2124 replies to this topic

[mallonje]

Hi All, 

How's everyone surviving the winter? Well, I hope. Sorry i've been so radio silent, I've been keeping up with the hobby among other things in life.  

If you have a moment, I think I need remedial Hibernation for the Massachusetts ant keeper. I'm fairly certain all of my colonies are now dead.

This fall I fed them all protein (fresh, cut meal worms - and or wild caught/captive breed pill bugs) and local sourced apiary honey. Which they apparently loved because they were clearing their plates every 2-3 days. Knowing hibernation was coming I intentionally over fed them (thinking this was a good thing). 

On September 14th, I moved my colonies from the nice warmth of my media center, to a high shelf on my bookcase to begin to acclimate them to cooler/ colder temps.

Now so you know 4 of my larger colonies were in little plastic tool bit sorters I picked up at the dollar store and converted to nest boxes, none of them had substrate. The other 6 are your classic glass test tube setup.

On September 18th, I moved them into a cardboard bankers box with a large piece of foam insulating the bottom. This box was stored in a dark quiet corner of my basement. I got a cheap outdoor thermometer that logged the HI and LO temp. The box has not been warmer than 51, nor colder than 37 (during the polar vortex cold snap a few weeks back) this whole time. 

I checked on them every week in November, twice in December, once before the cold snap and once after in January. I just checked them now and they don't look good. 

Previously, all my C. pennsylvanicus workers were huddled around the queen and brood. Now they are scattered around and curled up - like they woke up walked around then died. 
My L. Flavius had all been in the cell where I had kept the food. Now they are piled in another cell as if on a trash pile. 
My T. Caespitum(sp. E?) ate a nanitic (totally gone now) and has moved her brood to the far side of the tube. 

I see no movement. I tried gently warming one of my C. pennsylvanicus colonies and after 2 hrs at room temp there was nothing. All the ants now appear to be curled up dead.

Any thoughts on next steps? Or what I did wrong? 

Thank You!  
 

[noebl1]

Welcome back!!!  Though wish was under better circumstances

 

I'd give C. pennsylvanicus at least 2 weeks before saying they are dead, they have a tendency to do that during hibernation so it's *possible* they are still alive.

 

Any pics?   Is it possible they dried out?  Also possible they warmed up too much, became active, and didn't have any water, etc not sure.

[akaant]

Sorry to hear about your losses. The temperature range seems fine but how often did you hydrate the nests? I  hydrate mine every 2 weeks and check on the test tube setups every 1.5 months.

[mallonje]

Thank you - I haven't "tossed" anything yet, and I do plan to give them plenty of time to wake up in the spring before I pronounce their official TOD.  

Plenty of water in the test tubes. In the nest boxes the sponges are still supple - not wet, but not bone dry, However the nest tubes still had plenty of water.

At what temp do you keep your ants? 

[akaant]

My basement stays 55-40F throughout winter. I found that if I keep up with hydration I never lost a colony in over 10 years during hibernation.

[ConcordAntman]

Mallonje,
I don’t really have standing to comment. I just have 3 C pennsylvanicus colonies and I thought I’d killed two of them! I have my colonies in THA Phalanx formicaria. I’d placed them in a wine cooler at 47 degrees a bit late at the beginning of December when my cooler arrived. Unfortunately, the cooler took them down to 39 degrees during the polar vortex. Two queens sure looked dead. One was hanging by a leg from the roof of its chamber and the other had fallen from the roof to the floor. They’re all out of the cooler and in the basement which is now a warm 58. Amazingly, when I checked them today, even the leg hanger had survived 😲! I plan to warm them up to room temperature in another 10-12 days. This is my first time successfully founding colonies and it looks like I might manage to make it through the winter with them! I agree with what Noebl1 said, hang on to them for a while. I hope you just have hardy sleepers and minimal losses🤞🏽

Edited by ConcordAntman, February 16 2019 - 8:50 AM.

[noebl1]

Just had to take a few colonies out of hibernation a bit early, 4 of the colonies have totally dried out test tubes, including the cotton ball.  Going to see if I can slowly warm them up a bit in the basement and get them to move to fresh test tubes.  Luckily one of those 4 is Aphaenogaster, which are super-mobile anyways.  Two of the four are Lasius that have moved on there own before, so hoping if they warm up a bit and relocate.  Last is a Crematogaster which not so sure, haven't' had a lot of luck with them.   I also finally lost one of my Lasius queens from 2016, however there wasn't much shock there, as last season all she laid very little, and they were only drones (after 2 seasons of workers), so I suspect something with her wasn't right.  Looks like I have a candidate colony for parasitic queens...

[mallonje]

Huh - none of my tubes are less than half filled. For C. pennsylvanicus I use a full ball in the tube because they pull, but everything else I pull about half, probably less for the end cap.

I'm going to place a hygrometer down there now. 

[mallonje]

I have 34% humidity in the box. 29% outside the box. Still steady at 47°f 

 

I rehydrated all the sponges. I'm hesitant to feed, given their still hibernating.

I was thinking of moving them up to warm in my office around 3/3 - too soon? 

Edited by mallonje, February 17 2019 - 8:03 PM.

[fleetingyouth]

Hi everyone, 
 

Checking in seeing how everyone's hibernation is going. Just checked all mine and so far doesnt look like I have lost any queens. A few workers maybe though. 

 

3 Tetra's wih a a couple of workers and brood. One dud queen I'll probably let go if she doesnt lay this spring.

3 Tetra's with about 20-25 workers. Hoping to get at least one in a formicarium this spring. 

5 Lasius queens I caught in Sept

2 Formica Queens I caught in Sept

 

Not a bad start for my first year. 

 

My Goal this year is to get a few False Honey Pot queens. What conditions and time of year should I pay attention? Is a warm couple days in Feb to early?

[YsTheAnt]

The first few days in the higher sixties to seventies seem to trigger their flights.

[noebl1]

I have 34% humidity in the box. 29% outside the box. Still steady at 47°f 

 

I rehydrated all the sponges. I'm hesitant to feed, given their still hibernating.

I was thinking of moving them up to warm in my office around 3/3 - too soon? 

 

34% seems really low, wonder if the ambient humidity is drying them out?  Is the box sealed enough if you put a reservoir in, it would contain the humidity? If you put them into hibernation in Oct/Nov, you can probably start taking them out.  Warm up any test tubes slowly that have water in them, or they will likely leak from a big temperature jump.  I try to acclimate from 40Fs to 50Fs over a few days, then if I can, 50Fs to 60Fs for a few days.  If you can't, just tilt the test tubes up slightly so the open ends are up a bit.

 

YsTheAnt is spot on for P. imparis.  One of the MA guys on Discord saw a P. imparis do a mock flight a couple weeks ago when it was in the 60Fs, but was only a single queen that flew, rest were crowding the entrance he said.   I've had the most luck on the 2nd day in the 70Fs, especially if going to be warm for a few days.  Some years are better than others.

 

My Dolichoderus taschenbergi queen looks still alive I think, I may take her out soon if she indeed is, and try to get her into a better test tube that's smaller than what I have her in now.  I see the workers outside foraging during the summer, but in 3 seasons only one queen so far (likely as small).  Wish I understood more the care for these, can't find a lot online.  I've heard mixed reports on full vs partially claustral.  

Edited by noebl1, February 18 2019 - 8:24 AM.

[mallonje]

Noebl1 -- Just wondering, do you find the Discord thread handy for getting notified about flights?  

[noebl1]

Noebl1 -- Just wondering, do you find the Discord thread handy for getting notified about flights?  

https://discord.gg/ehZKdnW

 

I'm the same username over there as well.

[Rstheant]

Don’t worry. When winter ants fly, they fly by the hundreds. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong.

[noebl1]

Don’t worry. When winter ants fly, they fly by the hundreds. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong.

 

I think it depends on the year (like with other species.)  2017 I saw them everywhere by work one day, 2018 I saw literally *1*.

[Rstheant]

Oh, in the bay, they fly by the thousands according to YSpedia.

[mallonje]

Oh no - I wasn't thinking about today, or soon. I'm just looking to expand my bag of tricks, and if adding discord to my day helps keep my head on a swivel on flight days then yes I'll add it. 

But yes, I saw a few flights of P. Imparis last year so I know I have a few colonies near by. But to Noebl1's point I too only caught the one queen and she didn't lay a thing all last year. 

[noebl1]

I would love to figure out how flights work, I do wonder if they are cyclical.  I've had some years where I will see quite a few of some species, then the next year barely any.  2016 and 2018 I didn't see a single Crematogaster queen, 2017 I caught so many over the course of a couple weeks I stopped collecting them.  Historically I've had some gigantic Camponotus flights, and last year were very few.   Lasius were not so good last year either, and in previous years there were multiple flights, some so big they were literally everywhere. 

 

I remember in 2016 we had a drought, so was expecting bad flights the following season, but they were fine in 2017.  2017 was a normal year, yet 2018 had terrible flights over all.

[fmoreira60]

Hey guys. I know I haven't posted in a while but I recently took my ants out of hibernation. My c.pennsylvanicus test tube has a lot of block mold on the cotton. Is black mold harmful? Because they seem to be located right against the mold and don't seem to care about it. Anyways yesterday I connected their test tube with a new one. I covered the new one with tinfoil and I put a bit of light on them to try to get them to move to the new test tube and when I checked on them today they didn't move. Any suggestions?