Hibernating Carpenter Ants

A couple weeks ago when I was moving some firewood at the side of my house, I found carpenter ants hibernating inside one of the cut logs. These guys nest in logs, stumps, hollow trees and our homes. They like to tunnel into moist, rotting wood and other soft materials to make satellite nests, in your house. An ant’s temperature changes in response to the atmospheric temperature, when it’s cold they become slothful and inactive. These carpenter ant species living in our temperate climates must have a provision for overwintering. The ants enter a state of slowed metabolism called diapause. The queen stops laying eggs. The workers develop large fat bodies, which can be seen as their stomach swell in size. The workers begin to aggregate more than before. The larval stage also overwintered in the nest, but pupae and eggs go not. The entrance to the ant’s nest is usually closed up with soil, sand and leaves. When spring arrives with warmer temperatures the ants to become more active and the cycle begins again.

http://www.delta-optimist.com/opinion/blogs/blog-hibernating-carpenter-ants-1.4927765

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