www.leafcuttingants.com

Regular Maintenance

Whilst the day to day care of the colony can easily be undertaken by staff who are employed in the department where the colony is kept, it is perhaps something worth considering that we can periodically visit and check the health of the colony and the functionality of the setup. We have several clients who we visit every 3 months to perform a thorough inspection. They receive a written report which details what, if any, issues we have come across and what steps would best be taken. If the problem requires our attendance outwith the regular pattern of visits we will arrange this at a convenient time for you. We can even arrange a serive whereby we will replace your colony with another one of equivalent size every season so your display is always active and healthy.

This service can be combined with the remote autmatic monitoring service offe red elsewhere in this site to provide you with the most effective life support you can get. We are on call 24 hours each day and our remote service, coupled with periodic visits and colony replacement makes this an unbeatable offer.

This service is especially useful for consideration when you have no previous experience of keeping these ants. Although straightforward with our purpose built units and comprehensive instruction, sometimes keepers are worried about keeping these ants for the first period of time until they become experienced. During this initial 6 months or a year we find our input is most appreciated. Or you may feel that, after the 12 month free replacement guarantee has expired, you would want to put this in place to guarantee that if anything happened to the colony in the future, you would receive a replacement quickly and for free.


During each visit we check:

1. All equipment is functioning and performing to an appropriate level. Any defective equipment is replaced.

2. Substrate health, cleanliness and level. We replace a portion of the substrate during each visit so over the course of a year the entire substrate is replenished. If the level of soil has reduced we will top it up. Any locations where the ants are dumping substrate that causes a problem, we will seal and secure it to prevent this from reoccurring

3. For soil less setups we will check that the humidifying provisions are functioning properly.

4. We will clean all internal, difficult to reach surfaces.

5. Where required we will reduce the number of ants on each visit to contain them in instances where they may have outgrown the housing they are in. This prolongs the usefulness of a housing unit.

6. We check the colour and consistency of the fungus. As an early indicator of problems the texture and colour of the fungus is by far the best diagnostic tool. We can then implement whatever action is necessary.

7. We check your written records and highlight any irregularities that may lead to problems is they persist.

8. We will make recommendations on the content of any interpretation / signage you have fixed and provide, when requested, updated info for this purpose.

9. We will clean all water filled moats and feeding areas, removing any algae or unsightly debris.

10. We will prepare a report for you on the health / status of your colony. .