12 replies to this topic

[LIFEsize]

How long should a colony be frozen for to wipe them out?

Edited by LIFEsize, May 8 2018 - 2:13 PM.

[drtrmiller]

The time it takes to decrease the temperature of anything in a freezer has to do with the mass, volume, thermal conductivity, and starting temperature of the object.

 

24-48 hours in sub-zero temperatures should be sufficient to kill all species of ants.

Edited by drtrmiller, May 8 2018 - 2:04 PM.

[T.C.]

Yeah, I do all of my mass freezing for about 48 hours. But if I am just killing something small to provide a small meal to my ants, I'll just boil a cup of water and drop them in. That takes no time at all.

[LIFEsize]

The time it takes to decrease the temperature of anything in a freezer has to do with the mass, volume, thermal conductivity, and starting temperature of the object.

 

24-48 hours in sub-zero temperatures should be sufficient to kill all species of ants.

 

Interesting. It's a test tube size amount of pheidole. I'll just give them at least 24 hours. Thanks.

[LIFEsize]

Yeah, I do all of my mass freezing for about 48 hours. But if I am just killing something small to provide a small meal to my ants, I'll just boil a cup of water and drop them in. That takes no time at all.

 

Thanks for the input, I couldn't find anything on this in forum or google..

 

I'll have to try the cup trick sometime to immobilize their food.

[Mettcollsuss]

It's a test tube size amount of pheidole.

 

Your profile says you live in the midwest. If you live in Illinois and haven't killed them yet I'd be happy to buy them from you. Pheidole is one of my dream species.

Edited by Mettcollsuss, May 8 2018 - 2:46 PM.

[AntsAreUs]

I would agree with Mettcollsuss, Pheidole would be really nice to have this far North.

[LIFEsize]

 

It's a test tube size amount of pheidole.

 

Your profile says you live in the midwest. If you live in Illinois and haven't killed them yet I'd be happy to buy them from you. Pheidole is one of my dream species.

 

 

Sorry, they overthrew their queen for some odd reason..

[Mettcollsuss]

 

 

 

Sorry, they overthrew their queen for some odd reason..

 

 

that sucks 

[Skwiggledork]

If you plan on saving the test tube, do not freeze it if it has water in it. I thought it would just push the cotton out a bit, instead it shattered my test tube.

[Canadian anter]

Honestly, some of the Camponotus species here can probably survive in to the negative 40s

[Shifty189]

When I found my first queen I found about 8 Solenopsis invicta. I didn’t know what they were, so I was so excited. After a quick ID I realized my mistake. Needless to say, it only took 20 minuets in the freezer for these south Florida girls, but I got to thinking is this really the most humane way to put ants down?

Edited by Shifty189, May 9 2018 - 12:08 PM.

[sirjordanncurtis]

I only put winter ant workers into the freezer for about 4 minutes before they died. Of course, this could have been due to the fact that they were foragers and more accustomed to higher temperatures, or couldn't handle drastic temperature changes, but pretty much you just have to make sure their flow of oxygen is slow enough for them to suffocate. (Another way would be just to replace the cotton with a cap, and the lack of air flow would cause the oxygen to thin out, and kill them at a much higher rate.