18 replies to this topic

[M_Ants]

I was golfing today when I noticed a giant termite flight. I found a few but I had nothing to keep them in. If I go back later will I find any? Also do termites fly in small flights in specific areas or do they have larger flights across large areas? Also should I blacklight for them? Thanks. I know nothing about termite keeping but I really want to give it a shot.

 

Edited by M_Ants, December 29 2020 - 3:03 PM.

[ANTdrew]

I can’t speak for CA termites, but in my area they fly over and over again in wide areas.

[M_Ants]

Huh. I've never seen a termite flight before. Hopefully they fly at my house.

[Manitobant]

Most termite species fly at night, so i would set up a blacklight, even though this particular flight was in the day.

[M_Ants]

Oh cool! I really hope they fly.

[Swirlysnowflake]

I've had multiple termite flights in my backyard this season. Though they always flew away before I could catch any 

[YellowRubberDucky111]

I was at a friends house today and there was a massive termite flight, they mostly ended up flying into his pool but I managed to catch one. I did a bit of skimming and decided that the one I have is a drywood termite. i have her in a jar with a lot of wood currently

[M_Ants]

Lucky.

[Manitobant]

I was at a friends house today and there was a massive termite flight, they mostly ended up flying into his pool but I managed to catch one. I did a bit of skimming and decided that the one I have is a drywood termite. i have her in a jar with a lot of wood currently

it won't be able to start a colony without a partner. Unlike ants, termites have both a queen and king which found a colony and routinely mate as termites don't have a spermatheca.

[YellowRubberDucky111]

 

I was at a friends house today and there was a massive termite flight, they mostly ended up flying into his pool but I managed to catch one. I did a bit of skimming and decided that the one I have is a drywood termite. i have her in a jar with a lot of wood currently

it won't be able to start a colony without a partner. Unlike ants, termites have both a queen and king which found a colony and routinely mate as termites don't have a spermatheca.

 

So what does a King Termite look like? Can a termite switch from male to female? Like if there's two queen termites one queen could change to become a male?

[Manitobant]

You will only find queens and kings during a flight, and you can tell when you see two termites following each other closely.

[M_Ants]

So far nothing on the blacklight. I'm going to go where I saw the flight and hope there's still some floating in the puddles.

[ANTdrew]

So far nothing on the blacklight. I'm going to go where I saw the flight and hope there's still some floating in the puddles.

If you saw your flight during the day, it means your termites fly in daylight. My local termites fly from 10am-12:00pm.
You need to catch a lot of alates and let them pair up. If you put them all in a box with damp sand, you’ll start seeing pairs form. Separate these in pairs, but be prepared for failure.

[M_Ants]

Yeah I went back and flipped stuff but I found nothing. They vanished. I guess there's always next year.

[Manitobant]

They don't all fly on one day. they'll do it many days in a row like ants.

[M_Ants]

Yeah. They don't seem to be flying in my area and I doubt I'll get out to that spot again so unless they magically fly at my house I won't get any. 

[antsandmore]

I kind of want termites because maybe they would be a good source of food for my mantis and ants? also it would be interesting to keep them. Where should I look to catch them?

[Swirlysnowflake]

I kind of want termites because maybe they would be a good source of food for my mantis and ants? also it would be interesting to keep them. Where should I look to catch them?

You can catch wild colonies by looking in rotten wood in forests, etc. Though, this is risky because you might not get the reproductives. In some species of termites, nymphs can molt and turn into reproductives but this often doesn’t happen.

Or, you can wait for a humid day and catch a bunch of the flying ones, which are queens and kings lol. There’s no real place to look for termite flights because termites are generally very common. I had multiple flights happen in my backyard. 

Edited by Swirlysnowflake, December 30 2020 - 10:30 AM.

[antsandmore]

 

I kind of want termites because maybe they would be a good source of food for my mantis and ants? also it would be interesting to keep them. Where should I look to catch them?

You can catch wild colonies by looking in rotten wood in forests, etc. Though, this is risky because you might not get the reproductives. In some species of termites, nymphs can molt and turn into reproductives but this often doesn’t happen.

Or, you can wait for a humid day and catch a bunch of the flying ones, which are queens and kings lol. There’s no real place to look for termite flights because termites are generally very common. I had multiple flights happen in my backyard. 

 

yep I'll have a fun time trying. hopefully I'll encounter some.