104 replies to this topic

[Ants4fun]

Will two termite colonies fight or merge?

[dspdrew]

Don't know really. That's what I will probably find out, because I'm not about to try to fish the other one out first.

[Vendayn]

If they are still there, I'm going to try getting Formosan subterranean termites tomorrow. They are really cool, I kept them once before. Mine actually made a carton nest...which was really awesome. They are pretty much similar to native Subterranean termites, except they make carton nests and make mud towers.

 

I doubt they've disappeared, since its only been a year or so. But, there was a lot of Argentine ants in the area. And they never disappeared in any of the years I lived down in San Diego even with all the Argentine ants.

Edited by Vendayn, May 19 2015 - 9:24 PM.

[Chromerust]

Glad to hear they are doing good, I was worried you'd forget about them and accidently let the test tube dry out. It's interesting to learn the saw dust mixture is working that well.

[Alza]

They will fight.

[BrittonLS]

Oh! These are what I found a nest of the other day when looking for ants! Nifty. 

[dspdrew]

Update 7-11-2015
 
The colony I was keeping in that termitarium I built I think has died off. Every time I look under any of the wood, I never see a single termite.
 
The colony that I got from Chromerust died. I may have put too much water in it or something, because it looked like they all drowned.
 
As for the colonies in the test tubes and the cylinder containers, there are four left--two in the containers and two in test tubes.
 
One of the colonies in the test tubes has moved all the way to the other end where the only wet cotton is now. I see them walk back and forth between both ends. They live on one end and the wood is at the other end. Since  they just living in front of the cotton, it's very easy to view them.
 
Here's some pictures of that colony.
 

 

 

 

[Alza]

A soldier! they look awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gregory2455]

I still have a pair from last year. They do not do anything, but occasionally I do see an egg. Maybe this year I could get some to produce what yours did!

[dspdrew]

Update 9-26-2015
 
It looks like all these colonies have died off except the largest test tube colony. That colony is doing great. They have two new nymphs, and about 15 eggs. All the workers are filled with wood, so they're eating well. Their test tube was almost dry, so I manually moved them to a new one, carefully transferring all of their eggs too.

[Mdrogun]

Is it possible to brood boost these with nymphs?

[dspdrew]

I have no idea.

[dspdrew]

Update 2-3-2016
 
This colony is slowly getting larger. They're still in a test tube, still eating the same little piece of wood.

 

[Alexant]

Do you know the species/genus?

[dspdrew]

I do not.

[dspdrew]

Update 4-24-2016
 
I moved this colony into a little hydrated setup I made with some old parts from my fungus-grower formicarium prototypes. This should make keeping them a lot easier, and unless they hide under any of the wood pieces, I should be able to get a better view of them. The container on the right is housing my drywood termite colony.
 

 

 

 

[dspdrew]

Update 5-16-2016
 
This new termitarium seems to have killed the whole colony. I'm not sure what happened.

[JediPeaceFrog]

Update 4-24-2016
 
I moved this colony into a little hydrated setup I made with some old parts from my fungus-grower formicarium prototypes. This should make keeping them a lot easier, and unless they hide under any of the wood pieces, I should be able to get a better view of them. The container on the right is housing my drywood termite colony.
 

 

 

 

Sorry about losing your colony. I like this formicarium, though. Could you give me info on where you got the supplies? Thanks.

[dspdrew]

It would all be in this thread (http://www.formicult...ated-4-22-2016/).

[dspdrew]

Update 8-23-2016
 
There was a massive flight of desert subterranean termites the other day in Desert Center, California. I collected tons of them to use as feeders, but kept a few. I tried my best to pick out one male and female couple for each test tube I put them in. We'll see how many of them got paired up correctly. Back in 2013 when I first got a bunch of termites from the desert, the only ones that survived were a much smaller species. I hope I'm successful with this larger species this time.