Heating for Ant Colony

[techno2560]

So i was thinking about buying one of the formicariums, but then i was starting to think about heating since i'm in a cooler state(Also when we need to have the AC on). What kind of heating pad would you recommend? How about heating cable?

I did find this topic talking about a 15w cable and a 5w heat mat, but i was curious if anything has changed considering it's been a year when that topic was posted. Heres a link to the post that i found: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=856

[AntsRule]

I hope you will be keeping ants from your state and if you are they will not require heating since that is where they are from there anyway. As long as they are not air conditioned. If you do want to heat them to speed things up all I know is that they should stay a few degrees above room temp(72).

[MadVampy]

So i was thinking about buying one of the formicariums, but then i was starting to think about heating since i'm in a cooler state(Also when we need to have the AC on). What kind of heating pad would you recommend? How about heating cable?

I did find this topic talking about a 15w cable and a 5w heat mat, but i was curious if anything has changed considering it's been a year when that topic was posted. Heres a link to the post that i found: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=856

No nothing has changed. Generally a heating cable is the best bet. You can lay it across or weave it around the nest or multi nests. Big thing is you want to heat only a portion of the nest not the whole thing. The ants will move as they see fit to based on how much heat they want. They tend to move brood nearer the heat very much like in the wild where mound species of ants move the brood closer to the surface during the day for the heat and move them lower at night because the ground retains the day's heat. One thing you can watch for is that if the ants never go near the heat that may mean that you have it too close and they are avoiding it. Also if your species requires higher humidity make sure you don't get it too close because if you do you'll turn the nest into a sauna and that could kill the brood and or the ants, though on the average they are smart enough that they will move out of the nest before it gets to that point. That happened to me and the whole colony moved from the nest into the outworld until i corrected the issue and they went right back inside.

[techno2560]

As long as they are not air conditioned. If you do want to heat them to speed things up all I know is that they should stay a few degrees above room temp(72).

We usually keep the air conditioner at 62-68F when people are home, so some kind of heating for the ants will be needed Other than that we leave the house to heat up on its own from the sunlight, which is about 70-80ish depending on the weather lol.

[ooper01]

They will be fine in an air-conditioned room, i.e., they will survive, but the colony will most likely not grow very fast. When larva move to the pupa stage, the workers will generally move them to the hottest portion of the nest, which helps speed development.