Acromyrmex octospinosus

Here is the start of a little leaf-cutter and journal. I'm sure most of you certainly don't care about this sort of thing, but some of you might find if interesting.
I would really appreciate it if people didn't spam the thread with various methods of extreme insect destruction.



Fungus garden








Progress of new enclosure (hopefully putting them in here won't kill them)





I'll try and get some nicer ant pics up later, but I am **** at photography

i sat in a nest of those little ****ers once

cm1179 said:

i sat in a nest of those little ****ers once

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weapon of ass-destruction?


looking forward to the updates! something i always wanted to do

Excuse my ignorance, but are you making a giant ant farm?

Pretty cool, i have crabs.

Never seen these in captivity other than a zoo

This looks fantastic. Will watch your progress. Thanks for posting.

al4x said:

Pretty cool, i have crabs.

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http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pubic-lice/Pages/Treatmentpg.aspx

al4x said:

Pretty cool, i have crabs.

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Lol context

I love cool pets like this, subscribed .

Reminds me of a thread I saw elsewhere once, probably rehashed several times over, about a real life RTS someone built with ants. 3 separate colonies were encouraged to build a... what do they call them, nests? Anyway, different parts were labelled (command centre, power generators, barracks, research lab etc) and then the three were connected via tubing to a central mother load rich in natural resources (mostly cabbage) and the three were left to skirmish RTS-style until only one colony remained with all the food and land.

Lycosa said:

#snip
I'll try and get some nicer ant pics up later, but I am **** at photography

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Those close ups of the ants have come out beautifully. What kit are you using to photograph them?

I have had this colony for over 4 and a half years now, but I haven't attempted a set-up like this. This this might end up being a very short journal.

Ahleckz said:

Excuse my ignorance, but are you making a giant ant farm?

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Pretty much

al4x said:

Pretty cool, i have crabs.

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I hope you get that sorted out soon

Tattysnuc said:

Those close ups of the ants have come out beautifully. What kit are you using to photograph them?

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Pentax K20D, 18-55mm kit lens+Hoya close-up lens. I really need to invest in a decent macro lens though.

Will they be able to crawl up the vertical plastic pipes?
Or aer you sticking branches down them?

Interested to see how you get on with this

Excellent, BritBoy should be reinstated so you can have a Battle Royale. I reckon your real ants will beat his imaginary ones any day.

This is ace.

Do you have to take them for walks on little leads?
Are they affectionate pets?
Id be scared of stroking one in case it bit me or i squished it

~Divine~Wind~ said:

Will they be able to crawl up the vertical plastic pipes?
Or aer you sticking branches down them?

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I’m going to add a stick to the tube on the right. Most of the ants will have no trouble climbing smooth surfaces, but some of the old individuals with worn out feet will have trouble carrying heavy loads up smooth surfaces.

Have some more ant goodness

Since you got into this I hope you haven't been anti social with your friends?

ElliorR said:

Since you got into this I hope you haven't been anti social with your friends?

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Hey man, don't be so antagonistic.

Just moved them into the new setup. Hopefully they will explore the setup and move out of the foraging arena and into one of the nest boxes.

Halfway through the transfer process: removing the fungus garden from the old enclosure...


... And as they are at the moment in the foraging arena of the new setup

LOL