11 replies to this topic

[Foogoo]

Has anyone tried going down both roads? I left my Camponotus out of the heat lamp for a few weeks last month, but it doesn't get below 60 or so in the house. She has two workers, one larva and a few eggs. They've been very inactive and rarely leave the nest which makes me wonder if they need a good cold snap. But putting my only Camponotus colony in the fridge just seems sketchy. Which is the lesser of two evils? Fridge or no fridge?

[Nexus]

I highly recommend you make your ants hibernate. It has been proven that making the ants hibernate prolongs the life of the queen and keeps her in better health. Indeed, it gives her and her workers a little break. Also I have noticed that if the colony has hibernated, she lays more eggs..

Ants don't "sleep" during more than 6 months, you can at least let them have those 3 months of rest...

Camponotus are very sensitive to hibernation and it is essential for most of them. It's true the fridge seems a bit too cold... Don't you have a cellar ? And which country does your queen come from ?

Edited by Nexus, February 21 2015 - 9:51 AM.

[Vendayn]

Well, I don't see a need.

 

One day in the future, beyond our lives...Earth will eventually become hotter and probably more tropical like it has before. Then of course, it will go back to being cold into an ice age like it has before.

 

 

But, once Earth warms up enough...even the United Kingdom will become much warmer. If I recall, it has been really warm in the past. Even Greenland has been a tropical place at one point. I don't imagine every ant will drop dead on the continent because it will be too warm for them to hibernate. It has happened before, and there are still lots of ants around.

 

Of course, that will be a "short" amount of Earth years...but, too many years from now for us.

 

In any case, I've seen both Camponotus and Pogonomyrmex and other natives, disappear in some areas...but, remain active year round in other places. Like, when I went to the mountains in San Diego...I saw Camponotus roaming around in December because it was a hot week that month (well, the entire Winter). I went back a week later, and they were still active. Then, during the Summer storms, the same colony was sending out alates. I'm pretty sure they didn't even hibernate, was pretty hot that year for us. In fact, San Diego didn't even see Winter in 2013 and it was pretty hot and dry the whole season. With that...funny enough, even though mountain ants tend to hibernate more...they were active that whole season. But, all the local coastal native ants had disappeared.

 

Then again, maybe the more Northernly ants die off if they don't hibernate compared to the more southern ones. Seems kind of a huge weakness in regards to climate change. I wouldn't want to be reborn as one of those ants since Earth is having a warming trend.

[dspdrew]

Just because they don't die off after not hibernating for a year or two, doesn't mean their egg production didn't slow way down those years.

 

James C. Trager recently said that even some ants like Formica from warmer places like Southern California will actually do better if they're hibernated for at least six weeks.

[Crystals]

I tend to base my recommendation on the climate that the queen was collected from.

A Camponotus queen collected from northern Alberta is going to behave a bit differently than one collected from California.

 

Some species like Lasius are only found where it snows and they get hibernation.

I hibernate all of my colonies about 3-4 months since mine normally have 7 months of snow.  Admittedly I occasionally hibernate mine up to 5-6 months to maintain a nice schedule of reverse hibernation so I always have something active.

 

I found that if my Camponotus colonies got less than 3 months of hibernation they were not convinced it was spring and while the existing brood quickly developed, the queen barely laid any eggs.  I found that my Camponotus prefer 4 months of hibernation.  I have seen no difference in brood levels if they are hibernated longer than 5 months.  I see big differences between 3 month and 4 month hibernation in species like Camponotus and Lasius.  Myrmica seem happy with just 2 months of hibernation, but they also seem to resist going into hibernation.

 

Hibernation temperature is also going to be a difference.  My Camponotus and Lasius seem to prefer 5C (33F), while my Myrmica prefer about 10C (50F).  Ants from warmer locations will probably prefer a warmer temperature like 15C (59F).

Keeping in mind my location has several weeks of temperatures below -35C (-31F) and the wild colonies here almost always freeze solid in winter.

[Foogoo]

Ok I guess it's in the fridge they go. What's the minimum hibernation time? Seems like most people go for a month. Unfortunately, in Southern California, there's literally no such thing as a cellar. I believe drew collected these in the mountains where it hovers around freezing, so crossing my fingers the fridge won't be too much of a chill.

[dspdrew]

I've been using the fridge for my hibernating. I just set the temperature to 50°F. I don't want to keep my food any warmer than that. I think if they're from up where it snows, like yours are, then they should probably hibernate for three months at least. I left mine in for two and a half, and that might not have been long enough.

[Nexus]

dspdrew, Formica sp automatically enter in hibernation, even if you heat them, they will stop their activity for a period . 

and :

I've been using the fridge for my hibernating. I just set the temperature to 50 degrees. I don't want to keep my food any warmer than that.

Isn't that a bit too much . I suppose you meant 5 °C.

Foogoo, if they were found in a mountain, it should be okay. But it is a bit too late to start now, winter is almost over...

[dspdrew]

Sorry in the States we use Fahrenheit. I should have put 50°F.

[Nexus]

Oh okay, no problem.

[Jonathan21700]

I don't know what to do now. My small Lasius sp. colony has hibernated from October. First I took them out for 10 days in January because temperatures went below zero and returned them back. Several days ago I took them again but this time I will wait to see how are they going to behave. The queen hasn't laid eggs still and they don't seem very active. Maybe the hibernation period was too short ?

Edited by Jonathan21700, February 21 2015 - 11:53 AM.

[Crystals]

They wait a week or so to ensure that it isn't just a warm spell in the winter.

 

In general, colonies can be hibernated at any point.  Larvae almost always survive hibernation.  Eggs and pupae usually do not.

I have most of my colonies in reverse hibernation, the way I control the temperature they do not know what the actual season is outside.