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I just received a small colony of C. formosanus, otherwise commonly known as the Formosan Subterranean termite. Most species in the genus Coptotermes are widely known as pests and can cause billions of dollars of damages each year. C. formosanus is an invasive species originating from its native range in southern China.
The diet of these termites includes almost anything with wood fibre which contains cellulose. They really aren't picky at all. They will even feed on paper and cardboard, which may make this colony useful in cleaning up any clean, excess recyclable waste.
The queen of this colony can live for up to 15 years and (at a full egg-laying rate) can produce up to 2,000 eggs per day. Workers can live up to 3-5 years! A full grown colony can eat up to 400 grams (or 13 ounces) of wood per day.
Anyways those are a few facts upon reading online.
My colony is currently set in a damp, wood granulated test tube set up. That's not dirt you see, its chewed wooden frass made by a mature colony of Lasius that I keep. It's extremely useful and will help the termites keep moist and healthy. Because these termites are soft-bodied unlike ants, they require a higher level of humidity in order to properly molt, hatch, and perform other basic functions to survive.
Unlike ants, termites differ in many ways, besides physiological. For example, a young ant, otherwise known as a larva (larvae for the plural pronunciation), is completely helpless as a legless worm-like state for which it depends completely and entirely on the adults to survive. Termites have a different strategy. A young termite, known as a nymph (nymphs [plural]) is born with legs, antennae and simple eyes which allows it to move and feed itself.
More info and photos to come as this colony continues on.
Here's some pics!
The first generation of nymphs have matured into adults now. The colony has begun to dig tunnels and chambers within the test tube.
I thought a fully grown colony would be able to eat more than 400 grams a day
I thought a fully grown colony would be able to eat more than 400 grams a day
They can, this is a very young colony. Hopefully it grows large enough to!
Lately I've noticed that the queen and king had killed one of the workers and eaten it. I think perhaps a new food source must be made available to them. In the meantime, everything else is otherwise doing well. They have unfortunately dug tunnels into the cotton as well as the wood fibers. This weekend I'll place them in a different type of set-up.