151 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

ID and discusssion thread of this colony
http://www.formicult...-feeder-colony/
 
 
5th July 2018
 
While I was flipping rocks this afternoon, this large slab revealed a complete termite nest. There were shallow dirt chambers underneath, fairly dry ones, and it was covered in termites.
Which started to slowly disperse into the tunnels.
After a bit of thinking, I decided to grab some, and maybe start a feeder colony. I do have two Pheidole antipodum queens which the wiki says are specialist predators of termites, so why not?
 
I think these are a drywood type as the soil underneath was not that damp nor was their nest in damp wood etc
 
click to enlarge



 
Video - after this I wet the other cardboard and they dispersed since they can now access damp cardboard without being exposed to light I guess
These appear to be Nasutitermes fumigatus or N. dixoni
 

My guess is Nasutitermes fumigatus or N. dixoni. Which geographic location did you find them? As Cameron said, the soldiers shoot a sticky substance from their head which stick all over an ant. The worker termites are good food for ants. You need a king and queen to start a colony. You have some immature alates there, so they could become new kings or queens.

 
 

 
 
--
 
At last count I had counted 15 soldiers, 5 reproductives or alates, 37 worker for the termites.

But since then I went back to grab some more, and likely around 20 soldiers and closer to 50 workers.
 
The 5 large white ones appear to be alate nymphs - pic of more developed ones with larger wings.
Which could become future king/queen in any case or are reproductives of some sort
 

Edited by CoolColJ, July 8 2018 - 3:11 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Right now I have them in a 55mm x15mm petri dish, which is still plenty big for them
And they can't climb the walls so it's easy enough to open the lid, to do stuff and much easier access than a test tube.

I have a wet cotton wool ball in the middle which I make damp and squirt small drops onto every few days, again the petri dish makes it easy to do.
I have both cut and shredded cardboard, mostly from a tissue box, placed around the cotton ball
A few layers of this. And I damped with a syringe, but not too wet.

There is some substrate from their original nest at the bottom from when I capture them.
When I take the current nest out of the drawer I keep them in, I see many of them hanging out near the cotton on the surface carboard layer before they move into cover because of the light.
Since I added more cardboard they tend to be on the bottom now.


Today I will most likely do a new Petri dish setup.
Red dirt substrate at the bottom, thin layer, made damp to make it more solid and stick in place.
Cotton ball in the middle as before and pieces of corrugated cardboard as it has more thickness to it, and it will hold the moisture for longer.

If I was creative I could measure and cut two halves of semi circle cardboard with a hole in the middle for the cotton ball, and stack these up a few layers, on either side of the cotton ball.
Then the termite are free to create tunnels and what not, while I can still pull each layer off as needed

Edited by CoolColJ, July 8 2018 - 3:14 AM.

[Major]

So far this journal looks good! If it’s as good as your ant journal, then termite keepers better get excited!!! I can’t even find a single termite here in NY lol.

[CoolColJ]

So far this journal looks good! If it’s as good as your ant journal, then termite keepers better get excited!!! I can’t even find a single termite here in NY lol.

I think that's the idea for an urban environment

This probably won't be as detailed as my ant journal, as it's harder to observe what the termites are doing, plus they hate light

[CoolColJ]

Winter 11th July 2018
 
6 days post capture -
 
I still have them in the original petri dish setup - I do plan to move them to my new setup eventually
I squirt water on the cotton ball in the middle, every 3 days, and small drops on the cardboard to keep them damp
 
anyway I took a look at the dish today, and most of them have moved to the bottom, right up against the dish bottom.
I can see them when looking at the bottom of the dish.
They don't move much, but a solider did come up to the top to take a look
 
Some of the original tissue box cardboard has brown like substance on it, which I guess is caused by the workers chewing on those areas.
The later added toilet roll cardboard dries really fast, so I won't be using that anymore.
 
You can see the workers have chewed up quite a bit of the tissue box cardboard, the frayed edges
The 5 large white alate nymphs are still alive and well
 
bottom of petri dish - click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, July 14 2018 - 4:25 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Winter 15th July 2018

 

current setup - wet cotton in the middle, damp tissue box cardboard in a petri dish 

Will switch to corrugated cardboard in the next setup, due to thickness

 

click to enlarge

 

 

They had packed together intight at the centre, at the bottom of the dish, but as I raised the petri dish to take a pic, they slid around - LOL

 

 

 

Alate nymphs starting to mature, body starting to get darker areas

 

Edited by CoolColJ, July 14 2018 - 8:31 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Might try adding some springtails to the petri dish.

It's damp enough and sure smells moldy enough

[CoolColJ]

I think colony is dying.... I see some termites on the top that don't move.
And not much activity at the bottom

I see hairy mold growing on the bodies, so mold maybe killing em

I have some springtails now, a bit too late

Edited by CoolColJ, July 31 2018 - 4:02 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I manually rescued and moved 4 alate nymphs, a 6-7 workers, and over 10 soldiers

So there is hope!

Edited by CoolColJ, July 31 2018 - 12:14 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Winter 1st August 2018

 

I moved them to a new setup last night

 

Corrugated cardboard cut to fit, and placed at bottom of petri dish.

Wet cotton wool in the middle.

 

It allows them to run around and escape bad areas if needed.

But I made it far too wet, so leaving lid off for now.

Excessive humidity and mold killed them last time, but I have springtails I can add in now

 

I counted 4 alate nymphs, 9 workers and 12 soldiers

 

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, July 31 2018 - 2:53 PM.

[CoolColJ]

One thing I didn't expect, some of the termites are now squeezing through the gap between the petri dish side wall and the card board's top surface and moving into the space between the two layers of corrugated cardboard....

 

This could be kinda bad if I over water things

[Ants4fun]

Interesting stuff. Are your petri dish's vebted?

Edited by Ants4fun, August 2 2018 - 4:51 PM.

[Nare]

One thing I didn't expect, some of the termites are now squeezing through the gap between the petri dish side wall and the card board's top surface and moving into the space between the two layers of corrugated cardboard....

 

This could be kinda bad if I over water things

Yeah, termites are really good at finding tiny cracks to live in, and they're also great at hiding. I'd suggest some soil in that case, so that they can dig, and so that if you over water, they won't drown.

[CoolColJ]

Interesting stuff. Are your petri dish's vebted?

 

Not sure, how can I tell?

[CoolColJ]

2 more dead workers and 6 soldiers - fed them to my ants

 

welp whatever I'm doing is not working!

Edited by CoolColJ, August 3 2018 - 7:26 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Moved them to a new petri dish setup

 

dirt/substrate from their original nest at the bottom

two pieces of damp cardboard on one half at the top

Wet cotton on the other half overlapping on top the cardboard

Edited by CoolColJ, August 3 2018 - 8:29 PM.

[LC3]

Maybe it’s too humid or cramped in the petri dish?

Or maybe try wood, since cardboard is rather nutrient poor. I recall Nasutermids were heavily reliant on some sort of nutrient (I think it was nitrogen but not sure), normally these would be fixed by the gut microbes but the higher termites are mostly lacking in this category. Additionally different species prefer different stages of decay for the wood and possibly derive some nutrients from soil.

Edited by LC3, August 4 2018 - 10:20 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Maybe it’s too humid or cramped in the petri dish?

Or maybe try wood, since cardboard is rather nutrient poor. I recall Nasutermids were heavily reliant on some sort of nutrient (I think it was nitrogen but not sure), normally these would be fixed by the gut microbes but the higher termites are mostly lacking in this category. Additionally different species prefer different stages of decay for the wood and possibly derive some nutrients from soil.

Space is not an issue, but it could be humidity as they only died when I squirted more water
And it could be food, as most of the soldiers died, which also reduces food burden is a round about way.

New setup uses soil/nest material from their original nest.
I'll post a pic later

I'll go back to their nest one day and try and find more workers

Edited by CoolColJ, August 4 2018 - 2:54 PM.

[CoolColJ]

New setup

click to enlarge


Where they were when I first opened the drawer I keep them in




There were a few dead soldiers...and some termite remians, perhaps they have started to eat the dead ones

[CoolColJ]

Tapped in a few springtails from my culture, probably around 10 or so. So at the least I'll get a springtail culture out of this