Lasius niger living in a different continent (hibernation)

[cconesa]

Hello,

As I am new to ant keeping I rather ask the question than test it by myself and kill a small colony.

I bought some lasius niger ants in the UK and brought them to south america where the seasons are the opposite. Although the queens arrived in our winter, our house is heated and have had a median of around 22C-23C which has suited them well and are developing. As we near our summer (which isn't hot anyway - average temperature 20C daytime and some 12C at night - in winter remains similar during the day but goes down to about 3C at night and very dry-), I don't know if it is best to get them to hibernate from October to March as per the northern hemisphere or try to stretch them to March and hibernate them according to our season in the southern hemisphere, what's best?. Has anyone encountered a similar situation?.

I suppose I could look at the ants and see if they are slowing down and hibernate them accordingly but as the house will not suffer big temperature variations, it may confuse them.

Your advice will be appreciated.

[antnest8]

I would keep them warm during your winter because they would think it's summer and cold would really mess there scedual up. Most hibernating ants naturaly stop growing during winter, even if it's warm near them. So even if you don't cool them down they will still "hibernate" so thats a plus. The only real problem is you would have to be a bit more vigilant in still providing some sugar and keeping their home moist.

Also there has been some reaserch saying that true hibernation is really important to a queens and thus the colonies health! So i would at least try to keep them in a cooler and dark place.

[cconesa]

Valid point. I am inclined to see how they behave in October to make a decision, if I see they slow down, I hibernate them, otherwise, I will wait until March for their brake.

I will post messages to let everyone know what happened so that if anyone comes across a similar issue in the future there (hopefully) will be some information on the subject.