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How are you heating your colonies?


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6 replies to this topic

#1 Offline Foogoo - Posted December 20 2014 - 11:27 AM

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Not so much a literal "how", but schedule-wise. Do you keep them at the desired temperature 24/7? Or do you turn off the heat for a few hours to simulate night temperatures?


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#2 Offline dermy - Posted December 20 2014 - 11:30 AM

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My room is a blazing 25C all the time in the winter. So no heating required.



#3 Offline dean_k - Posted December 20 2014 - 11:44 AM

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My room is 25C in Winter also, no extra heating is needed.

 

If I ever need them to be in a cooler location, I put them by window where it's around 15c. It makes them huddle together and workers stop foraging which makes detaching outworld easier to clean.



#4 Offline dspdrew - Posted December 20 2014 - 1:27 PM

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My apartment is about 90F all summer long, and could easily be that temperature all winter too, but this winter I'm trying to let it cool off in here for my ants and all my other pets. I've been keeping it the same as outside temperatures, except at night of course, where I let it get down to 70F or so.



#5 Offline drtrmiller - Posted December 20 2014 - 1:52 PM

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My apartment is about 90F all summer long, and could easily be that temperature all winter too...

 

And here I was thinking you just lived in the ghetto—turns out you take residence in the bowels of hell!


Edited by drtrmiller, December 20 2014 - 1:52 PM.



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#6 Offline AntsAreUs - Posted December 20 2014 - 4:27 PM

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I don't heat, I think it's better natural on a back room that is close to the temperature outside.



#7 Offline Crystals - Posted December 20 2014 - 8:18 PM

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I have two 15watt heating cables, one is on 24/7, the other is on a timer that comes on every 2 hours for 1/2 hour (otherwise they get too cold in the 18C room).

I have wine cooler I stuck a heating cable into this year.  I added a reptile thermostat to keep it around 24-26C.

Never really noticed a difference between the two heating cables, other than that the one on a timer often had ants moving brood closer and further as it heated and cooled.  The wine cooler queens were the most successful however.


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