[deansie26]

Hey, just sharing the set up for my new Atta's, got them this morning and really happy with them, they are looking great. Nice size garden with even what looks like a solider , first time seeing one.
The set up is quite simple at the moment,

Storage box wish a smaller storage box at the bottom that is filled with water and houses an aquarium heater set at 30 degrees.


The box that houses the colony made up of John Innes No9 and coco fibre. Ive made 2 holes in the lid and 2 holes in the following boxes. I then silicone the boxes onto the lid. So one is a feeding the other possible dumping area.


I put a little play sand the in the 2 boxes to help catch any drips/ humidity etc and sticks in the holes for the ant to climb up.
I've also put holes in both these lids for ventilation.


I also put some tin foil round the heating box to help insulate it as its a cold room but I left the front foil free for viewing and so the colony have light coming in.
Also got a temp gauge in there.


Some pics of the queen and colony, even seen some brood





Eventually will get a plastic shed in my back possible which ill insulate etc to house these colonys.

 

[deansie26]

update

Quick update.
After receiving them and having a think about the set up I had made and what Adam had mentioned about temperature I decided not to use the set up and instead house them in an identical cube as I know these conditions are good and constant, I am just going to provide them with tile platforms for feeding at the moment. Sadly before I could house the colony the queen died, was gutted to see that. I contacted Andrew and he said these things can sometimes happen for no reason and replaced the colony which I was extremely grateful for.
So I added the new queen and fungus to the fungus and ants I already had and this has made for quite a few ants. He also advised me to remove the solider, It must have known as it was no where to be seen??? lol

I've put up a few new pics of the colony, initially with the first colony I had put the plastic tub directly in on its side but they had started to build a soil wall up against the opening. Andrew explained that Acromyrmex will move out to a better environment but atta will not so I made a hole in the soil and placed them in it. You can see the difference in the 2 pics (over 2 day period) in that they are slowly building the sides up and over.

 

[kyledawelsh]

long time no speak mate

this is looking good

 

[deansie26]

long time no speak mate

this is looking good

Hey buddy, had been ages eh. Hope the family's doing well.
Yeh the ants are good- really interesting to watch. I've also got an acromyrmex colony that's doing pretty well.

 

[kyledawelsh]

Hey buddy, had been ages eh. Hope the family's doing well.
Yeh the ants are good- really interesting to watch. I've also got an acromyrmex colony that's doing pretty well.

awesome bud only just got back into T keeping a few months ago.

I like ants myself wouldn't mind getting a good colony going one day

 

[deansie26]

Ants

awesome bud only just got back into T keeping a few months ago.

I like ants myself wouldn't mind getting a good colony going one day

There really interesting, only them and discus I keep now.
Well I'll be splitting my acro's into to two colony's so probably have one available soon

 

[kyledawelsh]

There really interesting, only them and discus I keep now.
Well I'll be splitting my acro's into to two colony's so probably have one available soon

nice one mate once I sort all mine out and move things around I might look at getting a colony

 

[garlicpickle]

Not seen you on here in ages, how the devil are you

 

[deansie26]

pics

Amazing difference in 3 days

 

[deansie26]

hey

Not seen you on here in ages, how the devil are you

Hey there, yeh been ages since ive been on. Don't keep any T's now since having a baby, only discus and leaf cutter lol. You still have as yours? howz that goliath?

 

[kyledawelsh]

Hey there, yeh been ages since ive been on. Don't keep any T's now since having a baby, only discus and leaf cutter lol. You still have as yours? howz that goliath?

congrats on the baby mate

 

[deansie26]

new set up

Hi all, here's my new Atta (capital letter wood-ant lol) set up-is a rough job but you can get the idea, hope to do a refined one in the future.

















Is a large diameter waste pipe with bendy vine leading from the nest to the feeding tank.
Holes drilled in the bottom of the white waste pipe to drain the water that gathers from condensation, it is then returned via a clear tube to the main container.
Can fit two cubes or an equivalent size tank.

 

[deansie26]

clips

A few cool clips I've been trying to upload for 2 weeks- Some nice soilders )

 

[deansie26]

New unit

Hi folk, just a quick update. New baby on the way so ants are getting evicted to the garage. It gets really cold during the winter in there so need to get some good solutions for my acro's and atta's.
Anyway atta first- this is the unit I just had built for them. The guy who made it builds large cold frames for plants so I just asked if it was possible to get one built to specifications I'm looking for and hey presto.
Its a shell right now but it will be insulated inside with 50mm celotex and the glass is double glazing. Inside it will be heated with soil heating cable controlled with pulse stat. Garage also needs gaps all closed with expanding foam.
Its pretty large LXBXH 2M x 0.75M x 0.5M Can gauge size from my 16 month son on his zebra! lol.

 

[deansie26]

-----------------

 

[deansie26]

Hi, just a few photos of set up so far.



Insulated Unit with celotex and arranged large heating cable. Still to make a second ventilation hole with the hole saw drill, don't think ill be using a fan at the minute as don't think its necessary yet.



Acrylic housing assembled. Consists of a longer section of pipe that will go straight out of the left hand side to a feeding box (so I can feed them with out losing heat in set up.



3 plastic boxes, the small square one to be the queens chamber. Ill need to put up little bars like Adam did to ensure she stays in there. At the end ill probably fit a plastic bottle for the time being.

There plenty of scope for expansion and will just do so as the colony grows.

 

[deansie26]

new video

Hi, got colony shifted -lost a lot of ants which is unavoidable to be honest. Still to get and fix insulated exo terra foraging tank. Here are some pics and video of the set up so far. Sorry if you can't understand accent ha ha.











New Atta cepholates build so far - YouTube

 

[Basin79]

Absolutely brilliant. Cheers for sharing the link.

 

[deansie26]

Update

Absolutely brilliant. Cheers for sharing the link.

Thanks Basin! Glad you liked it

 

[Basin79]

Thanks Basin! Glad you liked it

I admire your dedication to them. This latest set up is brilliant.

Have you ever considered keeping any of the carnivorous species?