9 replies to this topic

[Works4TheGood]

Is there a consensus on how to wake your ants up from hibernation? I basically threw my ants back into the same incubator setup that they had last year, but it's been 10 days since then and still no outworld activity. Did I wake them too soon? Was the hibernation temperature too warm? Does it typically take this long for the glycerol to break down? Should I have applied a more gradual heat? What do you do personally?

Edited by Works4TheGood, March 22 2017 - 6:24 PM.

[MichiganAnts]

i did natural heating for a week then put the heating cable on.

[sgheaton]

....oh yeah....natural heating.....

I brought them from the basement to the 1st floor and slapped a heating cable on the top side of the formicarium. I've been meaning to draw the path where they've taken the brood. It's been all over the formicarium. Probably trying to find a good moisture spot but eh..... 

[drtrmiller]

I literally clicked on this because I thought it said "Walking your ants."

[sgheaton]

I'll admit that I did too...

[XZero38]

I literally clicked on this because I thought it said "Walking your ants."

Guilty of the same thing! Haha!

[sgheaton]

Have you seen pictures of "people walking their birds" and things of the like? Was expecting to see a picture of an ant-tank in a red wagon gettin' ready to be bulled on an adventure!

[Works4TheGood]

I literally clicked on this because I thought it said "Walking your ants."

 

Oh wow!  That's hillarious!!!  

 

... any suggested leash materials?

[drtrmiller]

Keep in mind that dehydration will yield very similar behavior to hibernation or diapause. As such, ensure your formicarium has sufficient humidity in addition to warmth. If possible, I would recommend placing a drop or two of water directly in the nest from which they can drink, since you said they aren't leaving the nest.

If the ants pounce on the droplet, that's a sure-fire indication they were dehydrated, and normal behavior may possibly resume shortly after. If not, then just keep waiting.

As for leash materials, I might recommend spider silk.

Edited by drtrmiller, March 23 2017 - 9:10 AM.

[Works4TheGood]

Keep in mind that dehydration will yield very similar behavior to hibernation or diapause. As such, ensure your formicarium has sufficient humidity in addition to warmth. If possible, I would recommend placing a drop or two of water directly in the nest from which they can drink, since you said they aren't leaving the nest.

If the ants pounce on the droplet, that's a sure-fire indication they were dehydrated, and normal behavior may possibly resume shortly after. If not, then just keep waiting.

As for leash materials, I might recommend spider silk.

 

Sad news.  I discovered that Terry's hunch turned out to be dead-on accurate.  98% of the colony (roughly 200+ workers) were just discovered dead from dehydration.  Their test tube had gone bone dry.  I presumed that their test tube still had some water because there was an adjacent fresh, test tube setup available, but for unknown reasons, the colony failed to relocate to it (although 2 workers were found alive there).  Furthermore, I saw very little activity that showed evidence of the colony searching for new location with water.

 

I have manually forced the queen and the few remaining workers into the new test tube setup.  They seem to be doing okay, but I'm guessing that I'll really need to baby them for a little while until they're recovered.