leafcuttingants.com

Leaf cutting ants are widely regarded as the most spectacular of all insect displays. Visitors regularly spend 20-30 minutes watching a single trail of ants carrying material back to the nest. They're also genuinely fascinating from an educational standpoint — leaf cutters farm fungus, build complex underground cities, and organise labour into specialised castes, making them a natural fit for both entertainment and education programming.

It depends on your available footprint. Atta species are recommended for large public exhibits: colonies grow very large, need purpose-built housing, and queens lay thousands of eggs a day. Acromyrmex species suit smaller installations — colonies stay more modest, there's no soldier caste to manage, and they're a great starting genus for a new keeper team. We can talk through your space and visitor flow to recommend the right fit.

No — we've moved from direct sales to a reseller model. We connect zoos, aquariums and visitor centres with our network of trusted, vetted resellers, who supply ethically collected, fully documented colonies and can help with delivery and installation.

If a colony supplied through our network is installed into a display built to our specification and the colony dies within its first year, we help arrange a free replacement nest through the supplying reseller.

Nest temperature should sit between 23-26°C (73-79°F). Humidity should be as close to 100% relative humidity as possible, and should never be allowed to drop below 80%. Always measure directly at the fungus garden with a probe thermometer/hygrometer rather than relying on general enclosure readings — conditions can vary significantly over a short distance.

Yes. Our recommended life-support setup uses Wi-Fi cameras positioned over the nesting area plus automated soil moisture, temperature and humidity sensors feeding a Wi-Fi-enabled monitoring app. A temperature-controlled pipe system runs through the soil connected to a thermostat, and dual watering taps handle surface misting and soil hydration automatically — taking the day-to-day worry out of keeping leaf cutters on public display.

Yes — a weekly forage delivery service can be arranged through our resellers so your keeper team always has a reliable supply of fresh bramble, rose or other suitable leaves without having to source it themselves.

Every colony supplied through our reseller network comes with paperwork demonstrating ethical collection and legal capture and shipping documentation, so your institution has a clear compliance trail.

Yes — this is where most of our work happens. We've helped design and commission installations ranging from narrow viewing tanks in aquariums to multi-colony behind-the-scenes builds with themed walkways running through restaurants. See our Previous Setups page for examples, then get in touch to talk through your space.

Periodic maintenance and overhaul contracts can be arranged for existing displays — useful for institutions that want a professional check-up on housing, life support systems and colony health at set intervals rather than only reacting when something goes wrong.