ANTSTORE World of Ants

[ducatiman]

i lifted a slab up in my garden today where a colony was active last year and there are a few ant active and on the look out for food,its early Feb ,abit early to be awake yet,has anyone else noticed any activity in the UK yet ??

[miszt]

theres been sum activity, its been a very mild winter so far, but feb is usually very cold, so i'd expect them to go bak into hibernation soon, unless it stays warm

[JimmyVe]

We had a temperature of 16°c yesterday, felt like summer already, but no activity yet (not that i have seen), i think ants here are still in hibernation, the night are still cold (about 0°c).

[ratgreen]

yer i had an ant walking about in my bathroom a few days back. lasius n.

[ant dude]

lol u sure it did'nt escape from 1 of u'r colonies ratgreen.....

kk, must of missed that post

[ratgreen]

nah really it was walking about in circles for ages and all my colonies are pretty small, i said this in on of my posts in the ytong topic

[corydoras]

we have temperatures between 13-15 ° since a few days here in germany, so i went to the garden today in hope of finding some active ants.
I was surprised because i have seen many Lasius niger, and they were very active (moving fast).

Im worried now, my Formica fusca Queen is in hibernation currently (on the balcony). What if she awakes and lays some eggs? It is very likely that the temperture will drop again to 5°, is it possible that the eggs/larvae will survive this?

[Phasmid]

Talking about L.niger waking up early, I found some of them expanding their nest in mid January on a cold wet day this year .

[JimmyVe]

@ corydoras; well if she have eggs take her inside than, if the temperature will go down again the eggs will die. (go bad) It is a bit to early but if she is out of hibernation to lay eggs it is better she stays out.

That is wired Phasmid. But it could happen.

[corydoras]

i have checked the test-tube today, and i could not find any eggs. But my fusca queen was not sleeping, she was moving a little bit. I remember that she was like dead (not even moving her antenna) when the temperatures were like 0° - 6°.

[sithmaster676]

went on holiday this weekend to a place called center parcs in thetford forest, and they was lots of formica fusca workers active throughout the whole park, properly coz temps reached about 15c.
although the temp at night was still well below freezing point
Sithmaster676

[corydoras]

temps reached about 15c.
although the temp at night was still well below freezing point

Thats exactly the same what we have here, the temperature is around 15° throughout the day and plummets to around 0° in the night. So i hope the cold nights will prevent her from laying eggs.

[sithmaster676]

yeah well i think the weather is going to be like this for a while, its still to early before the frosts at night stop.
Sithmaster676

[JimmyVe]

If she is moving that does not mean she is awake. I think as long if there are no eggs you don't need to worry.

[ratgreen]

oh darn i have a huge pile of eggs in my LN(lasius niger) test tubes should i take them in?