53 replies to this topic

[OhNoNotAgain]

How do Termitats work?

 

It's a sealed container with a piece of wood and some dampwood termite workers (and probably a soldier or two - the video was from before the soldiers got eaten) inside.

The human only has to water it periodically, and it's supposed to be good for a few years. In theory they are likely to develop some secondary reproductives so in theory the colony can grow.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, November 12 2020 - 8:17 PM.

[MinigunL5]

How do they develop reproductives? I thought there had to be a lot of workers for that to happen.

[OhNoNotAgain]

How do they develop reproductives? I thought there had to be a lot of workers for that to happen.

 

Does it? Well some termite keepers think my Termitat has reproductives already based on photos ... it came with roughly 30 termites. However, I have not seen any sign of new termites.

I guess the lack of reproductives just naturally induces molting into reproductives??

[OhNoNotAgain]

Today I watered the Termitat and observed the pre-alate finding and eating something wet-looking and squishy. I don't know what it was....

 

[OhNoNotAgain]

In addition to the video above, some photos:

 

In case you don't have a feel for how chonky these termites are:

 

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Huge pile of frass:

 

 IMG_3830.jpg   110.36KB   2 downloads

 

One of the darker colored possibly reproductive termites getting what might be trophallaxis attention:

 

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[M_Ants]

Update? I just caught some dampwoods myself. I was wondering if there is anything special about the Termitat I should know because I was going to build my own. Thanks.

[mmcguffi]

Update? I just caught some dampwoods myself. I was wondering if there is anything special about the Termitat I should know because I was going to build my own. Thanks.

Not trying to hijack this journal, but I also have a termitat. I would stay there isn't much fancy about the termitat that you need to know. It's just a lightly-rotted slice of douglas fir sealed between acrylic. Every week or two you add water to the top of the wood slice to keep it moist

 

+1 to an update though! I've had my termitat for a couple of months now, and I havent seen any signs of eggs

Edited by mmcguffi, January 12 2021 - 9:32 AM.

[M_Ants]

Thanks. I believe the website mentioned some cleaning brush thing. Do you what that is?

[OhNoNotAgain]

The Termitat does not come with a brush. There is a picture on their site showing a brush for their refill service though - presumably they use the brush to move termites or clean things?

I haven’t seen eggs either. I still have maybe(?) twentyish termites, some fairly small, and the one prealate.

Thanks to these comments I added a little bit of water today. Here are some not up-close photos of front and back. Initially there were no holes going through the wood to the back.

 

ANNNND of course the photos are rotated   But you still get the idea. I'm not going to bother trying to get them to show up correctly - the nest is round and you can figure out the frass isn't magically stuck to the right side.

 

Front: You can see the water seeping downward (to the right). Yes, the wood developed that big crack.

 

 B9005697-6E61-41C7-BBEA-F8826D3DCBCF.jpeg   371.93KB   1 downloads

 

Back:

 48F0E036-FBAF-497C-ADD8-09E02BC81B21.jpeg   400KB   1 downloads

 

Oh, I will add that I dug up an old computer monitor privacy screen and I lean it against the front of the Termitat to give them some semblance of darkness.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, January 12 2021 - 9:09 PM.

[M_Ants]

Does the hole in the acrylic extend into the tunnels or does the hole just lead to the rim of the wood and then the water soaks in? Hope that makes sense.

[OhNoNotAgain]

Does the hole in the acrylic extend into the tunnels or does the hole just lead to the rim of the wood and then the water soaks in? Hope that makes sense.

 

Okay I looked closely and I don't think it is. It extends pretty close to the surface of the wooden ring so the water just goes right into the irrigation hole. By the way, I am using a THA syringe to inject water. The syringe they provided isn't as good for the purpose as the THA syringe IMHO.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, January 12 2021 - 9:25 PM.

[M_Ants]

What's the irrigation hole?

[OhNoNotAgain]

What's the irrigation hole?

 

Well, okay. 

The Termitat is acrylic sandwiching the round slice of wood, right? Well there are gray plastic spokes holding the round wood in place within the acrylic. Some of the spokes physically reach the wood (bark) surface, but since the wood isn't perfectly round, some spokes do not.

 

At the very top of the Termitat is a place to inject water. The water goes into the topmost gray plastic spoke, which is hollow. The spoke goes right up to the wood surface. There is a hole drilled into the wood to allow the water to further flow into the nest area at the center of the wood. You can sort of see it in this picture:

 

 

 

(This is a photo from very early on, so you can see there's been changes since then.)

Please note that termites COULD, if they wanted to, walk around on the bark. I saw them exploring out there early on. But mine plugged up the hole leading to the exterior of the wood slice.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, January 13 2021 - 12:01 PM.

[M_Ants]

This helps a lot. Thank you so much.