Culturing termites

[Code Monkey]

There has been talk on and off about using termites for feeding slings and other small invertebrates. Here is the method I've been using to culture them:

The materials:

• A medium and small sterlite type container - the small container needs to fit easily inside of the larger.
• Unbleached, brown paper toweling (the kind you find at gas stations and in the office bathroom).
• Large popsicle or craft sticks (buy them at Michaels or similar hobby/craft stores)
• Vermiculite - you can probably use soil or peat but I like vermiculite.
• A softwood board and access to some woodworking hardware (this is the hard part but there is method to the madness)
• Subterranean termites

The first thing you want is to get the "brains of the operation". This is a 3 layer contraption made out of the board. The one pictured is 5" square and 3/4" thick out of pine (yes, pine, it's fine for raising termites). It's simply 2 square pieces and a middle piece which has the center cut out with a hole saw and grooves routed into it. The grooves don't need to be deep, maybe 1/8" wide and 1/8" deep. you can even achieve this just using a table saw adjusted for a partial cut. The grooves are important because it lets us take advantage of termites' stupid natures (they happily follow natural pathways along wood).

I have to give credit to Lois Swoboda, a PhD candidate I worked with here at the Virginia Tech Entomology Department for coming up with this idea. It's simple, but brilliant in its way.

Here is the "brain":

[Code Monkey]

Soak it in water, preferably overnight, along with a bunch of the popsicle sticks. Then get the rest of your goodies together:

[Code Monkey]

OK, here's the secret: *pack* the cut out center of the brain with wet unbleached paper towels. Termites love this stuff. This is the only part of the culture you are ever going to add water to. Termites need a source of moisture to survive, by only adding water here such that it is the only wet area, this is going to be a place they will congregate (and travel to via those grooves).

Put it at one end of the smaller sterlite container and put a thin layer of vermiculite in the bottom. Layer the soaked popsicle sticks on top of that.

Here is the set up pictured:

[Code Monkey]

You can add more popsicle sticks (you can even put another layer of vermiculite and then a whole other layer of popsicle sticks):

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Then add your termites. Pictured is a bunch of crumbled wood from the log they were in with a bunch of termites being dumped on some moist vermiculite over the popsicle sticks:

[Code Monkey]

"The moat" comes next. You set the smaller sterlite container in the larger with an inch or two of water in the larger. This is *very* important.

First, termites need about 100% RH to thrive (they do not need much in the way of air exchange, though, so don't worry about the marked lack of ventilation).

Second, they're idiots who spread by their very nature. Once the population gets going they will build dirt tubes up and out of the smaller container. The moat will catch the suicidal nuts that march out into the great unknown. Far better that they drown than establish themselves in your home.

[Code Monkey]

To care for the culture keep it sealed up in the larger container in the dark. Every couple of weeks, add some water to the paper towelling in the "brain". If they consume a lot of that towelling, add some more.

If there comes a time that most of the wood is consumed outside the brain, add some more popsicle sticks, or if it's getting filled up with the broken down wood, scoop out most of the dirt and start over.

[Code Monkey]

Here's the payoff: unlike most social insects, termites don't need a queen. Young termites will grow into what they call secondary reproductives and lay eggs. The colony can be grown from a few hundred initial workers into a full fledged colony of thousands.

Once you've got a decent pop, here's what you do:

You go into the brain and lift off the top two sections, the bottom board should be covered with termites. Knock them off into a clean plastic container and feed away.

[Code Monkey]

Here's the goodies:

[Code Monkey]

Ideally what you want is to get 3 or 4 cultures going. Then you can feed from one on a given week, and then rest it for a few weeks. This allows the population to recover.

If you can't find enough infested logs initially, you can grow your number of cultures by splitting an established one.

[Immortal_sin]

can this be made a sticky, so it stays on top?
and secondly...where (besides going out and hunting them) can you get them, can you order them online?

[Mendi]

Thanks Chip! for posting this, as they are my favorite food for my little tiny Ts. I don't have problems finding them in the warm months, but with this I can have them all through the winter too. Also having to go out and dig for the "kids" dinner can get a bit old when the weather gets around 90F. I've got a nice project for next week now

[Code Monkey]

Originally posted by Immortal_sin
where (besides going out and hunting them) can you get them, can you order them online?

You know, there's probably someone who sells them but I've never looked. Finding them is usually not a problem. Easiest place is a firewood pile close to the ground that is in the shade and been there for about a year.

[Code Monkey]

One trouble shooting thing you may run into. As I said, termites are both idiotic and driven to spread. They will sometimes chew right through their plastic container in the corners. If they do this below the water line, you're going to have a flooded colony - another reason to keep more than one running.

[jezzy607]

I have been keeping termites in a very similar way, and they do seem to do well in containers with little or no ventilation. I am not sure which species you have in virginia(R. flavipes?), but I have found that R. tibialis seems to do the best in captivity(produce new reproductives within 2 weeks of being separated from the original colony). R. flavipes are larger though, and make a fuller(gr?) meal. I also have R. virginicus, but they seem to not acclimate as well as the others.

Also, I would warn not to feed young mantids, termites. The termites(even the workers) have very strong mandibles, and when captured by the mantids, will "snip" the raptorial front legs right off! I learned this the hard way, and had many handicapped L2-L3 stage sphodromantis.