Hibernation? (North American Pavement Ants)

[Chemicaluptown]

I have some pavement ants being delivered in a test tube setup currently (super excited for it actually!!) and they will be here tommorow. How do I mimic a Canadian winter for them to hibernate and when will they start hibernation/how will I know?

Also at what point should I look to move the ants from a test tube setup to a formicarium? Or will that not be needed for a while? (As is the colony has 1 queen 10+ workers and some brood, but I will post pictures of them tommorow so I have an accurate #)


Any help or advice would be appreciated I am a complete beginner to ant keeping! But very eager to learn!

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

[Helianthus]

Welcome to ant keeping!
My best piece of advice is this: join formiculture.com It is a WAY more active forum, and you'll get a lot more help there.
Great choice of ants for your first species. Keep them between 82-85 degrees F and feed them lots of insect protein, and they will grow really fast! They will do fine living in their test tube, but I would place it in an escape proof foraging container. I also recommend closing off most of the tube entrance and giving them a straw or something small as an entrance for their comfort. Don't bother with expensive formicariums yet. Just keep putting in new tubes that they can expand into. Oh and give them sand to move around. Tetramorium LOVE moving around sand.
To hibernate them, let them cool down gradually over the next couple of weeks. Then just place their container in the fridge and keep them around 45deg F. Two to three months would be plenty for their hibernation.