Potentially controversial post here, but here we go.
"Too long/didn't read" version: How drastically does not hibernating ants affect their life span?
Longer version: I've only been ant keeping for a little less than 15 months starting from my first queen caught. This is the first year I have workers hibernating. Last year I only had two or three queens. From what I've seen on other threads and posts on Facebook groups, every year hibernation questions come up. I usually skim them to see if there is anything I didn't know, but my queens survived me just putting them in the fridge and started laying after I took them out three and a half months later, so I wasn't too concerned with how to hibernate them. When anyone asks about not hibernating their ants they are told it shortens the queens lifespan. Then a comment on a Facebook post caught my eye. It basically said there aren't many posts about older colonies and ant keeping is one of the hobbies that has a high turn over rate. A lot of people join, then quit within a year or two, so most people wouldn't see a colony die of old age as is. That got me thinking. I've got a Tetramorium immigrans colony. There is no shortage of them and I'd have no problem catching more. We even have a thread about one member trying to kill the ones in his/her yard so they can see more native ants. Basically, How bad will it affect them if I don't hibernate them? Does anyone know the difference in lifespan? What is the normal lifespan for a Tetramorium colony?
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