2124 replies to this topic

[akaant]

Parasitic lasius are flying at this moment.

[fmoreira60]

Crematogaster flew yesterday. Caught a queen. Also lasius umbratus flew yesterday.

[ConcordAntman]

Just got my formicaria from Tar Heel Ants

I just need to fill the water towers and move my colonies!

 

I looked at small open box wine coolers for hibernation but I wanted to see the size of the formicaria first. 

[noebl1]

Nice!!!  My ants are getting close to hibernation for sure.  Camponotus are all larvae or eggs, slowed down development, gasters fat and they are literally doing nothing 99% of the time.  My Lasius are getting pretty idle as well, though I've seen wild colonies forage into October.

 

Tetramorium are still super active, but they always are until I basically force them into hibernation.  Same with the Aphaenogaster.

[ConcordAntman]

Yep, my Camponotus are the same. Most all the workers have fat gasters. They’re not going after mealworms like they did earlier in the summer but they sure suck up honey. I’m waiting to get blunt tipped needles from THA so I can fill the formicaria’s water towers then I’m planning “Moving Day”!

All three colonies have 10-15 larvae. One has a pupae in addition. What can I expect to happen to these larvae and pupae? Will they continue to develop and eclose next spring?

Edited by ConcordAntman, September 26 2018 - 8:25 PM.

[noebl1]

I would wait for any pupae to eclose before hibernation as they'll likely die.  If already pupae, they shouldn't be too long before they eclose.

[noebl1]

I've been seeing small Lasius flights still when temps are over 70F.  Supposed to be warm tomorrow and Wed, so keep an eye out!

[ConcordAntman]

It has really cooled off, fall is definitely in the air. I successfully moved my colonies into my formicaria and plan to hibernate them by the end of the month. I haven’t fed them protein for about two weeks and have been alternating between hummingbird nectar and honey 2-3 times/week. Since the move, the colonies have had little activity. Only one or two foragers. They mostly gather with the brood piles near the water towers or in a chamber.







Noob question here. Should I worry or just hibernate the colonies now?

[ConcordAntman]

Minimal activity in my nests. Planning to hibernate them in a few days. Been alternating feeding between hummingbird nectar, honey, and just tried maple syrup. I put a thermometer in my basement and it only got down to 60. l suppose that’s good for our pipes but too hot for my ants! I just ordered this:


It’s temperature adjustable down to 46 degrees. We’ll see how it goes...

[noebl1]

@ConcordAntman I've moved all my colonies except a couple misc stragglers into either the basement (60F) to slow them down/encourage hibernation or into the wine cooler (54F) as they were ready.  I am looking to put them all into the wine cooler this week and starting dropping the temp.  46F should be absolutely fine for hibernating and that's indeed what I do.

[ConcordAntman]

When I check my colonies, they seem to have already slowed down. There’s not a lot a lot of activity and their gasters aren’t quite as fat as they were a few weeks ago. How quickly do you drop the temperature from 60 to 46? Ten degrees every 2 weeks? Also, since honey has a pretty long shelf life, I was thinking a generous drop of honey in a feeding dish every 2 weeks should suffice. Sound reasonable? Thanks for the update!

[noebl1]

Over a week should be fine. TBH I've dropped them in at 46F and they didn't seem to care, but it's not recommended.

 

Putting in honey should be fine, worst case they don't touch it.  I'll check on mine tonight as need to organize the cooler, and see how much weight they've lost in a couple weeks at 54Fs.

 

My struggling C. nearcticus queen/worker I think are going to die during hibernation.  They aren't properly prepared (not eating enough), and keep moving, so they aren't happy.  I will probably just put them in and hope for the best, but if it they die, it happens.

[noebl1]

haha just got most of them in, a bit full this season:

[ConcordAntman]

😲🤯That’s a lot of colonies! I’ll post when my cooler arrives and I’ve gotten my colonies settled.

Edited by ConcordAntman, October 25 2018 - 4:54 AM.

[noebl1]

That’s a lot of colonies! I’ll post when my cooler arrives and I’ve gotten my colonies settled.

 

I'll likely thin them out in the Fall and find new homes for them.  Approximately 20 colonies or so, too many.

[ConcordAntman]

I’m clearly a novice at this. My hibernation plans hit a snag. The website information on the wine cooler only had outside dimensions. I estimated the inner wall thickness and guessed wrong so the cooler doesn’t fit all my colonies 🙄. While I’m returning this cooler and ordering a larger one, I noticed this over one of the water towers. It just looks like loose sand stuck on the edge of the tower. Should I worry about it? Could it be mold?

Edited by ConcordAntman, November 2 2018 - 12:39 PM.

[ConcordAntman]

Waiting for this to arrive on Tuesday so I can finally hibernate my colonies.

It’s adjustable down to 46 degrees.

Edited by ConcordAntman, January 4 2019 - 7:11 PM.

[noebl1]

Everything here is still in hibernation.  So far only a couple expected losses (like Myrmica queen.)  Before hibernation I lost pretty much everything that had I had experimented with using aquarium filter floss instead of cotton in the test tube, so not much new queens going into the Spring (which stinks as had a bunch of Aphaenogaster.)  I've been using this down time to try to figure out nesting options for next year, as a few colonies need them for sure. 

 

My P. imparis went into a forced winter diapause middle of December after they finally gorged themselves of protein and sugars, and then stopped foraging. I'll likely taken them out in a few weeks to give them a chance to get into gear for the season. They usually don't do much anyways until they are hungry, which could be a bit based on how full they were.

[Connectimyrmex]

Okay, I saw something that has me shook right now.

A Prenolepis imparis alate. 
In January.

What..

I'm not putting this in as a nuptial flight record, since it probably was an oddity, but this is pretty ridiculous tbh.

[ConcordAntman]

I finally got my cooler the first week of December and moved my 3 colonies. I replenish the water and change out the honey roughly every 10 days. I’m perhaps being a bit anal about it but these are my first successful colonies and I’m anxious to have them survive winter. So far, it looks like I’ve just lost one worker from my smallest colony. From what I’ve read, the first week of December was perhaps 4 weeks late for starting hibernation. I’m thinking about “waking” them in the March-April timeframe (Crystals thread on hibernation suggested 4 months is optimum for C pennsylvanicus). I hope my delay in getting a cooler didn’t cause my ants to burn off too much of their winter foodstores. Two questions; would you suggest I shorten the hibernation to 3 months? Also, how quickly do you bring the temperature up to room temperature?