Would heating them up make a difference? – Issue #101

Hello Explorer,
A few weeks ago, in Season of Excitement and Adventure – Issue #99, I mentioned that I did an experiment with my ants. Today, I want to explore the experiment and results, and discover something very interesting about ant activity and how environmental factors influence it.
The experiment started because one of my two Tawny Balbyter (Camponotus fulvopilosus) colonies was struggling. They lost a lot of workers, going from around 300 to less than 30. What caused this and what the results were is a discussion for later. For now, it's important to know that these ants were struggling, and I feared I might lose the colony altogether. So, I did something.
I decided to do an experiment to help the colony and give them the best chances of survival. After a deep dive into literature and investigating many options, I decided to keep it simple.
The goal was simple: they lost workers, so they needed to rebuild their colony. That happens when the queen lays eggs. The challenge was that it was the beginning of winter, and even during much of spring, Balbyters are in diapause and don't lay eggs.
My plan was simple: overcome the diapause challenges by simulating spring. I would increase the temperature to mimic what they would experience in spring, then simulate a spring rainstorm, and finally return the temperature to the rainstorm conditions. This should theoretically break their diapause, let the queen lay eggs, and let them recover on their own.
Simulating spring seemed simple at the time. In practice, it meant putting the colony in a somewhat insulated tank (an old snake cage works well). Then, I would heat the colony with an infrared heating lamp to simulate the sun. After a few nice and hot "spring" days, I would give them water, spray their enclosure, and slightly overwater their nest.
This didn't break their diapause. They did eat slightly more, spend more time outside the nest in the basking spot, and were more active in the nest. However, the queen didn't lay any eggs. It was as if it was just a hot winter.
I tried to simulate a spring rainstorm multiple times, but they still refused to lay eggs. In fact, none of the colonies I subjected to the experiment showed any signs of breaking diapause early.
Observing the activity of wild and captive colonies, and the sudden break in diapause on the Friday after a good rainstorm on the Thursday before Newsletter Issue #99, I hypothesized that the ants must be able to sense changes in air pressure. This is the only environmental condition that I couldn't simulate in captivity. I hypothesize that changes in atmospheric pressure are an important part of the required changes to trigger the break in diapause, along with changes in temperature, environmental moisture, and humidity.
Have you ever noticed how small changes in environmental conditions can have such a big impact? Did you know that even fish are affected by changes in atmospheric pressure? During sharp rises or falls in air pressure, they are more active than during constant air pressure. What other animals do you know that are also sensitive to atmospheric pressure?

If you would like to send me a message with your answers, feel free to do so on Instagram or Twitter @abugmanslife or via email to [email protected].