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Termite ID request found In black mountain Lilac Trail 1/6/2021

Started By antsandmore , Jan 6 2021 4:43 PM
termite id request black termite

Best Answer Vendayn , January 6 2021 - 9:02 PM

Western subterranean termites flew here a few days ago. You won't really get a specific ID of subterranean termites until you get soldiers. But do need both a male/female, and for subterranean termites, can't really tell the gender (rarely can though if the female is super plump). Also even if you get soldiers, its really hard without magnified pictures of their mandibles, and can still be super hard. In general though, if its a pretty wet area, western subterranean termites is probably what you got, they are most common.

 

There are some termites that aren't too hard to identify or just outright obvious. Formosan subterranean termites are invasive and non-native and the alates are so easy to tell compared to any other native alate. We have those in california down in san diego, was my best termite colony I ever had. They even made that cool carton nest they are famous for. Some desert subterraneans can be identified too, and especially depending on the location in the desert, wouldn't be very many choices to pick from.

 

Though not to drag your enthusiasm down. But most success with termites come from taking a colony fragment and then they raise secondary reproductives (which often is better for the colony than just having a queen which is funny) and have success. Its very hard compared to queen ants to raise termites from a single male and female. Ants personally prefer starting with a queen (partly because taking a queen from an ant colony kills that colony, unless they are invasive ants then doesn't matter). Where as, termites its kinda just better to start with a colony fragment.

 

But don't let that get you down if you want to start with a male+female :) It is very fun watching the tiny nymphs and then eventually getting workers. Just keep in mind, this takes utmost patience compared to raising an ant colony from just a queen.

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#21 Offline antsandmore - Posted January 7 2021 - 10:46 AM

antsandmore

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Termites flew in the thousands about a month ago in SD. I caught around 100 pairs.

and I thought i was lucky! you should have told me lol


Ants I am keeping:

 none for now, planning on being more active this year

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