# Termites



## AlexF (Sep 26, 2007)

I recently took down a termite nest to suplement the food of my darts.

All the larger frogs (adults or sub-adults) went crazy after them but the leucomela froglets would not eat them.

I watched the leucomelas tank several times after feeding and saw that the first times the frogs tried to eat the termites, they would get irritated or something like that because they would spit them out. They would stick their tounge out until the termite was off.

After about a week of having the termites offered, they are eating them with gusto and are not having any more problems with them.

Termites are such an easy feeder. I collect a piece of nest out of a tree and just keep it in a plastic box with vaseline on the sides. 

Every time I need to fee the frogs I just pick a piece of nest and tap over the tank until enough termites drop, then move to the next frogs.

I've had the nest for a little over two weeks, don't do a thing to them and they are still in great shape.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

alot of us woudl feed them more often, but they are not easily acquaried unless you collect them yourself as they are now illegal to be shipped accross state lines.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Julio said:


> alot of us woudl feed them more often, but they are not easily acquaried unless you collect them yourself as they are now illegal to be shipped accross state lines.



Actually they have been illegal to ship across state borders without permits for decades.. 

Don't overfeed on termites as they are high in cholesterol. 

Ed


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Termites store very well... they won't reproduce in your containers but you can keep them for the better part of a year (at least) in containers set up for them and feed them out as treats every once and a while (this is usually what I do with them).


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

That's good information to know, Corey. Do you have any tips/tricks/setup pics you could share?


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

Hey Corey,

how do you store the termites??


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## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

Never tried it, but:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthr ... ge=1&pp=15


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

That's an idea that will work for keeping termites and if you get a queen of the dampwood type likely be able to culture them too. I've never used anything so complex... when I gather termites I rip apart their log and take a good chunk of it with me! I rip out the nice soft wood that they are hanging out in, dump it in the 5g buckets I use during gathering, and either move them into another rubbermaid or leave them in the buckets with lids. I make sure to keep some general humidity in the wood (the larger your container the easier this is so there is a humidity gradient where the bottom is wet and the top is dry and they hang out somewhere in between) and that's about it. If its a container that will not be cleaned out regularly (I clean the containers after I feed out all the termites) then you'll probably want to consider the tray idea mentioned in the thread just in case. S shallow 2in pan of water with a 5g bucket/comparable height rubbermaid will keep them from going anywhere you don't want them too without flooding the container enough to kill a good portion of them.

I generally have used small 3g buckets in the past and pull out peices of the wood from the buckets and harvest out the termites from those peices to feed out (often destroying the wood in the process). The left over wood gets tossed after all the termites are out (slowly submerging the wood in water will send the termites running to the dry section so you can get all of them out this way). This gradually depleats the wood in with the termites and I'll often combine buckets after they are half way or less empty. This means I can also regularly swap the buckets around to check for damage tho I've yet to notice any (probably because unlike in the link, I've given them plenty of the soft wood they obviously liked and they find no need to try and go elsewhere).


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## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

Ive often wanted to try termites... but was told I would be divorced if I brought them into the house :lol:


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

And I was told I would be tossed out of my house if I brought in termites... my mom never figured out what was in the bucket, she thought it was one of my substrate mixtures :lol:


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## MJ (Jun 16, 2005)

:lol:


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

My wife's reaction to the tub o'termites in the basement was humerous to say the least... it isn't worth typing out as the emotional emphasis doesn't carry over but its a good story in person. 

Ed


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

housevibe7 said:


> Ive often wanted to try termites... but was told I would be divorced if I brought them into the house :lol:


Not to worry Sarah, we don't have them here anyway. When I was house hunting, the realtor gave me a very strange look when I expressed my dissapointment that there are no termites here.


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## rompida (Mar 15, 2004)

Be careful of collecting too many termites and storing for long periods. 

Termites, at certain times of the year, will swarm. They will grow wings - I've had it happen. Opened the lid and out they came. This was around mid summer one year. It nearly cost me the sale of my house, as the termite inspector found 1 or 2 winged termites in a couple of window sills and determined that I must have had a "prior infestation", even though there was no evidence of termite damage or an active infestation. I had to spin one hell of a lie to explain the presence of swarmed termites in my house. 

They are a great feeder though. I've pulled some fading frogs from the brink using them when they wouldn't eat anything else.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

If you collect the termites via a termite trap then you do not have as large a risk of collecting preswarm reproductives as you may when collecting from logs. 

Ed


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

Thanks for the tips Corey and Josh.


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

I wonder why people haven't tried starting colonies of them(those who's family members do not threaten to evict them)...as the nuptials of dampwood and subterranean termites are easy to find. They shed their wings and one sex(I guess the female) sends out a pheromone and then when the opposite sex picks it up and find sthem they follow each other around until they find a cozy spot. What would prevent them from setting up shop in a metal trashcan with moist scrapwood/cardboard?

Their are termite species that don't eat wood, but rather decomposing plant matter...they are common in the Southwest under slightly moist cow patties.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

People have tried it plenty of times, it hasn't worked that often... the ones that have (I believe dampwood) tend to have a rather low reproductive rate so they could only pull out a few until a couple times a year. If you could find some of the swarming reproductives that have already mated (since I think they have a complex aerial mating thing?) that could work, but I think at that point they are pretty well dispersed.


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

Subterranean termites have a supplementary breeding caste which produce up to 1/2 the eggs for the colony. They are quite easy to colonize and breed in trash cans or large sterilites. I can feed a dozen times a year out of my trash can over 500 frogs for a fattening supplement. It also works well for skinny frogs here and there that are getting bullied. I commonly find young termites in a single log in the can. you need a moist underlayer of soil or decomposed wood and a log that you find part of a colony in. I`ve had my colony for over 5 years.


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

With termites the flight is basically for dispersion. So if you catch them(and oftentimes they will shed their wings when you do this) they should begin forming pairs. Part of the thing with dampwood is that some have very specific needs as far as what kindof fungus has colonized the wood. The species we have in the Sierras here I believe only lives in ponderosa pine deadwood. I guess subs are less picky. The dampwoods I've seen would only be suitable for Phyllobates/treefrogs though.

Ditto what frogfarm said also.


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