23 replies to this topic

[YellowRubberDucky111]

Hello, I recently caught a (hopefully) termite queen during a massive termite flight when I was at a friends house. I luckily had a test tube in my car and took her back to my house. I quickly set up a little home with wood blocks and some sand in a mason jar. I put her in the jar and put her into a dark drawer. I want to know if there's anything I should do to give her the best chance of starting a colony. From my quick research I think I have a Reticulitermes hesperus. Ill post some pictures soon. Thank you!

[TennesseeAnts]

Hello, I recently caught a (hopefully) termite queen during a massive termite flight when I was at a friends house. I luckily had a test tube in my car and took her back to my house. I quickly set up a little home with wood blocks and some sand in a mason jar. I put her in the jar and put her into a dark drawer. I want to know if there's anything I should do to give her the best chance of starting a colony. From my quick research I think I have a Reticulitermes hesperus. Ill post some pictures soon. Thank you!

You'll need a male and a female to start a colony (they mate for life), so your queen is going to die, but if you go back there you can collect some pairs from under logs and rocks. Make sure to get both reproductives, or the colony will fail. 

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, December 29 2020 - 5:07 PM.

[M_Ants]

So if I go back to the location of a flight I'll find them under stuff?

[YellowRubberDucky111]

 

Hello, I recently caught a (hopefully) termite queen during a massive termite flight when I was at a friends house. I luckily had a test tube in my car and took her back to my house. I quickly set up a little home with wood blocks and some sand in a mason jar. I put her in the jar and put her into a dark drawer. I want to know if there's anything I should do to give her the best chance of starting a colony. From my quick research I think I have a Reticulitermes hesperus. Ill post some pictures soon. Thank you!

You'll need a male and a female to start a colony (they mate for life), so your queen is going to die, but if you go back there you can collect some pairs from under logs and rocks. Make sure to get both reproductives, or the colony will fail. 

 

So it would just be better to find a mated king and queen rather then just taking a king? Would a mated king and queen kill a single queen?

[ANTdrew]

Raising termites is at least ten times harder than raising ants. Just keep that in mnd. All my attempts failed this year after catching 12+ alates.

[TennesseeAnts]

 

 

Hello, I recently caught a (hopefully) termite queen during a massive termite flight when I was at a friends house. I luckily had a test tube in my car and took her back to my house. I quickly set up a little home with wood blocks and some sand in a mason jar. I put her in the jar and put her into a dark drawer. I want to know if there's anything I should do to give her the best chance of starting a colony. From my quick research I think I have a Reticulitermes hesperus. Ill post some pictures soon. Thank you!

You'll need a male and a female to start a colony (they mate for life), so your queen is going to die, but if you go back there you can collect some pairs from under logs and rocks. Make sure to get both reproductives, or the colony will fail. 

 

So it would just be better to find a mated king and queen rather then just taking a king? Would a mated king and queen kill a single queen?

 

Well, if you just introduce a king to the queen, (there's really no good way to tell anyway, without good magnification) you run the risk of them not accepting eachother.

So if I go back to the location of a flight I'll find them under stuff?

Yes, you can, but you can't wait too long after the flight.

[PurdueEntomology]

I keep termites to feed my ants!! hehe

[antsandmore]

I keep termites to feed my ants!! hehe

that's what my idea is, but i need to find them and catch them first. Don't know where to look. I wish to find some tho.

[YellowRubberDucky111]

Update: My friend managed to find 3 more termites in his yard and gave them to me today. Two of them have shorter and more plump abdomens which I presume to be queens while the other one has a longer skinnier abdomen which I presume is the king. The two queens are missing there wings while the king still has his. Is there any problem with having two queens or will they fight until one is left?

[M_Ants]

Lucky! I think you put them all together. Then when you see 2 chasing each other/hanging out you keep that pair and remove any others. 

[YellowRubberDucky111]

Lucky! I think you put them all together. Then when you see 2 chasing each other/hanging out you keep that pair and remove any others. 

I just checked on them and one of the queens is staying close to the king while I can't seem to find the other queen. Hopefully they pair up and they start building a colony. Is there any articles about termite keeping? Everything I find is about how to exterminate them

[M_Ants]

Look in the termite forums here. Lot's of great stuff. Videos, guides, journal, etc. I was looking through them because I thought I was gonna catch some termites.    Never found any. 

[YellowRubberDucky111]

The "paired" termites seem to just follow each other on an endless journey around and around the jar terrarium i made for them. I haven't seen them climbing the wood much and they don't seem to stop walking. Is that normal?

[ANTdrew]

The "paired" termites seem to just follow each other on an endless journey around and around the jar terrarium i made for them. I haven't seen them climbing the wood much and they don't seem to stop walking. Is that normal?

They are searching for a suitable nesting spot. If they keep going around, it means they need better options to nest in.

[YellowRubberDucky111]

The "paired" termites seem to just follow each other on an endless journey around and around the jar terrarium i made for them. I haven't seen them climbing the wood much and they don't seem to stop walking. Is that normal?

They are searching for a suitable nesting spot. If they keep going around, it means they need better options to nest in.

What should I provide them with? Right now I have a few random wood pieces in there and two 1in thick blocks

[ANTdrew]

I would put some damp soil and wood pieces with a varying degree of decay to choose from.

[YellowRubberDucky111]

I thought dry wood termites hated anything damp, and different degrees of decay do you mean different types of wood? Like spruce, birch etc?

[M_Ants]

No like different pieces that are more or less decayed. Super rotten falling apart ones and ones that are fairly fresh etc.

[YellowRubberDucky111]

No like different pieces that are more or less decayed. Super rotten falling apart ones and ones that are fairly fresh etc.

Ah, ok. I don't have any rotting wood currently so I'm going to have to go look for some

[Vendayn]

To be honest. Unlike ants where its generally better to start with just a queen...termites do better starting with an actual colony. And unlike taking queen(s) from an ant colony, termites (though not all) just make secondary reproductives and the colony keeps living. That is mostly what one finds anyway is secondary reproductives. In fact, some termites (like formosan subterranean termites as one example) do BETTER without their queen and benefit vastly more with just producing lots of secondary reproductives.