78 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:

 

 

Huge pile of frass:

 

 

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

 

[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.

 

 

Back:

 

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.

[OhNoNotAgain]

Status: Still down to 6. One of them is the elongated one with stubby wings. I watered more frequently (figuring I hadn't watered enough) but then started getting mold in the wood. Apparently can't win

 

In other news, I have two little jam jars containing drywood termites and some bits of wood. Both are small jars (not even mayo sized) and I leave the lids off since the termites seem to be worse than Pogonomyrmex at climbing glass.

 

Jar 1: Started off with some workers from a felled tree and ONE little bit of wood, like a small piece of a small branch (I know, unimpressive). Most died but some survived for months. Recently (a few weeks ago) I threw in some alates/dealates and they seem to be living together peacefully in a hole in the branch. Last I looked, I saw one of the reproductives snug up against a white worker.

 

Jar 2: A few weeks ago I found bunches of alates/dealates (like at least 6) and threw them all in a jar containing bits of branches. Last I checked, I saw one or two pairs holed up at the bottom of the jar. I haven't checked much because I remember A Certain Famous YouTube Antkeeper reported failures when he checked on his termites.

 

(The twigs/bits of branches are all from a (now-felled) plum tree that had been infested with drywoods and also possibly had a Lio colony in it.)

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, September 16 2021 - 1:55 PM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

UGH. My jars of dry wood I found FULL OF ANTS.
If you ever doubted that Argentine ants kill termites…. Well I guess they do have an up side for homeowners. But my drywoods… destroyed. I found one badly injured and one healthy dry wood out of like a dozen. All the rest are dead. Ughhhhh

[Antkeeper01]

UGH. My jars of dry wood I found FULL OF ANTS.
If you ever doubted that Argentine ants kill termites…. Well I guess they do have an up side for homeowners. But my drywoods… destroyed. I found one badly injured and one healthy dry wood out of like a dozen. All the rest are dead. Ughhhhh

BOIL THEM(the argentines)

EDIT: Yes I know that won't get rid of the colony but it may give them satifaction

Edited by Antkeeper01, October 15 2021 - 6:29 PM.

[eea]

Noooo 

[OhNoNotAgain]

Well it rained here a couple times in the last week. Today (it rained last night) I found two dealate termites in the BATHTUB. Then when I went outside, I found more dealates and a couple alates in the same place as the last batch. So I have a new batch of dry wood reproductives! This time I put them in a BigFatPhids container so Argies may have a harder time getting in.

I think I caught about 8 reproductives. I put them in with the bits of wood and hope they find something to their liking.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, October 22 2021 - 5:25 PM.

[NancyZamora4991]

lots of termites are flying right now.