go collect caterpillar poo? Do you think they are a little easier to keep than a leaf cutter ant? I'm going to look up fungus ants in Texas and I will keep my eye out for them. Do I need to feed her during the founding stage or will she feed herself? I know a lot of questions but you did say feel free to pick your brain Thanks for any info.

larynx wrote:im not sure about bag worms. but the caterpillars im talking about turn into butterflies. what you are looking for though, is for there "poop", or "castings", or "frass". the ants like to nest under these trees, to harvest the frass falling from them(from the caterpillars butt actually). they then take it to the fungus chamber and have it ferment and such, to make a fungus ball to eat. im not sure what it would look like from bagworms, but here is what it looks like from caterpillars.

wow... they really farm caterpillar butts like other species Farm aphids honeydew. Yeah I have to say that's pretty cool. I wouldn't want to go around looking for regular old fungus anyways I'll just make my own from a caterpillar

martinnate wrote:I will have to look around trees for caterpillars, and then for the ants. How do you keep the fungus growing? Do you have to go collect caterpillar poo? Do you think they are a little easier to keep than a leaf cutter ant? I'm going to look up fungus ants in Texas and I will keep my eye out for them. Do I need to feed her during the founding stage or will she feed herself? I know a lot of questions but you did say feel free to pick your brain Thanks for any info.

i believe leaf cutters need a ton of foraging room, these i have dont seem to mind having tight space.
yes, i collect caterpillar poop for them and freeze it, i also collect the plant material i see the caterpillars eat, and put it directly in the out world some times.
also anytime i see Cyfos eating something ill take a bit and feed it to mine.
when you feed them the proper stuff they will keep the fungus growing themselves.
as far as founding queens go..... when you catch one, after she get comfy, she will hack up a little fungus ball that new queens keep on deck in their stomach. she will then care for the ball for feeding during founding. i still provided my queen with poop during this time, not sure if she was actually using it or not but i did it anyway, and they turned out fine.

Awesome, I'm going to go looking around this weekend. IDK what I'm looking for really but I will check the trees for caterpillars. Do you know what type of area they may be in? We have a state park here that has lots of trees and open area. Do you know what kind of nest they build?

martinnate wrote:Awesome, I'm going to go looking around this weekend. IDK what I'm looking for really but I will check the trees for caterpillars. Do you know what type of area they may be in? We have a state park here that has lots of trees and open area. Do you know what kind of nest they build?

you will see the caterpillars falling from the tree they nest in most of the time. they also have nests that look kind of like white cotton candy in the limbs about the size of a football sometimes bigger.

Oh ok cool. I see them all over in Cisco Tx but never noticed ants picking up their poo