Yeah, I failed many times too. Heres what I do now: 10 gal aquarium with an airtight lid. 6"x6" squares of regular pine lumber. Cut a hole in the middle leaving only about 1" of wood remaining along the sides. Using unbleached paper towels, stuff the center of the hole. Every other piece of wood is a "blank" square with no hole cut in it. Put wood squares into the aquarium on the side, not laying flat, alternating between the blanks and the paper towel filled pieces. Forms sort of a sandwich effect. Fill one (short) side of the aquarium with these guys. Add sandy soil to the remaining 3/5 of the aquarium, about 2" deep. Heavily spray the wood and let sit for a few days. Add TONS of termites to the wood. Depending on what type you have, the termites will begin burrowing into the soil and wood, eventually forming a viable colony. Keep in a cool (below 80) dark space for a YEAR, watering (spraying) once a week. Replace toweling (which is best gotten from a gas station. You'll have to experiment with this as some is better for this purpose than others) as necessary, checking no more than once a month. Key things: temps need to be between 60-75 F. Moisture needs to be high, they dessicate rapidly. As I said, I failed many, many times, but now have Pacific Northwest dampwood termites and a species from florida reproducing for me. Its hard to not check more than once a month, but if you set the colonies up on some sort of shelving, you can see activity through the bottom of the glass, relieving curiosity. The termites DONT like being disturbed, and they will expire quickly if temps get higher than 80 F. Best of luck, I think that luck plays a big part in getting these guys to work for you, and you may have to repeat the experiment several times before you get a viable colony. Fortunately, few people will complain about you harvesting termites.....Any other questions, feel free to ask! C
> Message: 2 > From: Lyle Puente <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [gecko]Re: termites > Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 08:31:12 -0500 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Nice! how did you manage to get that all set up and > how are you > keeping them? > I always had long term failure in my attempts. > > On Dec 15, 2004, at 2:15 AM, Chad Mayer wrote: > > Just for the record, I culture two different > species > > of termites, and my gex LOVE them. Theyre high in > > protein, but a bit fatty, so they dont get them > very > > often, but when contained and properly cultured, > they > > make a great feeder. You have to be incredibly > > patient though, they can take as long as a year to > > become a viable colony after being taken from the > wild. > > Lyle Puente > President > Global Gecko Association > > My Brothers Banned > http://www.mybrothersbanned.com > > > --__--__-- > > Message: 3 > From: "Sven Vogler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 15:12:45 +0100 > Subject: Re: [gecko]Re: termites > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Yep. In that setup I am highly interested, too. > > Greetings from Hamburg > > Sven Vogler > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Lyle Puente" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [gecko]Re: termites > Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 08:31:12 -0500 > > >=20 > > Nice! how did you manage to get that all set up > and how are you keeping = > them? > > I always had long term failure in my attempts. > >=20 > > On Dec 15, 2004, at 2:15 AM, Chad Mayer wrote: > > > Just for the record, I culture two different > species > > > of termites, and my gex LOVE them. Theyre high > in > > > protein, but a bit fatty, so they dont get them > very > > > often, but when contained and properly cultured, > they > > > make a great feeder. You have to be incredibly > > > patient though, they can take as long as a year > to > > > become a viable colony after being taken from > the wild. > >=20 > > Lyle Puente > > President > > Global Gecko Association > >=20 > > My Brothers Banned > > http://www.mybrothersbanned.com > >=20 > > _______________________________________________ > > Global Gecko Association > > http://www.gekkota.com > > Classifieds > > http://www.gekkota.com/cgi-gekkota/classifieds.cgi > === message truncated === __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Send holiday email and support a worthy cause. Do good. http://celebrity.mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Global Gecko Association http://www.gekkota.com Classifieds http://www.gekkota.com/cgi-gekkota/classifieds.cgi gecko mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.gekkota.com/mailman/listinfo/gecko
