27 replies to this topic

[Ender Ants]

I've captured a few colonies near the end of September, and none of them have any workers yet, but eggs. Do you think I should hibernate them now? Or wait until they have workers, then hibernate them?

[Skwiggledork]

This is my first year trying to keep ants and I also caught some queens mid September that haven't laid eggs. I was told on another group that some species wait till after hibernation to start laying, so I am planning on hibernating mine.

[dermy]

Generally in temperate regions where ants would naturally hibernate over winter all queens caught in late fall need a period of cooling hibernation. They won't lay eggs until the following spring.

[Serafine]

Generally in temperate regions where ants would naturally hibernate over winter all queens caught in late fall need a period of cooling hibernation. They won't lay eggs until the following spring.

Please learn to read before posting, they ALREADY HAVE eggs.

 

 

@Ender ants: Wait for the eggs to become larvae. Temperate ants (with the notable exception of Formica which doesn't not hibernate with any brood at all) do hibernate with larvae - eggs and pupae will not survive.

[Ender Ants]

 

Generally in temperate regions where ants would naturally hibernate over winter all queens caught in late fall need a period of cooling hibernation. They won't lay eggs until the following spring.

Please learn to read before posting, they ALREADY HAVE eggs.

 

 

@Ender ants: Wait for the eggs to become larvae. Temperate ants (with the notable exception of Formica which doesn't not hibernate with any brood at all) do hibernate with larvae - eggs and pupae will not survive.

 

Alright thanks!

[skocko76]

To follow up with a question;

I have a Lasius flavus queen caught locally - in the Mediterranean basin. All the literature suggests hibernating them at 5C-10C for 5-6 months. 

I guess I should use common sense and not do that? We don't have such winters here.

[Ender Ants]

 

Generally in temperate regions where ants would naturally hibernate over winter all queens caught in late fall need a period of cooling hibernation. They won't lay eggs until the following spring.

Please learn to read before posting, they ALREADY HAVE eggs.

 

 

@Ender ants: Wait for the eggs to become larvae. Temperate ants (with the notable exception of Formica which doesn't not hibernate with any brood at all) do hibernate with larvae - eggs and pupae will not survive.

 

Also, is it ok to put them into a wine fridge? I have a feeling that they might suffocate in there.

[Reacker]

 

Generally in temperate regions where ants would naturally hibernate over winter all queens caught in late fall need a period of cooling hibernation. They won't lay eggs until the following spring.

Please learn to read before posting, they ALREADY HAVE eggs.

 

 

@Ender ants: Wait for the eggs to become larvae. Temperate ants (with the notable exception of Formica which doesn't not hibernate with any brood at all) do hibernate with larvae - eggs and pupae will not survive.

 

no need to be an a55

Edited by Reacker, October 25 2017 - 1:58 AM.

[Serafine]

To follow up with a question;
I have a Lasius flavus queen caught locally - in the Mediterranean basin. All the literature suggests hibernating them at 5C-10C for 5-6 months. 
I guess I should use common sense and not do that? We don't have such winters here.

Emulate the winter in your area. That's probably 2-3 months or so at 15°C. There's quite a lot of ants that can be found in different climate zones and they should always be treated as native ants, unless they are invasive.

 

no need to be an a55

Congrats for complaining about my valid comment (because why in heaven should people ever be expected to read before answering to a forums topic, that's way too much effort, right?) but completely ignoring the two questions directly above your post. That's what I call productive participation.

 

Also, is it ok to put them into a wine fridge? I have a feeling that they might suffocate in there.

Opening the door for a few seconds every other day should be enough. Ants don't breathe that much oxygen, especially when they're hibernating.

[T.C.]

 

Generally in temperate regions where ants would naturally hibernate over winter all queens caught in late fall need a period of cooling hibernation. They won't lay eggs until the following spring.

Please learn to read before posting, they ALREADY HAVE eggs.

 

 

@Ender ants: Wait for the eggs to become larvae. Temperate ants (with the notable exception of Formica which doesn't not hibernate with any brood at all) do hibernate with larvae - eggs and pupae will not survive.

 

He was just stating a fact. He may or may not have read that. But right here alone was a reasonable answer. "Generally in temperate regions where ants would naturally hibernate over winter all queens caught in late fall need a period of cooling hibernation."

[dermy]

 

 

Generally in temperate regions where ants would naturally hibernate over winter all queens caught in late fall need a period of cooling hibernation. They won't lay eggs until the following spring.

Please learn to read before posting, they ALREADY HAVE eggs.

 

 

@Ender ants: Wait for the eggs to become larvae. Temperate ants (with the notable exception of Formica which doesn't not hibernate with any brood at all) do hibernate with larvae - eggs and pupae will not survive.

 

He was just stating a fact. He may or may not have read that. But right here alone was a reasonable answer. "Generally in temperate regions where ants would naturally hibernate over winter all queens caught in late fall need a period of cooling hibernation."

 

I put "Generally" for a reason. Your supposed to hibernate them [at least where I am] as soon as you catch them, since naturally they would wait for spring anyway. That way you can wake them up a few months ahead of natural time and get them an early start.

[Reevak]

I put "Generally" for a reason. Your supposed to hibernate them [at least where I am] as soon as you catch them, since naturally they would wait for spring anyway. That way you can wake them up a few months ahead of natural time and get them an early start.

 

He was just stating a fact. He may or may not have read that. But right here alone was a reasonable answer. "Generally in temperate regions where ants would naturally hibernate over winter all queens caught in late fall need a period of cooling hibernation."

It wasn’t really an actual answer to the question at all is what Serafine was saying, since they were asking what to do with a queen that has laid eggs and dermy was talking about how queens don’t usually lay eggs this late in the year.

Edited by Reevak, October 25 2017 - 12:05 PM.

[T.C.]

 

I put "Generally" for a reason. Your supposed to hibernate them [at least where I am] as soon as you catch them, since naturally they would wait for spring anyway. That way you can wake them up a few months ahead of natural time and get them an early start.

 

He was just stating a fact. He may or may not have read that. But right here alone was a reasonable answer. "Generally in temperate regions where ants would naturally hibernate over winter all queens caught in late fall need a period of cooling hibernation."

It wasn’t really an actual answer to the question at all is what Serafine was saying, since they were asking what to do with a queen that has laid eggs and dermy was talking about how queens don’t usually lay eggs this late in the year.

 

This is a discussion forum. Answers aren't going to be 100% professional as most of us are just hobbyists. Dermy was merely stating all colonies in his region should be put into hibernation. Whether that is true or not, I do not know. I am not a professional. No one in this thread that has posted so far is. Serafine has no right to be calling others out on their posts. He can't even say, "oh well I am a moderator" because he isn't. He is always interfering and questioning what others are doing. If he could just leave people alone, and mind his own business that would be great.

[Reevak]

This is a discussion forum. Answers aren't going to be 100% professional as most of us are just hobbyists. Dermy was merely stating all colonies in his region should be put into hibernation. Whether that is true or not, I do not know. I am not a professional. No one in this thread that has posted so far is.

I was just saying that his "answer" was not an actual answer and would not help the person asking the question. I was just trying to explain the situation from Serafine's point of view (or at least, what I believe it to be).

[Serafine]

Answers aren't going to be 100% professional as most of us are just hobbyists.

So not being a professional means you don't have to bother with reading posts of discussions you're participating in anymore?
 

 

Dermy was merely stating all colonies in his region should be put into hibernation.

His answer was right and there is nothing wrong with what he said, however his answer also was off topic.
To be clear, the worst thing that could have happened here is that EnderAnts would have put it's ants into the fridge to hibernate killing the eggs in the process and being left with a queen incapable of laying another batch because she had used up all her resources on the one that just got killed. Admittedly this is unlikely because queens usually have reserves but we don't know how well-fed his queen is and queens that get ejected from their nest very late in the year have a tendency to be somewhat underfed, so there's no point in taking any risk.

 

If he could just leave people alone, and mind his own business that would be great.

Oh yes, let us just create a private little safe space for everyone, so nobody has to actually bother with being criticized for being lazy or doing stupid stuff. Because not bothering about anything will definitely make the world a better place. Maybe we can even build some walls so we don't have to see the terrible world out there and admit it's there anymore, that sounds like a good plan which could definitely improve the situation.

 

You know, maybe you're right. Maybe I shouldn't bother with people not reading the post they're answering to and just do the same. Maybe I shouldn't have bothered that GAN was spreading one of the worst creeping ecological disasters on the planet. Maybe your ancestors shouldn't have bothered with all this exhausting independence stuff or with fighting some fascists on a far-away continent either. Maybe people shouldn't have bothered about CFC destroying the Ozone layer or humanity scraping worldwide nuclear annihilation multiple times - we would likely all be dead but at least we'd die happy in our personal safe spaces relieved from ever having to take responsibility for anything, let alone the burden of improving ourselves.

 

Edited by Serafine, October 25 2017 - 3:52 PM.

[T.C.]

I love how you take all I wrote, and break it into small qoutes because you don't have the intelligence to respond to my paragraph as a whole. I'm not oblivious to the fact you do this so you can take a sentence that would sound bad alone, and make me look bad. However for it to be proper grammar, I needed to add periods, then a follow up sentence to that. Otherwise you have a run-on sentence. But you take one sentence and respond. In any discussion the sentences prior and before make a large difference in the overall writing. My apologies if you are simply ignorant on the matter? Then you start going off on random subjects that weren't even mentioned. They are completely pointless to the discussion.

Me and you both know how much you like drama. And I won't be the guy that's giving it to you. I don't have time to write up a big, long, and pointless reply that in the end won't matter in the end anyway. This is the internet and I am not going to fight with some guy clear in germany. I got a life to live, and don't have time to mess with this. You know as well as I do what it is your doing. Stop being so darn annoying. This has nothing to do with you bringing the GAN selling fire ants to attention and you know it. I could go through your posts and start showing you what both of us know. But again, I don't have the free time you do.

You have yourself a good day.

Edited by T.C., October 25 2017 - 5:33 PM.

[Serafine]

I love how you take all I wrote, and break it into small qoutes because you don't have the intelligence to respond to my paragraph as a whole. I'm not oblivious to the fact you do this so you can take a sentence that would sound bad alone, and make me look bad. However for it to be proper grammar, I needed to add periods, then a follow up sentence to that. Otherwise you have a run-on sentence. But you take one sentence and respond. In any discussion the sentences prior and before make a large difference in the overall writing. My apologies if you are simply ignorant on the matter? Then you start going off on random subjects that weren't even mentioned. They are completely pointless to the discussion.

I'm breaking up posts for the sake of readability. I could of course just quote the whole block and use different colors to indicate to what part of it I'm currently referring but that would make the forum look like a painter's palette.

 

Also I've quoted essentially everything that's relevant, the rest of your post is just pointless insults of you feeling annoyed by someone actually pointing out that giving generalized answers to specific questions isn't helping anyone. Admittedly I could have been nicer and I would have been if Dermy had been a new member but he's been here for quite some time and should know that actually reading a post before replying to it is something that can be expected from a long-term forum member. If the experienced users don't do it, who will? Just imagine every new user posting answers by only reading the topic title - the forum would degrade into an unreadable mess that looked like a Youtube comment section.

 

 

 

Me and you both know how much you like drama. And I won't be the guy that's giving it to you. I don't have time to write up a big, long, and pointless reply that in the end won't matter in the end anyway. This is the internet and I am not going to fight with some guy clear in germany. I got a life to live, and don't have time to mess with this. You know as well as I do what it is your doing. Stop being so darn annoying. This has nothing to do with you bringing the GAN selling fire ants to attention and you know it. I could go through your posts and start showing you what both of us know. But again, I don't have the free time you do.

For me the whole affair was done after pointing out that Dermy's post doesn't exactly help EnderAnts and that this could have been avoided by carefully reading the initial question (also I'm not angry at him and willing to give him the doubt of just being sleepy or exhausted, like we all sometimes are).

The only one creating a massive drama here is you.

Edited by Serafine, October 25 2017 - 10:38 PM.

[nurbs]

 Maybe I shouldn't have bothered that GAN was spreading one of the worst creeping ecological disasters on the planet. 

 

Seriously?

 

 

I love how you take all I wrote, and break it into small qoutes because you don't have the intelligence to respond to my paragraph as a whole. I'm not oblivious to the fact you do this so you can take a sentence that would sound bad alone, and make me look bad. However for it to be proper grammar, I needed to add periods, then a follow up sentence to that. Otherwise you have a run-on sentence. But you take one sentence and respond. In any discussion the sentences prior and before make a large difference in the overall writing. My apologies if you are simply ignorant on the matter? Then you start going off on random subjects that weren't even mentioned. They are completely pointless to the discussion.

Me and you both know how much you like drama. And I won't be the guy that's giving it to you. I don't have time to write up a big, long, and pointless reply that in the end won't matter in the end anyway. This is the internet and I am not going to fight with some guy clear in germany. I got a life to live, and don't have time to mess with this. You know as well as I do what it is your doing. Stop being so darn annoying. This has nothing to do with you bringing the GAN selling fire ants to attention and you know it. I could go through your posts and start showing you what both of us know. But again, I don't have the free time you do.

You have yourself a good day.

 

He really loves bringing up that GAN thing, doesn't he? 

[T.C.]

 

 Maybe I shouldn't have bothered that GAN was spreading one of the worst creeping ecological disasters on the planet. 

 

Seriously?

 

 

I love how you take all I wrote, and break it into small qoutes because you don't have the intelligence to respond to my paragraph as a whole. I'm not oblivious to the fact you do this so you can take a sentence that would sound bad alone, and make me look bad. However for it to be proper grammar, I needed to add periods, then a follow up sentence to that. Otherwise you have a run-on sentence. But you take one sentence and respond. In any discussion the sentences prior and before make a large difference in the overall writing. My apologies if you are simply ignorant on the matter? Then you start going off on random subjects that weren't even mentioned. They are completely pointless to the discussion.

Me and you both know how much you like drama. And I won't be the guy that's giving it to you. I don't have time to write up a big, long, and pointless reply that in the end won't matter in the end anyway. This is the internet and I am not going to fight with some guy clear in germany. I got a life to live, and don't have time to mess with this. You know as well as I do what it is your doing. Stop being so darn annoying. This has nothing to do with you bringing the GAN selling fire ants to attention and you know it. I could go through your posts and start showing you what both of us know. But again, I don't have the free time you do.

You have yourself a good day.

 

He really loves bringing up that GAN thing, doesn't he? 

 

haha, yeah he does. Tell you what serafine. You win! You aren't worth my time.

[GeorgeK]

It would be great if you people deleted your comments and stop polluting rather informative thread with your nonsense...