14 replies to this topic

[TheAntKid]

I found a termite colony inside a log with a colony of camponotus snellingi.

[Artisan_Ants]

I found a termite colony inside a log with a colony of camponotus snellingi.

Nice. If you can locate the queen and king, then you’re good. But if you can’t then there’s really no hope for them. And from what I found, termites are fairly challenging to keep.

[michiganantsinmyyard]

 

I found a termite colony inside a log with a colony of camponotus snellingi.

Nice. If you can locate the queen and king, then you’re good. But if you can’t then there’s really no hope for them. And from what I found, termites are fairly challenging to keep.

 

Not necessarily, they can have neotenics and produce new reproductives if needed, depending on the species. If the colony is of sufficient size, they can create secondary reproductives.

[TheAntKid]

I researched termites in my area and they might be eastern subterranean termites or imported Formosan subterranean termites.

[Artisan_Ants]

I found a termite colony inside a log with a colony of camponotus snellingi.

Nice. If you can locate the queen and king, then you’re good. But if you can’t then there’s really no hope for them. And from what I found, termites are fairly challenging to keep.

Not necessarily, they can have neotenics and produce new reproductives if needed, depending on the species. If the colony is of sufficient size, they can create secondary reproductives.

Oh wow, that’s pretty cool. Yeah, I don’t really know a lot about termites (just learned about them from videos really). If I know about any kind of termite, then it’s Macrotermes.

[michiganantsinmyyard]

Termites are an amazing food source for any ants. It would definitely benefit your ants if you were to raise these.

[TheAntKid]

I actually already fed one to my new brachyponera colony.

[TheAntKid]

I put the termites into a test tube with damp tissue and soil. I'll check up on them in 3 days or so.

[AsdinAnts]

test tubes are like the worst setups for termites, seeing as the cotton doesn’t let out as much methane as termites produce.

[TheAntKid]

But I've seen that some people leave the lids on their termite setups for weeks to months, like in jar setups.

[AsdinAnts]

Jar setups are much more larger than test tubes

[ANTS_KL]

test tubes are like the worst setups for termites, seeing as the cotton doesn’t let out as much methane as termites produce.

My colony of Coptotermes curvignathus currently living in a test tube would like to say otherwise

[Nare]

I would use petri dishes and test tubes solely for founding. This year, I've had very good results with petri dishes for Zootermopsis nevadensis. The ones I have in test tubes weren't/aren't nearly as successful (granted there are other factors at play in all likelihood including wood type/amount). On the other hand I've successfully founded probably a dozen Reticulitermes flavipes pairs in small test tubes. I think the main consideration with the test tube is volume. For small species they're fine, but I would probably be more skeptical about them for larger species like Zoot (that being said there are plenty of cases of them doing fine in TTs - this is all anecdotal).

 

I would avoid test tubes for founding from colony fragments - primarily because I've found it difficult to fit enough termites to found a colony in a test tube. I've had some success founding Reticulitermes colony fragments in petri dishes, but even then they need to be moved after just a few months due to crowding/eating most of the wood. If you're serious about founding from a colony fragment, I would suggest getting at least a hundred workers and starting in a petri dish at minimum. Use wood (white rot, cubic brown rot, whatever), and maybe a little bit of soil or tissue paper for moisture management. Your best bet is a "small" container (think sandwich container size).

 

Long term I believe the paradigm with wood-dwelling termites in captivity might be keeping a large (several litre) "source bin" with wood and soil (as appropriate for the species), and regularly extracting colony fragments for display setups (petri dishes or similar things). Anecdotally these small setups don't take off like the big ones do, but it's hard to view termites in the large setups - so in my mind this is the best compromise.

So TLDR: from my experience, TTs may be appropriate for founding pairs. Petri dishes are probably better for founding pairs and can be good for founding colony fragments for small species. Long term you're looking at larger containers with less visibility.

 

Hope that helps.

[TheAntKid]

I moved them back into the petri dish 3 days ago.

[TheAntKid]

They died from being moved. However, I found part of a possibly whole colony in a stick behind my house. I caught about 30+ workers and soldiers, with about 15-20 ergatoid queens. They are in a petri dish setup and are doing well.