Ziggy's Leaf Cutters (Acromyrmex Octospinosus)

[ZiggyAnts]

When I was young, I briefly had leafcutter ants until my cat knocked over the formicarium and the queen disappeared. Over a decade years later I've decided to give it another go!


Building the dual layer formicarium

I initially built the enclosure using one box and a heat mat. But this caused so much condensation that I couldn't see inside the box, and since I knew I'd want to stare at the ants a bunch I looked for another solution. Condensation on the roof of the enclosure can also drip onto the fungus, which is bad for it.

Testing the single layer setup: After a day the condensation was so thick you couldn't see inside.
https://i.imgur.com/kyuQGh4.jpg
There’s so much condensation you could barely see inside.
https://i.imgur.com/YhpzDjK.jpg

Condensation forms when an object is a similar temperature to or cooler than the air. So if I want to remove condensation I'll have to heat the air around the formicarium, instead of the formicarium itself. I did this by combining two boxes, one smaller than the other, and heating the space in between. I also added a fan to distribute the air.

The final setup:
https://i.imgur.com/YOLeDhz.jpg
Here you can see the fan in the back (in the heat layer, not the fungus chamber). You can also see the water tube which lets me add water without opening the box.
https://i.imgur.com/gaqxeDP.jpg

I also bought a little security camera which lets me check on the ants when I'm outside the house. I think it looks a bit like a child pressing against the glass at a zoo or something. Lol.
https://imgur.com/JyAKiIo.jpg

[ZiggyAnts]

Day 1 (10/02/22)
Ants Arrived!
https://i.imgur.com/lcX9Y9u.jpg

They arrived well packaged, but the fungus ball was pulverised. Which is inevitable. The queen looked healthy with around 50-100 ants surviving the trip.

I put them into the box with some coconut fibre, a bunch of leaves and some dried rose petals.
https://i.imgur.com/SS5hjef.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2BPDGPg.jpg

Their first cutting! They seem to only be touching the dried petals, so maybe they're petal cutting ants, not leafcutters.
https://imgur.com/s5t9ysn.mp4
This ant can't quite lift the blade of grass they've chosen.
https://imgur.com/5FMP9QW.mp4
So far, they've spent most of their first day panicking, inspecting the entire box thoroughly, and rescuing the brood.




Day 3 (12/02/22)

They were having trouble getting out of their cup, so I gave them a stick which they almost exclusively use to get in and out of the cup now. I also gave them some flowers and rose leaves.

They spent most of day 2 and 3 ripping up the dried rose petals and occasionally bits of leaf. I'd say half ends up on their fungus and the other half is scattered on their floor. They're very messy ants!
https://imgur.com/gZol10M.jpg
Also, I noticed lots of the ants are covered in what looks like dust. Apparently, some leafcutters cultivate an antibiotic on their bodies to help combat bad fungus in their garden.
https://imgur.com/pRQEUZO.jpg



Day 5 (14/02/22)

They've started cutting more than ever! They demolished a rose leaf, some small flowers and lots of dried rose petals.
https://imgur.com/O3fm5o9.jpg
It’s fun waking up and using the security camera to see what they did overnight. It’s a bit like Where's Waldo, but with ants:
1. Top left leaf was moved.
2. Petals taken.
3. Rose leaf gone.
https://i.imgur.com/yOFYi9q.png
Their fungus is slowly growing. This is day 2 vs day 5. there's a lot more structure and volume to the fungus.
https://imgur.com/FDmSWh3.jpg
They spent days failing to close the gap in the cup, not realising that mud won't stick to the plastic. Last night they finally figured out how to balance mud such that it doesn't fall down.
https://i.imgur.com/paTpUCk.jpg
Leafcutters are great because there's always something going on. Here's a traffic jam with four ants wanting to get past each other.
https://imgur.com/ea6AFft.mp4



Day 6 (16/02/22)

The fungus is growing, maybe a couple mm each day.
https://imgur.com/3Tzt2uc.jpg
They've jammed anything and everything into closing the gap in the cup.
https://imgur.com/nCQKBkO.jpg
They've continued to make as much mess as possible. I'm regretting adding stones. Flat plaster would be easier to keep clean.

But they seem to really like flower petals and rose leaves.
https://imgur.com/7GJqAz6.jpg
So, I gave them some more rose leaves.
https://imgur.com/WrfIQTP.jpg




Day 9 (19/02/22)

The fungus is growing lots every day.
https://imgur.com/YeUJkYy.mp4
I took off the lid to cut a hole so they could get in easier. The difference between the new grey fungus and the old orange fungus is cool.
https://imgur.com/pFfaTbd.jpg
When I took the lid off all the ants swarmed out of the fungus and made me realise there probably close to 100, more than I'd initially thought.




Day 67 (18/04/22)
Sometimes the fungus will fall over. This happened a few times in fact.
https://imgur.com/xoaLibq.mp4



Day 90 (11/05/22)
More growth, another fall.
https://imgur.com/lpOiZ0O.mp4
Some fun time lapses:
https://imgur.com/d8pf8bs.mp4
https://imgur.com/2Rdl6kB.mp4
https://imgur.com/a V g 1 O 5 u.mp4




Day 137 (26/06/22)

Been while since any updates. The colony is growing slowly and the fungus a few times bigger than last shown. But I moved house and we've had very hot weather which stunted them a little.
Here’s a time-lapse of them munching some leaves:
https://i.imgur.com/0AP4vp1.mp4

It's hard to take a picture of their inner box since it’s so humid, but you can see their numbers and fungus have grown lots.
https://i.imgur.com/f8nCdoj.jpg

I haven't been using the feeding chamber much since the timelapse camera won't catch them cutting the leaves in there.
But I'm thinking of having a longer connection between the chambers, maybe run it over my computer monitor so I can watch them as I work!
https://i.imgur.com/9A5rW2w.jpg

Their waste pile has grown considerably. Looking at my old pictures, I'm amazed at how clean it used to be! I need to give the walls a clean somehow.
https://i.imgur.com/P8vHR85.jpg

I have this small box that I was planning to let them use for waste, but I'm thinking it might be too small now.
https://i.imgur.com/RVnWLoO.jpg




Day 199 (27/08/22)

I moved the feeding pod to the other side of my desk and ran tubing behind my monitor. Its great watching them while working.
https://i.imgur.com/pbaJt8o.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/Y2wbYOb.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/XLF6WxO.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3cRB3SS.mp4

They filled out the inner box in a couple months! I removed the box which left a very cube shaped fungus.
https://i.imgur.com/RLNqlA5.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3dSjHsL.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wQpfuMX.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/17jH1YN.jpg
https://imgur.com/4xAbl8S.mp4

[SolenopsisKeeper]

Wow. What a detailed journal. When I head down to south Florida again, I will keep my eyes out for these!