ANTSTORE World of Ants

[moxi93]

hi

i bought a small colony of 4 workers of Camponotus* ligniperda* from antstore and iwas wondering when i should put them in hibernation. i got them at the biginning of august.

PS: how should you keep them in hibernation(place etc) and for how long? and at what temperature!?

THANKS

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[gabranth]

you should put them into hibernation next month until march-april and keep them at around 5 degree's C (don't freeze them) but before then keep them at a reduced temp around 15 degree's C

[JimmyVe]

Yes slow down the temperature slowly. Not to fast, so the ants can adjust. 4-6 months is good.

[miszt]

I would drop the tempreture down from around the middle of October, so they are at less than 8C from Nov 1st until the end of Feb, then raise the temp thru March upto about 15C, then over the next month upto 20C, then after that room temp is fine


all this is in the Caresheet

[gabranth]

my Camponotus* ligniperda are now hibernating in the fridge along with my Formica ants and a queen bee. my red ants will be going in there when the next batch of workers hatch

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[JimmyVe]

It is a bit soon to hibernate them already. I start to put my colonies in hibernation in +- 3 weeks.

[gabranth]

crap its October tomorrow not November o well they get to come out of hibernation in February then

[Kale^^]

I have already put my herculeanus queens, one l niger queen and a herculeanus colony to cooler temperatures. I might put them to the fridge the day after tomorrow. It's the fact that all wild colonies are hibernating already (notice: i live NORTH. )

[gabranth]

im in wales and its cold and wet now

[JimmyVe]

Yes it is cold and wet here to, but i keep them all at room temperature (read, all Middle European species) +-22°. I will start to put them in a cooler place in +-2 weeks so they can adjust to the cooler temperature.

[gabranth]

its only a month as long as there well fed they will be fine