11 replies to this topic

[AsdinAnts]

This is a journal about my “subterranean” termites that i caught probably around two months ago. They have no workers, i mixed them all together. I am pretty confident that there are an even amount of kings and queens for eachother. Shortly after i took the photo, I added dirt and wood that I had found outside of my house.

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Edited by AsdinAnts, December 18 2023 - 7:19 PM.

[AsdinAnts]

as of now, three out of six of the royals have died. I decided to move them into a container filled with soil and pieces of drywood. Hopefully no more die.

[ZATrippit]

I think usually the black ones are subterranean, so you're probably right. The ones with no pigment are drywoods probably.

[AsdinAnts]

I’ve had drywoods before, they are a lot bigger than subterranean lol.

[AsdinAnts]

So, I’ve decided to move the termites into a container filled with soil and some toilet paper along with a piece of wood. There are still only three royals left, and i’m wondering if I should feed the third one to my argentine ants since the duo queen and king kicked the third one out of the hole they made when I put them into the container. So, should I feed my alone subterranean royal to my ants or keep it in the same setup with the other king and queen?

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[JesseTheAntKid]

Can termites be "ploygynous?" It might not be a good idea to combine several royals. Good luck with the termites!

[AsdinAnts]

I know that some termites are polygnous, but i’m not so sure about subterranean termites. I decided to add them all together seeing as at the time I didn’t have any available containers/tubes. (also, both the queen and king termite went and dug under the dirt that I gave them. Only the solo termite royal is staying above ground.

[AsdinAnts]

Is a female by itself able to make a colony without a king? I’m pretty sure that the solo royal is a female since her (don't wanna say gaster, but idk the term for termites) is getting a bit swollen.

[ZATrippit]

Is a female by itself able to make a colony without a king? I’m pretty sure that the solo royal is a female since her (don't wanna say gaster, but idk the term for termites) is getting a bit swollen.

They can't, queens can't store sperm so the king needs to give the queen a 'top-up' of sperm every once in a while.

Edited by ZATrippit, December 25 2023 - 5:11 PM.

[AsdinAnts]

“top-up” lol, anyways thanks for the info!

[AsdinAnts]

so, I heard that it takes around 2-3 months for termites to start producing nymphs, so around that time zone is when i’ll tell you if they are successfully founding a termite colony or not.

Edited by AsdinAnts, December 26 2023 - 8:31 PM.

[Nare]

Iirc these probably won't be polygynous. I find Reticulitermes imagoes particularly fragile, so it's probably a good idea to grab part of a colony (bunch of workers and some nymphs if you can find them) and start a colony with them as well if you're dead set on keeping something. I imagine this pair's chances of success aren't great.