Heating a Developing ant Colony

[Austheboss]

Hi! I have a Tetramorium queen with lots of eggs and a few larvae, but it's taking some time because though they aren't in a air conditioned room, they are still not in preferred temperature. I was wondering what voltage heating cable I should get to speed up the developing process. Thanks! (Also, where should I run the heating cable on the test tube? She likes her eggs right up against the wet cotton).

[larynx]

Hi! I have a Tetramorium queen with lots of eggs and a few larvae, but it's taking some time because though they aren't in a air conditioned room, they are still not in preferred temperature. I was wondering what voltage heating cable I should get to speed up the developing process. Thanks! (Also, where should I run the heating cable on the test tube? She likes her eggs right up against the wet cotton).

A few degrees above temperature (average room temp is 72 f) is optimal. 15 watt heat cables are the most common used by ant keepers. You only want the heat cable near the test tube if they are already in a non-airconditioned room.
Personally i keep my founding test tube queens in cigar boxes with a 15 watt heat cable running along the back sides on the table the boxes sit upon, with a thermometer on top of the boxes, or inside (depending on how many queens i have in the box) to monitor the temp.

[Austheboss]

Thanks for the advice! I think I'll just run a 15 watt over one part of the test tube. Hopefully she turns out O.K., since this is my first time.

[ooper01]

I have found it is safest to run the heat cable over the water portion of the test tube rather than the nesting portion. I usually put it all the way on the end, away from the colony. The water heats up and warms the colony that way.

[Austheboss]

I have found it is safest to run the heat cable over the water portion of the test tube rather than the nesting portion. I usually put it all the way on the end, away from the colony. The water heats up and warms the colony that way.

Oh, thats smart. I think I'm going to do that. BTW I kept them in my hot attic, and a week after I posted that, my queen now has 2 nanitics! Of course, its still going to take some time before I can fully move them into then omni nest. I really hope this colony (my first one!) makes it past the small colony stages and survives.

[Austheboss]

Good luck man!!!!!

Thanks! It's nice to know I'm getting support on this.
I'm a little worried because they have mold from some dirt and stuff I put in, but they don't look uncomfortable or move at all when I attached another clean test tube, so I guess that they don't mind the mold (I did clean their test tube a little though). This colony, by the way is unfazed by anything I do. They don't care about light (I had a lamp near them to encourage them to move out, but they didn't seem to care at all), they don't seem to mind me cleaning up in their test tube, because the only thing they do is move their eggs away from my pincer thing. They are pretty flexible, I think they'll make it.