8 replies to this topic

[FelixTheAnter]

I put L. Niger & Flavus, Camponotus Ligniperda, and some fire ants (not sure which species) into the fridge on Nov. 1st for hibernation.

Everything I'm seeing says between 2 - 6 months for hibernation. It's been almost 3. Can I take any of them out yet? I'm not finding much concrete info, and I miss being able to watch my colonies lol

Thanks

[FelixTheAnter]

Also maybe worth mentioning, the area they will be kept is a minimum of 21.5°c, so it's fairly warm/spring-like temperature in my house.

[antsriondel]

yes you could take them out of hibernation, but it is your choice if you want to take them out of hibernation.

[yaboiseth]

I put my ants in hibernation around sep-nov so I'm going to take some out today. As long as its around a minimum of 3 months they should be good.

[ANTdrew]

Three months is plenty for most ants. They don’t care what the weather is like outside.

[FelixTheAnter]

Thanks guys! I decided to start by just taking out a few of them - my 2 fire ant colonies, the camponotus, and a couple who need fresh test tubes. All are waking up and being more active, but the Camponotus queen is barely moving. She was curled up around her larvae and at first I thought she was dead because she was on her side. She IS alive, I saw her move a couple times, but just a little bit. Is this normal? I'm quite worried. Her workers are grooming her and have also grabbed and tugged on her a little bit.

[antsriondel]

Thanks guys! I decided to start by just taking out a few of them - my 2 fire ant colonies, the camponotus, and a couple who need fresh test tubes. All are waking up and being more active, but the Camponotus queen is barely moving. She was curled up around her larvae and at first I thought she was dead because she was on her side. She IS alive, I saw her move a couple times, but just a little bit. Is this normal? I'm quite worried. Her workers are grooming her and have also grabbed and tugged on her a little bit.

yes that is totally normal, my Camponotus queen barely moved at all after she was taken out of hibernation.so your queen is probably just waking up from hibernation.

Edited by antsriondel, January 20 2022 - 11:13 AM.

[antgallery]

Camponotus species seem a bit slower to wake up then most ants.

[AntaholicAnonymous]

I have to keep my ants at room temperature all year due to setup size and wheight.
They started hibernation late September and came out just before Christmas.
I never hibernated ants at proper temperatures but that didn't seem to have any adverse effects.
Without environmental cues all the colonies I had seem to stick to around 3 months rest.