ANTSTORE World of Ants

[AntsNational]

For a colony that small I think it was a moisture issue, I keep small termite colonies in an environment where its 100% humidity and at least 20C warmth! Hopefully this works next time Adam!

Vas

[adam james]

Hello Vasile , cheers for that i hope next time will go better , Why dont you do a blog about your termites you keep mate ??

Adam

[AntsNational]

Good idea! They're tiny little ladies but they are cute! I'll open a topic this weekend. I collected the colony in a small log but whether the queen is present or not I don't know. The queen is either in the deepest part of the log or I didn't get her. Regardless this species can morph into a new sub-queens & male and these sub-queens can and do produce real alates so whatever happens they should remain alive. I've had them for about 5 months now they're pretty cool! Lots of tunnels & lots of nymphs!

[adam james]

sounds great mate , if there are nymphs there then it certainly sounds feasable you have the king and queen too.


Regards

Adam

[Easton]

I hope you keep on making more photos Looks great and i'm interested to see growing up some Termite colony

[adam james]

Hello
Eastern , once I get another colony I will continue this diary which will
Include adding more pictures and videos ; )

Regards

Adam

[adam james]

Hello Alannah , sorry to hear they are damaging your house. But the thing is not every termite species are the same , The species I keep were fungus growers and only ate dry grasses , branches leaves etc, they dont eat houses and dont live in the wood as im assuming yours are.

Just because they are called termites many people tar them with the same brush, I mean for example , look at birds all are called birds but there are so many species that live so many different ways, Termites and ants are similair to this.

Regards

Adam

[adam james]

Well the problem with pest species of termites is they are very hard to get rid of , unfortiantly theres no easy way to do it , My experties in this matter are non existant im afraid as we dont have a termite problem in the uk as the weather is too cold for them to live here. Your best bet is to track down a pest exterminator as im sure there are a few around you as im guessing others would of been in a similair situation as yourself.

Im really sorry I cannot be of any more help Alannah, I hope you get rid of the termites.

Regards

Adam

[adam james]

Hey guys , I'm back , I have received two pairs of Macrotermes termites last week. Both pairs settled in well. There was a size difference between the two pairs with one pair being about 15mm and the other about 10mm(1cm) in size so I assume different species

The two pairs settled in well and arrived with a small pile of eggs each . Both pairs appeared ok and a few more eggs appeared and where added to there small clutches. Unfortunately over the weekend one of the reproductive from the larger pair died . As of yet I am unclear as to if it is the king or queen but the surviving one still tends the eggs so I hope if its the queen that survived then more eggs and a replacement king will be raised.

Here's a few pictures.

King and queen of the larger species , hours before one died

The remaining adult cleaning the eggs in her jaws

Heres my video journal guys



Will update soon

regards

Adam

[adam james]

The termites are doing great. As you know I have one original pair of the larger species and a smaller species. Well the smaller species lost its king , the queen did die after a week and I acquired another smaller species this time they arrived in a trio. Two kings and one Queen. One of the kings sadly also died so this left the pair. They had a rather nice egg pile which must contain at least 50 + eggs.

Well I have acquired two new pairs another of the smaller species that came as a trio again with a large batch of eggs and also a pair of the larger termites which have settled in very well. I have added this new pair to my original pair and all are getting on great, grooming each other and tending the eggs.

Two adults tend the egg pile.

There is some very good news regarding this larger species. They have there first nymph both queens and kings are tending the little one, with regular cleaning and tending hopefully it will moult and become the first worker in about 4-5 weeks time.

The white shiny first nymph just visible in the egg pile.


Last year my pair of termites got a nice small population of workers and soldiers. I experimented with feeding them newly hatch crickets that had been put in the freezer to kill them then placed in the termite chamber. I found that the adults while rearing there first brood actually took these tiny insects and ate them. I believe this helps with keeping the adults alive long enough to see there first nymphs. I have bought some more of these tiny newly hatched crickets and gave my quad two. They immediately took them and have all joined in eating the crickets.

Here's a video diary update





Adam

[ymy]

Adults of Macrotermes sp. don't have fungus spores。when the fist group of workers appear ,the right fungus must inoculated ,or they will dead within half a year.

please look this paper "ESTABLISHMENT OF FUNGUS COMB IN LABORATORY COLONIES OF MACROTERMES 3IICHAELSENI AND ODONTOTERMES AIONTANUS"

[adam james]

Hello Ymy , thank you very much for your information. There is a lot of contradiction about how termites establish the gardens , I'm glad to see this. I have some fungus comb in a test tube that I have allowed to dry out. I'm sure once the workers become active in foraging I can place a small piece of this In the foraging tank for them to collect the spores from it. I'm assuming the spores will live on the comb even after I have allowed it to dry out in the test tube.

Regards

Adam

[ymy]

Fresh fungus comb is necessery. when comb dry out ,Mycelium and spore will die.
Fungus comb can not keep fresh over 3days with out enough workers.

when 15~20workers,you need get a piece of fresh fungus comb and put it in the nest. the size of fungus comb according to the numbers of workers , not too large ,not too small.

i have some experience of keeping several colony of Odontotermes ,another kind of fungus termite.
i know more ,but i can hardly write english.

[adam james]

O right. Thank you for you advice Mate been a great help.

If you want to write about your experience with the termites feel free , I can always use Google and translate it below for English readers mate

I have a question though , how long in your experience does it take for eggs to hatch ? , I found it about 30-40 days last year with my colony but its been over 30 and my large species of macrotermes still have yet to have theres hatch

Adam

[ymy]

my colony eggs hatch 30~40days too, at average temperature over 25 C，
if you had forgot to add water and the soil became too dry ,this condition last 1~2day.all eggs will die.