The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Hey guys, with August just over and September is here! It is that time of the year were we are all begining to prepare for the winter hibernation.

With that said it is a first time for a lot of us, me included so I was wondering if y'all would be willing to give us new keepers your personal experience for the winter season. The dos and don'ts that you have figured out over the years.

Tips for people like me who do not have a mini fridge as on option. Tricks you guys may have picked up to keep the temperature at a constant and ideal level? I am sure I will not be the only one who would greatly appreciate you inputs and I would like to thank you in advance for us all

This is just me personally, but I planned to build a custom foam-insulated box cooled by a fan and heat exchanger (like the one used for PC cooling), connected to a desktop water chiller. But that chiller is about $350 so most people might think I'm crazy to invest that much.

With the water chiller/heat exchanger combo, I *should* be able to keep the box air temp at whatever level I need, if my high school physics is right.

I studied the annual average temperature cycle for the North American region where my ants call home. On average, the temperature drops 10 degrees per month until December. It starts rising at the same rate back to summer temps in spring. My design goal was to lower the temperature in my foam box 2 degrees per week for twelve weeks, starting at 68 and ending at 46. I'll hold that 46 degrees for 30 days or so, then raise the temp 2 degrees each week until I'm back at room temp. That cycle should simulate approaching winter and allow my ants time to do whatever they do to prepare for hibernation.

Again, this is only my thoughts on hibernation, and it's all hypothetical since this will be my first hibernation of several Camponotus colonies. I still believe it's a solid theory though, so feel free to reflect on it and point out flaws or suggestions

Or 3 degrees weekly for 8 weeks is better, from 70 to 46, since 12 weeks is a long time. It's a work in progress >_>

That sounds like a very good and permanent solution that u can store away in the warmer months. Could I you trouble you for a pictured update as you build this by any chance and possibly even an end result in about march when the ants are back to daily life next year?

It would be very interesting to see it's efficiency and if successful and ideal would be an investment worth taking

I'm totally planning to document my hibernation project in October. I'll definitely send a link.

Awesome thank you dude, honestly cannot wait to see how this works for you.

One thing to keep in mind is to insure the nest remains hydrated through the winter. It is not a good idea to just abandon the ants for 4-5 months. I lost all my Lasius Neoniger workers during a hibernation due to the nest drying out. The queen was just barely clinging to life. And I only ignored the colony for about the last month of hibernation.

Another thing to keep in mind is that depending on the temperature you’re hibernating them and the size of the colony they may still require food. Last winter during a hibernation check I noticed my tetramorium colony which consisted of a few hundred individuals had a lot of workers in their outworld. I figured they must be looking for food so dumped a ton of fruit flies in their outworld. A couple weeks later all the fruit flies were gone. Then later in the winter I decided to dump more fruit flies in their outworld, but they never touched those.

Probably if you hibernate them closer to 0 degrees they won’t be able to move to need food, but my wine cooler only goes down to 10C. And that was the only colony that took food.

I agree. You should continue checking on your ants and their hydration regularly, even while hibernating. Colder temperatures reduce their activity, but don't stop them. I also agree with some other posts on here that the coldest safe temperature for ants is around 8C or 46F. 0C is too close to the lethal temperature range for most species. Ants in artificial habitats don't have the benefit of insulating soil or deep hiding places, so they can't escape freezing temps like they could in the wild.

I also agree as most posts, articles and videos say to never drop below 5 degree.
Other then of course doing it for the first time and having to learn as you go and also go by others. I feel this will be the easiest hibernation as the ants will be in test tubes. I'm not saying it will be a success for all my ants I just think a full formicarium will be harder to deal with in terms of ideal temperature.

But thank you all for your inputs and future ones. I think hearing from others experience and plans we can all establish a more permanent solution like the one mentioned above by Campoking.

I was looking at wine coolers after they were discussed earlier, and I want to mention this one from Best Buy:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-29-bottle-wine-cooler-stainless-steel/6191207.p

It has a minimum temperature that reaches the 45 or 46 degrees needed, and a max temp of 65 that's good to start at. It's way cheaper than my custom box idea, and it seems to have the interior space I would need for my several colonies. I might seriously consider it instead of going through all that other stuff. I can still change the temperature weekly as I described.

Good luck!