Atta Cephalotes
Sold as a golf ball sized fungus
Buy now for shipping from 18th October 2022
UK SHIPPING ONLY (We do not ship atta overseas): Includes UK overnight Shipping - Following our test shipment to ourselves, we are confident that Atta will ship adequately on a 24 hour service.
Cephalote in latin means "Headed" and Atta Cephalotes will not disappoint. They make some of the largest leafcutters in the world and the have up to 15 castes of worker. These range from the tiny minors who care for the fungus to the huge 23mm soldiers who protect the supply trail.
They are found primarily in tropical woodland with nests up to 100 sq/m and favour secondary or disturbed woodland. They, like most leafcutters are considered pests.
By far Cephalotes is the most known species, they are almost as abundant as the Sexdens however they avoid urban areas and live a more rural life.
Their size and dominance makes them most suited to public displays. They require a mass of walking distance to food and can easily grow colonies millions strong.
You will also notice they have a great awareness of their surroundings too, they will collate and wait for your fingers if they see them.
Fun fact, Cephalotes actually have a caste just for maintaining the rubbish pile. Its their only job and to avoid waste infection entering the colony, the "dump workers" are not permitted to leave. If they try it, they are killed on site by the workers or unwillingly returned to their place of work.
Queen
Age - Up to 15 years
Fully claustral - no leaves needed until first workers
Colony - up to 8mil
Temperature & Humidity
Nest 24-25 Degrees | Outworld 21 to 28 Degrees
Nest 80% to 90%
Diapause None
Polymorphic (Yes)
Queen - 30mm
Minor - 3mm to 5mm
Media - 6mm to 16mm
Major - 17mm to 23mm
Bite
Absolutely
Diet
See Feeding Guide
Nest Type
Natural, Acrylic, Glass
Required; Fungus Chamber, Waste Chamber, Feeding Chamber
Atta Cephalotes - Leafcutter
Our legal duty requires us to keep a record of this species. We will store your details for APHA and DEFRA as proof of where the colony went in our recordkeeping.
It is illegal to release this colony into the wild in the UK, if you can no longer care for your colony please contact us immediately.
Make sure you set up your habitat and have it stable before delivery of your colony. To ensure this we will not ship any queen purchased without prior notification that your housing has been arranged and stable for a minimum of 2 days.
The order process is as follows;
- Order your Queen to make sure she is yours!
- Set up your nest, get everything ready to go.
- Inform us that you are ready to collect your queen (or for us to dispatch) by the chat function on your account.
- We will then ship your queen the following Tuesday on a next day service. (Or you can preferrably collect your queen from us directly).
