Termites Journal? (Pacific Dampwood Termites)

[Bob Lee]

I went to the forest yesterday to try my luck, I was mostly aiming for termites and other bugs that I might be able to breed...
And this one log just looked very very appealing to me ...
So I hacked and slashed at it with a gardening shovel (Didn't have a hammer or axe, big mistake) and ripped off the cork. (Which was very very thin, and soft, I was sure this log would be my lucky log at that point)

And there they are! I found a colony of Pacific dampwood termites.
Canada has two native species of termites, the pacific dampwood and western subterranean I believe. Nevada dampwood and some other species have been recorded as well, but I was going for the Pacific dampwood anyways. (Zootermopsis angusticollis)

The colony wasn't very big, I collected about somewhere around 50 workers and one small solider that I accidentally dropped... Along with a queen! For some weird reason this small colony had a queen with already expanding abdomen. I assumed this small colony branched off a big colony with a secondary reproductive.

They are currently in a bucket with a bunch of wood and dirt I collected from their log, going to go back to the same log tomorrow and bring some more wood. Also going to rehouse them to a clear container tomorrow. Hopefully this small colony can successfully breed and supply me with some good feeders.

 

[squidkid]

nice find, good luck!

 

[Arthroverts]

Agreed! Let us know what happens!

Thanks for sharing,

Arthroverts

 

[Bob Lee]

Rehoused them into a proper container, was going to move them to a big plastic box but I read a scholarly article about termites and nitrogen fixation...

Very very long story short, nitrogen can be important to termites and Zoot A have their own way of nitrogen fixation, the only problem is that it's very slow. Which, I believe is why I saw several people having a hard time starting new colonies from wild caught alates. It's because they didn't have enough time to build a stable nitrogenous environment. (I'm trying my hardest to describe this...)
Or maybe it's something else and I searched all of that for no reason at all
Anyways, considering the fact that I don't have many termites I decided to go with a small container from dollar store, I stacked some rotten wood diagonally and put in some very very rotten wood... dust(?) as substrate.

 

[Bob Lee]

 

[Bob Lee]

I thought I had 30-50 workers... But now it feels more like 20
Really big miscount, but it's still enough to start a colony. I just need them to molt into secondary reproductives.
At this point there isn't much to do... They have food and water and some workers, and if all goes well they will grow into a big colony. If I'm unlucky they will randomly die.

I'm going back to the forest again this weekend, going to look for the main nest if I can. I also found out that I didn't catch a queen but rather a different insect... And I confused it with a queen
So there must be a nest somewhere around that log, it could even be just 5m away from it. Or maybe the upper part of the log (Which for some reason I did not check for termites)

 

[Arthroverts]

Ahh, the trials of the invertebrate keeper. Are you saying that the termites require a nitrogenous environment?
Good luck with Hunt No. 2!

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[Bob Lee]

Are you saying that the termites require a nitrogenous environment?

Well they certainly don't require that much oxygen, but it really depends on the species it seems.

 

[Bob Lee]

Not much happening...

I realized there was less activity after the humidity lowered a bit, and mold started growing on wood. (Because the termites are not outside to battle it)
So I cleaned up the mold and added more water, when I removed the wood I saw a whole bunch of termites under it... Some of them darted to a tunnel on the left and the other went into an underground chamber. It seems like they chew though the wood and made another chamber under it. The small hole that used to be their chamber is abandoned now.

They should have secondary reproductive after like... 2 weeks to 2 months? Going to go back and collect more during the weekend because I was too busy during the week day.

 

[Bob Lee]

Alright, I went back and collected more, and the story is very very long.

So let's start with the part where I hacked open the tree
I went back to the same log, because last time I was only able to find some workers and a single tiny solider, I'm sure that the log must have a colony somewhere. The workers I found on the right end of the log, the log itself is about 5 meters long and quite wide. So my attempts to move it failed. There is also quite a bit of plant growing around and over it on the left side and the middle.

So here was my little trick to locating the termites
I moved the majority of the plants out of my way (The blackberries were a pain on the butt, literally, they hooked onto my pants...)
And I ripped off all the bark from the trunk so I can see clearly. And I started hammering my way though smack center of the log. I was able to find one worker that was on the right side of the hole. And considering the fact that I found all my other workers on the right side too, it's obvious that's the half of the log I'm looking for.
So I moved to the middle of that section again (3/4 of the tree on my left, 1/4 on my right) and started hammering at the wood again. The strategy is quite simple and effective. If you are lucky you will find them the second time you chop through the wood, it took me three tries.

And there they were! I found tiny little nymphs all over the place
I removed a couple chunks of wood containing the nymphs, hoping the queen and king would be inside it (Which I think they are) and dug a bit more to make sure they didn't escape to the bottom of the wood or into the ground. (Very important, the queen and king would be the first to escape, you want to make sure you catch them)

So I housed the newfound colony in a big container and added all the workers I collected before into the box. One of the workers have become a secondary reproductive! He/She have little wings on his/her back now. All the workers have disappeared into the wood now, probably meeting up with their queen and king and building chambers. All the tiny white nymphs seem to be just hanging around... In fact they barely move or react to anything, the just wander around aimlessly going all over the place and stand at one spot for extended periods of time...

Now I just have to leave them inside on their own. Not much work to do now, they are a very slow growing species so it's going to be ages before I can see progress within their nest...

 

[schmiggle]

@Bob Lee very cool, and glad you found the rest of the colony.

A general note--it sounds like you did this if I'm understanding your method correctly, but it's generally considered best practice to leave logs you're looking inside as intact as possible, since they represent habitat for lots of species.

 

[Bob Lee]

@Bob Lee very cool, and glad you found the rest of the colony.

A general note--it sounds like you did this if I'm understanding your method correctly, but it's generally considered best practice to leave logs you're looking inside as intact as possible, since they represent habitat for lots of species.

If a log has ants/termites inside it(In my case the log had both) there isn't going to be much else. (Or anything else at all)
I actually punched serval big holes through the log making sure I have a clear sight of what goes on to make sure the queen and king don't escape.
I'm sure the pill bugs don't mind, they are the only ones that somehow survived the ants and termites in big numbers...

 

[dragonfire1577]

So did you see the king and queen? It would be awesome if you got them which sounds likely based on what you are reporting!

 

[Bob Lee]

So did you see the king and queen? It would be awesome if you got them which sounds likely based on what you are reporting!

Well, no, the reasons will be in the next post

 

[Bob Lee]

Third trip back to the same log.
Well... Life is full of surprises is all I'm gonna say

So I went back with a hammer again, same routine digging through the wood.
The reason I went back is that I realized what I thought was "the entire colony" was in fact, only less than 10 nymphs.
After some quick calculation I decided to hack open a spot, and under it were bunch of workers and nymphs.
So it went like that for another hour, I also found a soldier in the progress. He/She is massive and really impressive looking, unlike any other species I've seen.

And here is when surprises started...
I peeled the bark on the other side back a bit more and revealed some more workers, their color seemed a tiny bit darker but I put them all in the bucket anyways. And a very awkward place in the wood... Was a soldier. Which I pulled out, and another head stuck out, and I tried to pull that one out...
Well, it was a queen
A dead queen
Her abdomen was crashed... probably my fault but I'm not sure how. And feeling a bit upset I throw her in the bucket as food for the other termites.
There was a whole bunch of torn up corpses on the wood.
Now I'm getting really confused, because I'm getting much more crashed termites then I'm supposed to, and it seemed really odd.

To save space and time I'm gonna skip the part I stared at the bucket contemplating life, here is what happened. The dead termite queen was not the species I was digging up, but rather a subterranean species! Apparently there was a small newly started colony there that I accidentally dug up and put into the bucket with all of mine termites...
And Zoot A being Zoots, they murdered all of the subterrane termites without a problem

So, the key points I learned:
The colony is huge and I'm probably only on the outside of it because only one soldier was found by me
We have subterranean termites here, and they are just starting to build their colony. Making this a very good time for me to catch some.
Zoot A are badass
I am literally a degenerate

 

[Bob Lee]

Also, another surprise today. I found a queen ant in my termite container...
She is in a deli cup with a cotton ball now. Hopefully I can get a ant colony out of her

 

[schmiggle]

Zoot A are badass
I am literally a degenerate

Well we already knew those two

Bet you could find some alates of subterranean termites and go from there. This is the time of year when I usually find them, anyway. I'm assuming you're in coastal British Columbia, if you're in Canada with damp wood termites, and I don't know much about your weather over there other than wet and cold all the time.

 

[Bob Lee]

Bet you could find some alates of subterranean termites and go from there. This is the time of year when I usually find them, anyway. I'm assuming you're in coastal British Columbia, if you're in Canada with damp wood termites, and I don't know much about your weather over there other than wet and cold all the time.

For subterranean, I'm gonna aim more for the entire colony instead of collecting workers for a secondary reproductive or catching alates. Mainly because since they actually pose a threat to buildings, I don't think anyone would really mind
I also really want a big colony in the thousands, so I can collect small groups of workers off it once or twice every week to run some experiments. Or maybe sell them and give them away.

 

[schmiggle]

for the entire colony instead of collecting workers for a secondary reproductive or catching alates. Mainly because since they actually pose a threat to buildings, I don't think anyone would really mind

This is true, you can probably search craigslist or taskrabbit actually to see who needs infestations removed.
QUOTE="Bob Lee, post: 2935294, member: 132069"]I also really want a big colony in the thousands, so I can collect small groups of workers off it once or twice every week to run some experiments[/QUOTE]
Ok Mengele.

You better post pictures when your colonies get big, I'm getting so excited!

 

[mantisfan101]

Third trip back to the same log.
Well... Life is full of surprises is all I'm gonna say

So I went back with a hammer again, same routine digging through the wood.
The reason I went back is that I realized what I thought was "the entire colony" was in fact, only less than 10 nymphs.
After some quick calculation I decided to hack open a spot, and under it were bunch of workers and nymphs.
So it went like that for another hour, I also found a soldier in the progress. He/She is massive and really impressive looking, unlike any other species I've seen.

And here is when surprises started...
I peeled the bark on the other side back a bit more and revealed some more workers, their color seemed a tiny bit darker but I put them all in the bucket anyways. And a very awkward place in the wood... Was a soldier. Which I pulled out, and another head stuck out, and I tried to pull that one out...
Well, it was a queen
A dead queen
Her abdomen was crashed... probably my fault but I'm not sure how. And feeling a bit upset I throw her in the bucket as food for the other termites.
There was a whole bunch of torn up corpses on the wood.
Now I'm getting really confused, because I'm getting much more crashed termites then I'm supposed to, and it seemed really odd.

To save space and time I'm gonna skip the part I stared at the bucket contemplating life, here is what happened. The dead termite queen was not the species I was digging up, but rather a subterranean species! Apparently there was a small newly started colony there that I accidentally dug up and put into the bucket with all of mine termites...
And Zoot A being Zoots, they murdered all of the subterrane termites without a problem

So, the key points I learned:
The colony is huge and I'm probably only on the outside of it because only one soldier was found by me
We have subterranean termites here, and they are just starting to build their colony. Making this a very good time for me to catch some.
Zoot A are badass
I am literally a degenerate

This is why, in the antkeeping hobby, digging up wild colonies is highly frowned upon. There’s a high risk of always crushing or cleaving the wueen(s) during the search. Unless you’re a professional it’s highly recommended for you to wait until the ants and termites have nuptial flights. Now then if you need some advice about raising the queen ant I can offer you some assistance or you can check out the antkeeping forum at formiculture.com.