My honeypot ants don’t seem to be waking up from winter.

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FishFingers
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:37 am

My honeypot ants don’t seem to be waking up from winter.

Post: # 34508Post FishFingers
Fri Mar 16, 2018 10:51 pm

My colony of myrmecocystus mexicanus honeypot ants are not waking up from winter... any tips on how to wake them up? I have been informed that most colonies wake up from early to late February, and it is the middle of march now... should I be worried? Please reply.

CherrieEvolved
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Aug 25, 2017 7:39 am
Location: Seattle

Re: My honeypot ants don’t seem to be waking up from winter.

Post: # 34512Post CherrieEvolved
Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:57 am

FishFingers wrote:
Fri Mar 16, 2018 10:51 pm
My colony of myrmecocystus mexicanus honeypot ants are not waking up from winter... any tips on how to wake them up? I have been informed that most colonies wake up from early to late February, and it is the middle of march now... should I be worried? Please reply.
At this point just put them in a warm (70-80 degrees) dark area and have food in their foraging area. Honey is best. They will get out of it eventually.

Too soon to say anything yet, just get them warm and get food in there.
Keeper of:
Formica Sp
Myrmica Sp

Founding:
4x Formica Sp
1x Camponotus Sp

FishFingers
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:37 am

Re: My honeypot ants don’t seem to be waking up from winter.

Post: # 34514Post FishFingers
Sat Mar 17, 2018 11:07 am

Ok. Thank you for the quick reply, and i will try this.

FishFingers
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:37 am

Re: My honeypot ants don’t seem to be waking up from winter.

Post: # 34602Post FishFingers
Sat Mar 24, 2018 10:24 am

Update: I tried what you said by leaving some honey for them and putting a cardboard box over them (and i live in southern california so it is already 70-80 degrees), and no honey was consumed. So today i checked my colony, but there were almost NO ADULT ANTS save a few repletes. There was a small amount of brood, but the strangest thing was that there were no dead bodies. The ants just dissapeared. I know that they could not have escaped because I have a band of fluon on both of their setups,lids on both, and I hot glued the tube connecting the settup. I have no idea what to do. Please help!

CherrieEvolved
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Aug 25, 2017 7:39 am
Location: Seattle

Re: My honeypot ants don’t seem to be waking up from winter.

Post: # 34603Post CherrieEvolved
Sat Mar 24, 2018 1:16 pm

I hate having open top areas for them. No way to tell what happened. If they are in there, they got out. Whether they climbed out or something got them out(ate them). Is the queen still in there? Its possible they are in the process of moving to their new area. Since they are already out not too sure how to get them back in which keeping the ones currently there still in there. GL man, really weird situation here! Watch where you step!!
Keeper of:
Formica Sp
Myrmica Sp

Founding:
4x Formica Sp
1x Camponotus Sp

FishFingers
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:37 am

Re: My honeypot ants don’t seem to be waking up from winter.

Post: # 34629Post FishFingers
Sun Mar 25, 2018 3:28 pm

Luckily, yes, my queen is still alive. Their new setup does not let the ants dig, it has precarved caves, so i am trying to move the queen and what few workers I have left Into the new setup. I am 100 percent sure that they could not escape, as i checked it like 10 times for any escape routes. My idea is that the ants could have dug a hidden tunnel in which they put the dead bodies, then sealed it up. I left some food in the new setup for them, and put a bright light to their old formicarium. When they are moved in, it will be a lot easier to see what they are doing. Hope this works! :|

FishFingers
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:37 am

Re: My honeypot ants don’t seem to be waking up from winter.

Post: # 34898Post FishFingers
Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:59 am

Ok. So, the reason my honeypots don’t want to move in is because the new setup has a ton of mold in it. I have no idea what to do, so I have decided to sell on the AntsCanada GAN project to someone who can take better care of them. :cry: I am still a beginner ant keeper, and I am thinking about getting a colony of Myrmeca Rubra. I am aware that they can bite, but they look like a really cool ant species. Does anyone recommend these ants for beginners?

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