68 replies to this topic

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Oh if Reticulitermes used to be illegal to ship then the ones from Carolina Biological are most likely Zootermopsis. And they do sell cultures of 100 workers. Is the Termitat good in your opinion?

[Nare]

Oh if Reticulitermes used to be illegal to ship then the ones from Carolina Biological are most likely Zootermopsis. And they do sell cultures of 100 workers. Is the Termitat good in your opinion?

Afaik Carolina and Wards had special permits to ship termites, probably with the idea that they're used for scientific reasons. The termitat is definitely a good choice, I know a few members around here have had them, and they seem content with them.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

I think I'll buy the Termitat once I save up enough money. I just want to have some termites to look at and the Termitat is an idiot proof way to get that. Reticulitermes seems nice but I'm not convinced I wouldn't end up killing them. I wonder why more people on this forum don't try to keep termites. 

Edited by Antennal_Scrobe, September 5 2019 - 1:55 PM.

[NickAnter]

I think I'll buy the Termitat once I save up enough money. I just want to have some termites to look at and the Termitat is an idiot proof way to get that. Reticulitermes seems nice but I'm not convinced I wouldn't end up killing them. I wonder why more people on this forum don't try to keep termites.

I know why. Their parents do not let them. No matter what the termite enthusiast says, they will still just keep saying no.

[Nare]

Update 16 (18/1/20)

 

Welcome to the third decade of the 21st century. Termite brainpower is not yet greater than human brainpower, but it is on the rise...

 

It's been a hot minute since the last post, and that's mostly because not much has happened. You may also have noticed that the name of this journal has changed, and that's because we have some new inhabitants in this journal... my colony of Zootermopsis nevadensis.

 

 

I got them in a trade with LC3, and they've been sitting in this tube munching away for a few months. At first, it was just the 4 imagoes, but then there were eggs - lots of them.

 

 

And then there was one larva...

 

 

And then there were many!

 

 

The lighting inside the tube kinda sucks because of the way they've excavated the wood, so the imagoes themselves are kind of difficult to photograph. nevadensis look similar to angusticollis, but they're slightly smaller, much darker in colour, and as far as I know they can tolerate slightly drier conditions. Here are a few pics of them that I managed to snap:

 

 

That's about it picture - wise for the Zoot. Will probably update you again about them when workers arrive. I'm fairly certain they get at least one soldier in their first batch of workers, so that'll be exciting. I've kept some Zoot before (all angusticollis), but they've all expired for unknown reasons - presumably imperfect care, probably the setup. These guys seem to be doing well, however, and they've made it past the riskiest part of their development, that being the founding stage. The next hurdle is either moving them into a new setup with fresh wood, or refilling their tube with fresh wood - they seem to like a very specific kind of wood, and I suspect it will be difficult to work around them without squishing them.

 

With that said, onto the Rets!

 

I think I had 5(?) pairs of imagoes when I last updated. I sent 2 to LC3 in that trade, and one never produced any eggs and subsequently expired. I suspect they may have been same-sex. The two remaining pairs that I have left are doing alright - the nanitics have grown up a bit, and there's been some excavation, but besides that, not much has changed. I suspect they've entered a state of reduced egg laying due to the time of year. They're being heated (mostly to maintain humidity in their setup), but they still haven't produced any more eggs as far as I can see. No soldiers yet either which kind of sucks. I suspect they'll start laying again in the spring. Anyways, here are some pics:

 

 

Here's the setup: downsized since last time, but seeing as I only have 2 colonies left, it works fine. The small setup circulates moisture well, and they remain well hydrated - the cotton is pretty wet, but inside the tubes it remains relatively dry - no risk of drowning here.

 

 

As you can see, both colonies still have both of their imagoes, which is a relief. Unfortunately, they are looking a bit skinny, but I assume that's because of their pause in reproduction - they are well hydrated and surrounded by cellulose.

 

 

I added a small piece of wood to one of the tubes, and they've been chewing away at it. The workers in that tube have visibly darker guts than in the other tube.

 

 

That's about all I have to report for now. Hopefully when spring arrives, my Rets will start growing again, and my Zoots will have full grown workers (and maybe a soldier). All we can do is wait and see...

[AntsDakota]

And then there was one larva...

Did you mean nymph, or does this species have larvae?

[Nare]

 

And then there was one larva...

Did you mean nymph, or does this species have larvae?

 

I say larva and I mean "nymph", but termite names are dumb because "nymph" is also used for another caste in the termite lifecycle. So I just call them larva.

[OhNoNotAgain]

This is cool, thanks for keeping up this journal. I once had a nuptial flight happen right by my house. (A few years ago, before I had ever heard of keeping pet termites.) I freaked and squashed all the pairs I could find ... I mean they WERE heading right for the house and termite treatments are pretty expensive (not to mention sucks to have your house falling apart)! Now I'm kinda wishing I'd kept some. Though a Termitat might be the way to go in my case ... lol. "All I want for Christmas is a Termitat...."

[Nare]

This is cool, thanks for keeping up this journal. I once had a nuptial flight happen right by my house. (A few years ago, before I had ever heard of keeping pet termites.) I freaked and squashed all the pairs I could find ... I mean they WERE heading right for the house and termite treatments are pretty expensive (not to mention sucks to have your house falling apart)! Now I'm kinda wishing I'd kept some. Though a Termitat might be the way to go in my case ... lol. "All I want for Christmas is a Termitat...."

Yeah termitats are really nice. I'd like to make something similar someday, but I'm not super handy, so for now my termites just live in various containers and test tubes.

[Nare]

Update 17 (17/02/20)

 

"Wow - another update? This Nare guy's really good about keeping his journal up-to-date unlike someone else whose name starts with the letter 'L' and ends with a '3'"

 

Yes, it's true - another update, and not even a whole month after the previous one. Where to start...

 

The Zootermopsis nevadensis are still doing really well. I feel their wood might be running a little bit thin, so I've connected up another test tube for them to forage / move into should they feel the need. The real test here is to see whether or not they like the wood - LC3 said these termites grow very well on a particular wood that I have been unable to identify and obtain, so I'll just hope they do well on some of the brown stuff. I believe it's a rotten softwood of some sort, collected it from a forested area that should be pesticide free - it's soft enough that I can break it apart with my hands. Anyways, here's a pic of their current setup:

 

Also, that presoldier that I spotted in the previous post has molted into a proper soldier. Here are some pics:

 

Unfortunately, the colony has plastered the sides of their tube with poop, so it's getting harder and harder to see what they're doing. However, it looks like everything is still going well - always lots of eggs, still all 4 imagoes as far as I can tell, and more and more workers every day. Very exciting stuff.

 

Now, for the Reticulitermes. Don't remember if I included this in the last post, but unfortunately all of the workers in one of my founding Ret colonies dug out of the cotton and ended up drowning in the water of the moisture chamber. Thankfully, both imagoes were still alive and well, so I stuffed a small test tube with some of the aforementioned rotten softwood and introduced the two. They dug right in and were gone from view within a few hours. A few weeks later, I checked on them, and found that I could see some antennae through a gap in the wood. And then I saw another pair. So I assume the two are still alive and well. I'm unsure as to whether they have any eggs again, but I hope they'll make a full recovery.

 

With their success in mind, I decided to move the other founding colony into a similar test tube. I gently pulled their current tube apart...

 

... and placed them all in a new tube.

 

All of their workers made it over just fine, and when I checked on them today, they were busy burrowing into the wood. I'll provide some pictures when they make more progress in the next update.

 

Finally, I just wanted to report on some progress that I'd made today. Some of you may remember my Ret tub, just a container full to the brim with wood that had had termites in it upon collection. I'd been neglecting it and putting off sifting through the whole thing to extract termites, and this weekend I finally sat down to work my way through it, only to find that most of the wood was devoid of termites - isopods, springtails, and centipedes (dreadful creatures) sure, but no termites. Except for a single piece:

 

The container had been full of wood mulch / soil similar to this:

 

Anyways, upon chipping away at that larger piece of wood, a soldier popped out:

 

And when I dug deeper, I found some more workers, an angry soldier who was none to pleased to see me, and, this is the best part, some larvae:

 

This suggests that, somewhere in this piece of wood, there are two or more reproductives, and enough workers to support them. This is practically a first for me, as the only other time I managed to raise a colony splinter to larvae, the colony died out within a matter of weeks. Hopefully the same fate will not befall this colony.

 

Anyways, I moved them into a new setup to try and maintain humidity. I also offered them a chunk of the rotten softwood just to see if they would bother with it at all. Here's a picture of their setup:

 

Yes, that's Saran wrap, and that's because these containers unfortunately lack lids. The piece of wood the colony is in is too large for some of my containers, and too small for others, so I decided to just cobble together this setup and forget about things looking nice. I poked some holes in the Saran wrap to facilitate gas exchange. Here's hoping this colony does alright.

 

Anyways, that's about it for this update. I'll get some pictures of the founding ret colony that I moved into the wood test tube, and I'll be sure to update you all on any other happenings. There might even be some new termites by then...

[Nare]

Update 18 (23/03/20)

 

Time to update this thing.

 

The Zootermopsis are still doing well - no pics cause they've covered the walls of their tube with poop, so you can't really see much, but I see workers wandering around from time to time, and lots of eggs. Fairly certain all 4 reproductives are still alive. I have the other tube still taped to the original tube, and they still haven't touched it. Looks like they're running low on wood though, so it should only be a matter of time before they move.

 

I think the two founding colonies are still doing well. Can't see much going on in the tube w/o the workers, but I assume they're still alive from the smears of poop/wood that I see crop up from time to time. The other colony is up to 4 or 5 eggs last time I checked - the wood's definitely doing the trick. No soldiers yet, but maybe I'll see one soon.

 

Finally, the colony I had in the desk organizer setup. I moved them out of the hard white wood into the soft brown wood, and let them stew in there for a while. They have about 5 soldiers, a couple hundred workers (I think, I'm not very good at estimating population sizes), and I saw a few ergatoid reproductives as well. Today, I moved them out of their cube of wood into my homemade termitat. It's just a petri dish with a layer of wood on the bottom and a layer of coco husk ontop, to maintain humidity and cushion the termites / wood. I managed to find 2 binder clips to act as legs for the thing, and I added an elastic band to serve as a gasket to stop workers from escaping. It was suggested I add a layer of plaster / grout on the bottom to make the setup less "tall" and force the termites to dig against the cover of the dish. If they disappear into the setup, I'll likely try the plaster thing.

 

Anyways, here's some pics:

Here's an ergatoid reproductive (essentially a reproductive worker). Usually only appear in captivity. Might get some proper neotonics when the colony grows up a bit more.

 

Unfortunately the dish has started to fog up, but visibility should improve as it settles down.

 

Assuming the binder clips don't pop off (and send wood, dirt and termites flying everywhere, not actually a first in my case), this should serve to be a decent long-ish term setup. I might be able to add water with a syringe, otherwise I can just take the lid off and add water that way. I suspect it'll stay moist for at least a little while though, but I'll keep it on my desk and watch it just in case. I'm excited to finally have my termites in a display piece, and I kind of want to see if I can make something like this for my Zoot too - I'd probably have to find a bigger dish though.

 

Here's the Imgur link for those who can't see the pictures in the post.

[ponerinecat]

My idea has been mentioned 

[Nare]

Update 19 (28/03/20)

 

Just a quick update. A little while after I moved my Reticulitermes into their new petri dish home, I moved my Zootermopsis nevadensis into a similar setup (I made a little guide for making your own if you're interested). Here's some pics:

In this last pic, you can see two of the reproductives in this colony mating. Unfortunately, this setup does get slightly foggy from time to time, but for the most part the view's super clear. And, because Zoot. are bigger than Rets., they can't hide as easily in the wood, and so I always have a good view of them.

 

Finally, just wanted to share a picture of my Reticulitermes flavipes founding colony's second batch of eggs:

As you can see, the brood pile is finally growing. They now have about a half dozen eggs. What's interesting is that the eggs are super white - their first batch was somewhat yellowy in colour, and all the eggs that I've observed in the few colony fragments that I've collected have also been yellowy. Not sure what's up, but we'll see. Hoping this colony really starts to take off this year, as it's been almost 9 or 10 months now since the alates were collected, and the colony has less than a dozen workers. Still no soldier, but maybe it'll show up in this new batch.

 

Anyways, that's it for now.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

I think I have Zootermopisis in my area. I saw a long insect like thing (longer than the other one) and both with wings behind my recycling bin last year. I assumed it was termites but my father did his research and said it was, but the genus was never identified...anyways that's my contribution to the topic. So, it looks good Nare, keep up the good work!

[Nare]

I think I have Zootermopisis in my area. I saw a long insect like thing (longer than the other one) and both with wings behind my recycling bin last year. I assumed it was termites but my father did his research and said it was, but the genus was never identified...anyways that's my contribution to the topic. So, it looks good Nare, keep up the good work!

Unfortunately Zootermopsis are a west coast thing - think mainly British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, California. They do go somewhat inland, but not really past the rocky mountains from what I know. Easy way to tell if it's a termite is if it has 2 pairs of wings, and all wings are equal in length - that's where the somewhat dated classification of isoptera comes from - iso meaning equal or same, optera meaning wings (I think).

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

yeah, they did have two sets of wings and looked a lot like the ones you're housing, which is how I remembered...

[Swirlysnowflake]

https://arachnoboard...3/#post-3035119

hey nare! If you have an arachnoboards accounts, pls check out this thread of mine, need some help with termites 

Edited by Swirlysnowflake, April 3 2020 - 4:46 PM.

[ponerinecat]

Looks like retics.

[Nare]

Update 20 (24/05/20)

 

Reticulitermes flavipes colony:

These guys are dead.   I was keeping them in one of the imitation termitats, but never really saw any activity. Decided to pull the thing apart today, and all I found were desiccated soldier head capsules. Not sure what killed them - I doubt it was the setup, but it could have been from stress caused by moving into the setup. Never really had any luck with colony chunks in the past. Fortunately it's warm enough for termites to become active again, so I'll go and set some traps and hopefully collect mass quantities of individuals in order to try again.

 

Reticulitermes flavipes pair 1:

These guys are doing really well. Always at least a half dozen eggs lying around, and lots of nymphs too. No soldiers yet, but hopefully soon. Take a look:

 

Reticulitermes flavipes pair 2:

These guys are also doing well, though they're harder to see than the other pair. I see the occasional egg, and I think I spotted a worker a while ago. I see the imagoes from time to time which suggests they're still alive. I guess they're just doing their thing.

 

Zootermopsis nevadensis nuttingi colony:

These guys are also doing well, so well infact that they chewed through most of the wood in their imitation termitat in a matter of weeks. Though I enjoyed the visibility of the setup, it's clearly not suitable for such a hungry colony. Moved them into a container full of wood, which sacrifices visibility for food supply. I can still see them when I pull a piece of wood out every once in a while. Checked on them today, found they were all packed into one particular piece of wood, and I only knew they were in there once I'd broken a little piece off. Now that I know they're still okay even if there is practically no trace of them, I think I can leave them alone for a few months and let them do their thing.

This one's carrying poop pellets to block up the breach I made.

The soldier is upside down, but otherwise healthy.

 

 

That's it for this update. I should be getting a ton of Zootermopsis angusticollis, some Reticulitermes flavipes "Okanagan" pairs as well as hopefully more of the Reticulitermes in my area potentially in the next few weeks, so there should be some new faces next update.

[TennesseeAnts]

My Rets are doing well, too. They have 5 reproductive, 1 soldier, 30 or so eggs, 10 or so nymphs and 17 workers.