Marwell Zoo's new colony and setup pics

[Acromyrmexbob]

Visited Marwell Zoo with a new colony of Atta cephalotes this week. Spent half a day helping the guys there revamp the exhibit. An amazing bunch of very well informed staff, on point with every aspect of the care of these ants. The first every colonies I brought into the UK were sent out in April, 1991. Marwell Zoo get the first of these so this was a trip back in time for me.

The empty enclosure was sprayed with a disinfectant after the old, dead colony was removed.
All of the soil was also removed.





We then added a load of good quality compost up to the level of the moat.
Then spent some time working with the electrics and tubing,



and then added the new colony...



we buried a heatmat under ground to boost the temperature and added a temporary extension until the keepers could fit a thermostat.

once the colony was in I placed the containers the ants had travelled in around the new nest in order that the ants left in them could make their way to the new nest.





Unusually the floor of the nest tanks is the top of the compost so the ants will very quickly dig down into this and form many gardens below.
This is a great looking display and is well worth a visit.

[RichardP]

Love it.. fantastic.

[Deansie26]

Great thread Andrew! your photos are always really clear. I remember coming across pictures of this before on google but couldn't identify it.
Is the tank in a tropical house and is the nest area heated by the surrounding moat?

I was lost here, sure its obvious but could you explain this bit "added a temporary extension until the keepers could fit a thermostat"

Ps. was this the big 8 colony?

[Acromyrmexbob]

Yes the big colony. The moat was unheated but we have recommended a heater to aid humidity. The extension was the electrical extension you can see in the picture. There were no spare plug sockets in reach for the new heat mat so we ran this as a temporary measure until the onsite electricians can fit a permanent socket and a thermostat. The peat came from outside storage on a really cold day so we had to heat it up quickly so the new colony could go in. I expect this display to take off in a big way.

[Deansie26]

Thanks, knew it would be obvious

[Marwellzoo]

The new colony appears to be settling well. There has been a lot of activity around the fungus gardens, with the ants moving a lot of fungus and pupae to a new area at the rear of the tank. They have now been given access to the feeding station, accessible via long Perspex tubes. We have so far seen a few scouts investigating the tubes and are sure that it won't be long before they are using this regularly.

[Atta solider]

That's great to hear they settled in and sorting the graden out

[RichardP]

That's great news.. exciting times... they are such clever little fellows...

[Acromyrmexbob]

The new colony appears to be settling well. There has been a lot of activity around the fungus gardens, with the ants moving a lot of fungus and pupae to a new area at the rear of the tank. They have now been given access to the feeding station, accessible via long Perspex tubes. We have so far seen a few scouts investigating the tubes and are sure that it won't be long before they are using this regularly.

Hi, have you any info on the temperature within the nest boxes. Did it stabilise in the days after I left? Have the ants started to dig down into the substrate. I am assuming that the glass boxes will have condensation on the inside? Is the rear of the nest tank favoured because it is closer to the heat lamp? Can you detect that the peat is warm because of the buried heatmat or is it not detectable yet? Sorry for the questions, just a great opportunity to follow up on this which I often dont get. Andrew

[Deansie26]

Where is the heat mat positioned? I thought they weren't preferred as they dry things out?