An Ant Keepers Guide to Hibernation

Understanding hibernation is an important aspect of ant keeping. Ants living in northern states need a dormancy period to simulate the winter months. Ants create more glycerol, which serves as an anti-freeze to prepare for the winter. During this time, ants need to be in cold temperatures 

Is My Colony Trying to Hibernate?

Usually a colony will exhibit signs when it is about to hibernate. There are some genus-specific signs and some general traits. Colonies will have distended gasters (filled with food) and foraging behaviors will slow. Small colonies in a non-hibernating state will sometimes exhibit similar behaviour, so genus-specific clues may be useful.

General traits include a slowdown in behaviour and distended gasters as colonies

Certain genera, including but not limited to Aphaenogaster, Camponotus, Lasius, Tapinoma, Tetramorium, Solenopsis, and Myrmica will slow down or stop egg production, and larvae will stop growing. In particular, Camponotus larvae will slightly shrivel and become yellow.

Certain genera, including but not limited to Formica, will stop brood production altogether, (No brood will be present in the nest)

You may notice that some colonies do not exhibit any specific behaviour. 

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT MANY SPECIES APPEAR TO ONLY NEED HIBERNATION IN THEIR  FIRST YEAR, PARTICULARLY, NO WORKERS WILL BE PRODUCED AND/OR WEAKER/LESS WORKERS WILL BE PRODUCED. FOR MANY OF THESE SPECIES, HIBERNATION AFTER THE FIRST YEAR IS OPTIONAL, including but not limited to certain species of Formica, Myrmica and Camponotus.

Pre-Hibernation Care

Over feed ants before hibernation because they need food stores for the winter is a good rule of thumb for ant keeping. 

During hibernation, an ant-keeper must pay attention to ensure the formicarium or test tube is properly hydrated. You may need to check up on a regular basis. Thankfully, a cold nest loses much less moisture due to a reduction in evaporation.

You can get away with watering the nest in intervals 2-3x as long.

Ex. if you watered your colony once per week, you can switch to a schedule of once every 2-3 weeks during hibernation

Some species, such as Ponera and Stigmatomma, must eat during hibernation unless they are in sub-zero temperatures. For most species, no feeding is required, but it is always a safe ant keeping practice to offer a sugar source.

Ant Keeper Techniques

Ants can survive anywhere where it is cool. We use a mini fridge, but alternatives include wine coolers, or a cool garage. You must pay attention to ensure that test tubes do not freeze, since it will enter the "ant" part of the tube.

As for temperature, ants have very different cold tolerances. As a catch-all, I hibernate my ants around 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Wood-nesting species, like Camponotus or Myrmica rubra can survive much deeper winters, going far below zero-degree temperatures.

Hibernation Length

Some species need longer hibernation lengths, while some colonies need short hibernation lengths. We recomend the following hibernation lengths, and you are free to make your own adjustments as you become more skilled at ant keeping:

Aphaenogaster: 3 months

Brachymyrmex: 3 months

Camponotus: 4 months

Crematogaster: 3-4 months

Formica: 3-4 months

Lasius: 4 months

Myrmica: 2-3 months

Tapinoma: 3 months

Temnothorax: 3 months

Tetramorium: Can survive without hibernation, but does best  with 3 months

Solenopsis: 3 months

Is Hibernation Necessary for Ant Keeping?

As a general rule, native Canadian species need hibernation periods. Otherwise, the queen's lifespan will be drastically shortened and/or will lay less eggs. Some myrmicine ants, like Tetramorium, Myrmica and Aphaenogaster do not seem to mind as much. However, they do much better with a hibernation period than without.

We sell some species of ants found in greenhouse, and these species do not need hibernation. Pogonomyrmex occidentalis queens native to the United States do not need a hibernation period. It may be important to note that colonies in hot places near mountain ranges, such as Formica in the Californian mountains, do better with a 3-4 month hibernation period as well.

If you want to learn more about how to care for your specific species of ants, click here to check out our ant keeping care guides!