68 replies to this topic

[Nare]

Update 14 (08/07/19)
 
I'm finally sitting down and writing this after procrastinating for about a week.
 
Since last time, I went back to the site (it's summer, I have nothing better to do) and I flipped the first bit of wood I saw, and saw a single termite beneath it.

 
So I dug into the wood, and found a ton of termites - hundreds, if not a thousand. I also found imagoes, or adults, still with their wings!

 
So I collected a bunch of the wood, and when I got home, I set up a Berlese filter to separate the termites from the wood. It worked pretty well, so I moved all of the collected termites into a container.


 
This container has several hundred termites in it, so hopefully it'll start a colony. It's just cardboard rolled up, as well as some soil that made it through the filter. I put any imagoes collected in a separate container.
 
That weekend I was away, so I put the container of doom (new colony) in the hydration chamber). Apparently I let some imagoes slip by, cause they though the inside of the chamber was a good place for a flight. So I ended up with a  bunch of drowned imagoes. The cool thing was that they absorbed a bunch of water, and appeared a bit physogastric.

 
As well, I left the filter out while I was away, and the remaining imagoes were crawling around the surface, mostly wingless. I collected them, and added them to the main imago container. After putting them into a larger container, I finally encouraged some to tandem run, and I collected these and added them to test tube setups. I sexed the rest manually with my USB microscope, and paired em off. So I now have 11 pairs of imagoes, and 3 tubes with just female imagoes (as far as I can tell). The test tube setups are just some moist paper at the back and some cardboard for the imagoes to nest in. And a cotton ball stopper of course.



 
 
It's been about a week since I put the pairs together, and 3 of them have eggs! From my research, it looks like I should have larvaewithin a month, and workers within 2. My first soldier should appear within 4 to 6 months, and by 12 months I should have 20 to 40 workers per colony. It seems like slow growth, but this is one of the few consequences of incest with this species that has been observed, lower fecundity.
 
Anyhow, here are some pics:



 
And here's a bonus clip of a pair grooming.

 
 
That about rounds it up for now. So I have 2 colony fragments, and I'm keeping 3 of 11 pairs as well as the 3 female-female pairs. The rest are going off to CanadianAnter, who I also got a small colony of Zootermopsis from. I'll make a journal for them if there's any interest.
 
I'll update in about a month, or when I get larvae.

Edited by Nare, July 8 2019 - 12:52 PM.

[CatsnAnts]

Congrats!

[camponotuskeeper]

Cool

[camponotuskeeper]

Would you recommend termites as pets cause you seem to be enjoying yours

[Nare]

Would you recommend termites as pets cause you seem to be enjoying yours

I definitely would. They're pretty safe, super low maintenance, and it won't cost much to keep em. And where they're native, they should be pretty easy to find. They aren't as active as ants, but they're fascinating, and are certainly interesting to observe.

[camponotuskeeper]

Okay I will see if I kind find reproductive or a colony in my area

[ponerinecat]

could you describe how to make a berlese filter? sounds useful for collecting cryptobiotic ants.

[ponerinecat]

you could try merging them.

[Nare]

could you describe how to make a berlese filter? sounds useful for collecting cryptobiotic ants.

https://www.instruct...Berlese-Funnel/

 

I was instructed to take a 2 liter soda bottle, saw it in half, and then place the top in the bottom, so that I have a funnel leading down to a bottom chamber. I placed a collection vial inside of the bottom container under the mouth of the funnel, and I put a wad of steel wool in the mouth of the funnel. I added the termite-filled substrate to the funnel ontop of the steel wool, and shone an incandescent light down on the substrate. It worked pretty well, but I wasn't able to remove the super fine particles, so I ended up with some soil left over with the termites. The bits of wood and splinters were fully processed and de-termited. I let it run for a day or two with the light, and then 3 or 4 days without the light.

 

 

you could try merging them.

 

Not sure what you mean by this. One of the individuals in a "female-female pair" died, so I added "her" to another "female-female pair", to make a trio. This trio now has eggs, so I assume I was incorrect in my initial assessment of their sexes.

[ponerinecat]

 

could you describe how to make a berlese filter? sounds useful for collecting cryptobiotic ants.

https://www.instruct...Berlese-Funnel/

 

I was instructed to take a 2 liter soda bottle, saw it in half, and then place the top in the bottom, so that I have a funnel leading down to a bottom chamber. I placed a collection vial inside of the bottom container under the mouth of the funnel, and I put a wad of steel wool in the mouth of the funnel. I added the termite-filled substrate to the funnel ontop of the steel wool, and shone an incandescent light down on the substrate. It worked pretty well, but I wasn't able to remove the super fine particles, so I ended up with some soil left over with the termites. The bits of wood and splinters were fully processed and de-termited. I let it run for a day or two with the light, and then 3 or 4 days without the light.

 

 

you could try merging them.

 

Not sure what you mean by this. One of the individuals in a "female-female pair" died, so I added "her" to another "female-female pair", to make a trio. This trio now has eggs, so I assume I was incorrect in my initial assessment of their sexes.

 

I mean adding the leftover females to the original colony.

[Nare]

I mean adding the leftover females to the original colony.

I could do that, chances are that they'd be eaten though. Or else they'd try to leave and end up drowning. They seem to be alright for now and are feeding and grooming each other.

[Nare]

Update 15 (28/07/19)

 

Just a quick update:

 

For some reason, I've seen eggs in all 6 tubes that I've kept, even the 3 tubes that were supposed to only have female imagoes in them. This could mean a couple of things:

 

1. I'm just bad at sexing termites and I got really lucky w/ my pairing, meaning each of my tubes does have at least 1 male and 1 female.

2. Reticulitermes flavipes are parthenogenic. This one is a long shot, though a closely related species, R. virginicus can produce workers from a single female imago, so I wouldn't think it too far fetched that Ret flavipes could possibly do it to, though I've seen no record of this in the literature.

3. Termites lay infertile eggs. I haven't seen any indications of this in the literature either, but I think this might unfortunately be the most likely possibility.

 

I'm going to try and track down a Reticulitermes flavipes expert and see what they have to say. Fingers crossed for pathogeny - wouldn't that be neat.

 

On another note, one of my pairs now has 2 cute little larvae! They appeared rather fast - within 27 days of the pair being introduced to eachother. Here are some pics:

 

 

Additionally, I managed to snap a picture of an imago laying an egg - pretty sure the egg came out normally, but it stuck to her butt sideways when she was running around.

 

 

Anyways, that's it for now. Next update will probably be in a month or so when workers finally arrive - it's super exciting stuff!

[LC3]

Afaik termites will lay infertile eggs, parthenogenic eggs develop from infertile eggs. In a few (not really parthenogenic) termite species, it seems females will lay infertile eggs with a small percentage of them being parthenogenic.

Edited by LC3, July 28 2019 - 11:01 PM.

[Nare]

Afaik termites will lay infertile eggs, parthenogenic eggs develop from infertile eggs. In a few (not really parthenogenic) termite species, it seems females will lay infertile eggs with a small percentage of them being parthenogenic.

So they're likely infertile, but there's a chance I'll get larvae from some of them anyways?

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Is the big colony still doing well?

[Nare]

Is the big colony still doing well?

I think so. I need to update this at some point. Will do that this weekend.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

So do these termites make a nest in the ground and then forage for food like ants? All I could really find were pest control websites which obviously didn't teach me anything. Would a Dirt Box formicarium with wood periodically added work for them?

Edited by Antennal_Scrobe, September 4 2019 - 2:22 PM.

[Nare]

So do these termites make a nest in the ground and then forage for food like ants? All I could really find were pest control websites which obviously didn't teach me anything. Would a Dirt Box formicarium with wood periodically added work for them?

These guys actually nest in dead heartwood (large fallen logs, etc...) but they use the ground as a means to get between pieces of wood, as well as to remain moist. From my observations, it seems they can do alright in a nest of mostly substrate with food added ontop, but if you can find a way to have them actually nesting in wood w/ soil nearby, that might be a better emulation of their natural habitat (I think). Ultimatly, the best way to keep them is a container with a layer of substrate at the bottom, and large pieces of wood ontop. A dirtbox might work, as I've found them like to dig to the bottom of the container, but I'm not sure if you'd actually see many chambers beyond tunnels that they travel through. If you kept the food source at the surface small in size, you might be able to encourage them to nest in the substrate instead.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Would you recommend Reticulitermes flavipes or Zootermopsis angusticollis? I can get both, assuming that what Carolina Biological is selling is R. flavipes. The termite exterminator websites say drywood termites can be brought to Wisconsin sometimes in furniture etc, but they love to fear-monger so I won't get my hopes up. 

[Nare]

Would you recommend Reticulitermes flavipes or Zootermopsis angusticollis? I can get both, assuming that what Carolina Biological is selling is R. flavipes. The termite exterminator websites say drywood termites can be brought to Wisconsin sometimes in furniture etc, but they love to fear-monger so I won't get my hopes up. 

I am a Ret chauvinist, so I'd say Reticulitermes. Add to that the fact that I've yet to have had luck with Zootermopsis, and, from personal experience I'd say it might be a good idea to start with Rets. On that note, after August 9th, it is legal to ship workers of Reticulitermes flavipes and hesperus across state lines confirm that first before you order anything so you might be able to get more workers for a lower price from someone in a neighbouring state / place with lots of termites. You could contact a friend on the east coast or something and they might be able to help you out. I recommend this over Carolina Biological or Ward's Science only because I don't believe they send enough termites per order to confidently start a colony, and so you'd want to order 3 or more individual cultures to ensure you have enough termites such that your colony starts properly.