ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Deveant]

Hi guys. I got Messor Barbarus.
I was lowering temperature for my ants by about 0.5 degree each day for their hibernation period. And some ants starting to die I got about 7 dead over two weeks period... Is it normal? I just though maybe some die before hibernation?..
As well what do you recommend to do in this situation: Queen and most of the brood sit in a tube where water is almost out and next to them other tube with full of water. I worried if I they start to hibernate they will sit in dry tube and because they hibernating they won't move to new wet tube. So what best to do? Any suggestions welcome thanks!

[gabranth]

what temp are you keeping them at?

[Deveant]

now is 21c

[jartok]

u want it around 10c to 15c i keep mine at 12c - 13c

[Deveant]

I know about that i need to keep them 10-15 but as I said i worried about humidity.

[gabranth]

my ants are at 70% humidity

[JimmyVe]

You are worried that the tube will dry out before they come out of hibernation ?

Well i don't know how much water there is in the tube left but they only need to hibernate for 2-4 months, so if you give them a short one this year (2 months) and they can move into the new tube if they are waking up, that would be good.

[Acid]

Have your ants the possibility to move into the other tube? Are the tubes connected? Messor barbarus are even moving around in hibernation, not like north-european ants which are sittig still together. So the ants should move into the other tube as the old´s getting too dry. My Messor barbarus colony is now in hibernation by 12°c and there are still ants outside in the arena. So the one dry tube shouldn´t be a problem.

[Deveant]

2Acid Yes tubes are 1cm next to each other so I hope they can move. I guess just in case I give them short hibernation.
Thanks guys for your advice.

[Acid]

Here you can see the setup that i had for my Messor barbarus colony in the grounding phase: Link

Maybe this is a good option for yourcolony, too. With such a setup they can move in both glasses and you can even feed them without disturbing them.