# Termites



## mallende (Jan 12, 2008)

I know there are posts about termites.....i've searched. I want to know if anyone has tried keeping large colonies of tropical damp-wood termites in large garbage can sized containers? Im wondering if it's easier than in smaller individual plastic tubs? You know, like a huge ant-farm?


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## AlexF (Sep 26, 2007)

I use termites very often, but they all die on me after about 3 weeks after collecting them.

I collect my termites on the coast, and usually chop part of the nest and take it with me on a plastic bag. Once I get home I put the nest piece on a plastic box with vaseline on the sides to avoid escapes and also cover the top with a glass lid.

Every time I want to feed I just shake the piece of nest over the frogs.

I have seen that a lot of times they leave the nest piece and try to get out, then die on the bottom. 

All of my frogs love them.


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## xm41907 (Nov 26, 2007)

AlexF said:


> I use termites very often, but they all die on me after about 3 weeks after collecting them.
> 
> I collect my termites on the coast, and usually chop part of the nest and take it with me on a plastic bag. Once I get home I put the nest piece on a plastic box with vaseline on the sides to avoid escapes and also cover the top with a glass lid.
> 
> ...


Termites need extremely high humidity or they will dessicate. Next time you collect some try putting in something to keep the humidity as high as possible. 

I have not reared termites myself, but I did see them reared in a research lab of one of my profs. From what I remember, they were kept in large petri dishes with the lids on them with a filter paper bottom that was kept moist. On top of the paper were wooden slates with dirt. 

I might try to rear some myself this summer, provided my wife allows it! 

James


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## HappyHippos1 (May 7, 2007)

I also thought that if you collected termites that they would die shortly anyways unless you get the enitre colony(queen etc.)?


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

It depends on the species of termite. Some species don't have a real worker caste, all the grunt work in the colonly is done by immature termites. They are kept in an immature state by pheremones released by the queen. If the queen is weak or dies, then some of the immatures will mature into what is called supplementary reproductives which can then mate and lay eggs.


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## xm41907 (Nov 26, 2007)

Arklier said:


> It depends on the species of termite. Some species don't have a real worker caste, all the grunt work in the colonly is done by immature termites. They are kept in an immature state by pheremones released by the queen. If the queen is weak or dies, then some of the immatures will mature into what is called supplementary reproductives which can then mate and lay eggs.


This isn't true. They are not kept in an immature state, they simply are not reproductively capable. In large colonies, the queen actually contributes little the the reproduction rate of the colony, secondary reproductives do the majority of reproduction. Termites, as with ants and bees, are social insects, the majority of individuals in the colony (hive for bees) are not reproductively capable. Termites, however, have a separate caste (secondary reproductives) that can reproduce. Arklier, what you are refering to with pheromones is that if a colony losses it's queen then certain termites are able to change into secondary reproductives to keep the colony alive. This would be with a smaller colony, however, since larger colonies already contain secondary reproductives. 

James


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

I kept a culture of termites a couple of years ago. They were some subterranean species I collected at my home in Tennessee. I used them to feed baby scorpions that were about 1/4in in size. I waited until spring where I had put a rotting log in the yard for just this purpose. I went out there every day to check for a swarm of new queens leaving the colony to found new ones. I lifted up the log and saw the hole the termites were crawling out of. I took my trusty shovel and high-tech termite collecting device.










I took some spare airline tubing that was laying around for the tubes. I just melted 2 holes in a water bottle cap, stuck the tubes in, and used hot glue to seal the holes around the tubing in the cap.

I then followed this handy guide to culturing termites. You HAVE to use unbleached paper towels. Use bottled water for mistin' as well.

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthr ... te+culture


The scorpions I was feeding them to were almost the same size as the termites.








Green Arrows point to x-termites. Red box is Vaejovis carolinianus.

Close Up:


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## xm41907 (Nov 26, 2007)

Nice scorpions, what happened to them? Your "high-tech termite collecting device" is called an aspirator. They are used frequently in insect collecting. How long did you maintain your termite colony? 

James


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

Well, the first time I didn't use bottled water and all of them died. I'd say about a week with that one. 

The next one I guess I had it up and running for 4 or 5 months? I think this was in '05. I sold off my collection to concentrate on my saltwater tank. I accidentally cultured some ants too... quite the surprise. (Just a little more thread hijacking I swear). I was trying to setup a compost viv (from the old forum) and filched a rotting log from outside to go in my starter compost 10gal. A whole little colony of ants happened to be in it. Needless to say, a lot of vaseline and tape later I had me an ant colony. I had no idea what I was doing so it didn't last very long.


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## Rodney (Feb 18, 2008)

I have always been curious about the termites, now this is all cleared up. Thanks


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## philthelizard (Sep 24, 2006)

Its good to keep moist paper towls or cardboard to increase the humidity and give a secondary food source (if you collected part of the colony wood) and spray them often. You also need quite a few individuals for the secondary reproductives to form, unless you collected them. If the colony starts off too small, the secondary reproductives won't form. I have been keeping a very small colony for about 8 months now. I haven't really taken any adults out of it to try and keep the production up. Although, I am not really sure how it is going because the heart of the colony is in the interior of the wood piece I have in with them. Anyway, I got most of the tips above from our urban termite lab people. They keep colonies for long periods of time all the time, and like James said, high humidity is really the key.

stevenhman - awesome scorpions! 

phil


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## xm41907 (Nov 26, 2007)

Phil,

What school do you attend? Sounds like you're in the entomology department, or in close association? I got a BS and MS at Texas A&M. A urban entomology professor there raises termites, thats where I learned it from.

James


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## philthelizard (Sep 24, 2006)

Hey James,

Yea, I'm in the entomology department at Purdue. We have a large urban group here (which I'm not in, but still ideas from them). I also got my BS in entomology at Oklahoma State. Are you in entomology right now?

phil


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Short of one person on here that has evidently raised termites in huge amounts, I've not heard of a frog keeper keeping a colony of termites they could harvest out of more than a few times of year... recovery time was really slow.

When I've fed out a lot of termites, I've kept rather large containers of them... it's actually easier to keep them in larger containers because it allows for more humidity gradients and the termites pick the area they like. They can stay alive pretty much the whole year around. I would pull out some wood peices, harvest the termites out of it, and feed them out. Eventually the "colony" would start getting low on wood and termites, and I'd collect more when it was warm, filling up the container again with the soft wood pulled from a ripped up termite log. I just wouldn't be able to have a large enough colony to sustainably be able to harvest them from as much as I wanted. I can feed out thousands at a time.


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## Rodney (Feb 18, 2008)

Where can I buy a "culture" of termites this time of year. Its to cold here I think to find any in the wild


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## xm41907 (Nov 26, 2007)

Phil,

Are you from Oklahoma? I grew up in Ardmore. I got a B.S. and an M.S. in entomology at Texas A&M University. My masters research was on boll weevil eradication and secondary pest outbreaks, with a subfocus on it's effects on fire ant predation. What are you studying at Purdue? By the way, I have completed the Purdue pest management course myself.

James


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

There are serious restrictions on shipping termites over state lines... other than paying rediculous prices from places like Carolina Biological, only one guy on here was selling termites that actually had the correct permits to be able to ship them around the US... haven't heard anything about that in a while. I'd just wait until the weather improves...


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## trow (Aug 25, 2005)

I am here and yes I am still at it.I will keep you guy's and gal's posted.Things are going slow with my recent back injury but I will prevail,


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