Atta cephalotes – The little rascals

Sad news

That is the time. After a long time up and down, the mushroom now stands where it stands, it does not shrink or grow. I think the Queen died while moving. There is not a single brood since the move, not even a doll or anything in the form. I’m going to try to get to a new queen or small colony and then adopt it, let’s see if it turns out. I just found the Queen dead. Unfortunately, my assumption has been confirmed.

Unfortunately no improvement

As you have probably already noticed – among other things in the Discord channel leaf cutter – my Atta cephalotes colony is not doing very well at the moment. The cause is very likely due to the too low temperature. This was mostly only about 20–22 °C during the day for a long time and fell at night even to 19 °C, which is clearly too cold for the attitude of the blade cutters. As a result, the fungus has been severely damaged and has now died to about three quarters. In order to solve the temperature problem permanently, I ordered Plexiglasplatten. My posture structure consists of a kind of table, which I will now convert into a closed, small room. This room is heated indirectly, so that the mushroom also receives heat indirectly and uniformly. Currently I still use a provisional solution with Styrofoam. I now reach constant temperatures of about 25–26 °C inside. The temperature control is now smart and stable. In the appendix you can also see pictures of the state before and after. As soon as the Plexiglas plates arrive – probably next week – the construction will be fully implemented. The styrofoam then disappears, as it is visually anything but beautiful. With Plexiglas, the whole thing should look much better. I very much hope that the mushroom and the colony will recover under the improved conditions and move forward again. .

Communication

Hello guys, the colony is not doing so well at the moment. The mushroom keeps shrinking. I think it's because of the temperature fluctuations. At night with me in the room sometimes only 190C. I have now thought about how to increase the temperatures. If I can do it, come this afternoon another drawing and a picture as I imagine

That you get moment every day from me

Mountain up

So, tonight, see how it goes. And look there. The fungus grows and is super "fed" with leaves. Here you can really see the difference to yesterday.

The first time I got that many sheets.

What I might have to mention is that the colony up to the feed tank has about 15m walkway. If I can do it, a video of the entire setup will come tomorrow.