With keeping termites alive in the laboratory, as others mentioned earlier on, you would need to take into account temperature and RH. These needs to be similar with those obtained in their nest (termitaria). A good way to get these right is by starting with normal RH i.e. 55% and room temperature. Photo-period is also an important factor taking into account that most termites are blind. Also a break in the social structure can affect their survival. That is, how many workers and soldiers do you keep together? Remember in social insects their social structure is a key to their survival since they perform different task within the nest. I was able to keep Odontotermes spp. for a long time in the laboratory when I was using them to feed matabele ants. Kindly contact Dr David Mburu who had more experience in keeping termite colonies in the laboratory than myself.

Did you check humidity termites are very sensitive to humidity decreases.

You never die and have kept them in a 500 ml beaker.

What kind of termites you want to keep alive? Subterranean?

Anyway you have to provide proper temperature and relative humidity (conditioned room), and they prefer dark instead of light conditions. You may add some water drops to filter paper, it helps to maintain humidity level.

You should verify if they are being attacked by any kind of natural enemy, as acari for example.

I kept them in a plastic container with perforated cover and placed it outside the lab overnight. I did not check humidity levels because I do not know what humdity levels they require or how to adjust that. I got them from an infested toilet door frame. They are not being attacked as there are no other animals in the container.

I would put the petri dishes in a bigger plastic box (closed) with moistened toilet paper inside, and monitor daily for humidity (not too high - avoid fungi - or too low - if termites abdomen is flattened and they start to die). If it doesn't work I would say that they are not subterranean termites (it is crucial to know the species or group to adjust laboratory rearing strategies), and so you should keep them in a piece of the wood they are infesting inside a plastic box.

Wish you best luck.

about 55% relative humidity they should suffice. You can sprinkle the bottom of the container of moist sand

What about aeration? Do they need air inside the container?

With keeping termites alive in the laboratory, as others mentioned earlier on, you would need to take into account temperature and RH. These needs to be similar with those obtained in their nest (termitaria). A good way to get these right is by starting with normal RH i.e. 55% and room temperature. Photo-period is also an important factor taking into account that most termites are blind. Also a break in the social structure can affect their survival. That is, how many workers and soldiers do you keep together? Remember in social insects their social structure is a key to their survival since they perform different task within the nest. I was able to keep Odontotermes spp. for a long time in the laboratory when I was using them to feed matabele ants. Kindly contact Dr David Mburu who had more experience in keeping termite colonies in the laboratory than myself.

First, i would like to suggest that different termite species would have different gut bacteria. Secondly, different species of this altruistic invertebrates would have variant and specific micro-environments. Like one reader before me noted, it would be critical to know the target species. Anyhow i have kept Macrotermes sp. in the lab for more than a month. Like Yusuf has indicated, the eusocial component needs to be considered, temperature, Humidity and food as well. One needs to know the natural setting. I used a group of 20 female and 2 male conspecifics in a 90 cm diameter petri plates on a wet filter paper. I also incorporated saturated salts to keep maintain the relative humidity in an self regulating incubator. Kindly find the nitty gritties of the details in a paper,Mburu Et Al. (2009).Relationship Between Virulence And Repellency of Entomopathogenic Isolates of Metarhiziumanisopliae And Beauveriabassiana to the Termite Macrotermes michaelseni. Journal of Insect Physiology, 55: 774-780.

Thus to be specific to your needs we need to know the target termite.

The very best

I intend to isolate celluase-producing bacteria from the gut of termites. Any wood-eating termite would do. I want to feed the termites on sterilized filter paper for a week so as to promote the cellulolytic bacteria against other species in the gut. The termites i got earlier were from an infested door frame in one of the toilets in my institution and they kept dying the second even after i placed filter paper in the petri dish and plastic container which i used in keeping them. I pierced the cover of the plastic container (for aeration), i also put some in McCartney bottles with cover and some in Petri plates- they all died. My challenge now is keeping them alive so that i can feed them for a week.

Hello Mushafau,

In my experience, there could be a several reasons why your termites are dying so quickly. If you can describe what your dead termites look like (piled or distributed? dry? "normal"-looking but dead? gooey puddles?), we might be able to pinpoint what exactly is going on. Also, if you can find out the species, or at least genus, we can help you a bit more with their specific requirements. Here are some possible problems and solutions.

1) damage to the termites during collection. Little breaks in the cuticle from rough handling, sharp forceps, or being shaken with debris during collection can make them lose fatal amounts of hemolymph. I usually use soft, blunt forceps when transferring termites. Damaged termites will often be eaten by their nestmates or piled up away from the heathy termites.

2) humidity. As already mentioned, with too low of humidity they dry out (abdomens flatten and then they die) but too much moisture will also kill them (they will look sad and droopy, then become oozy gooey globs). When keeping termites in petri dishes, I line the dish with filter paper and add just a few drops of water -- enough that the paper is moist and all the water is absorbed by the paper. You shouldn't see any water in the dish. I keep the dishes inside a plastic box with a lid, and line the box with moist paper towel or put a damp sponge in one corner. You're aiming for somewhere around 50-60% humidity, but different species have different tolerances.

3) temperature. They will be happiest at 25-28 degrees C. Air conditioned labs are usually bad for termites (temperature and humidity-wise) but putting them outside is also dangerous -- if any sun hits their box it becomes an oven and they all cook. Options for handling their temperature requirements might be: putting them (in their petri dish in a box) in an incubator (like for bacteria) set at 25C or 28C, keeping them in a room with a steady temperature in the 25-28C range and away from any windows (inside a cupboard is fine), or keeping them in a shade house, screen house, or well-shaded, well-ventilated workshop. In the field, I have also kept termites for a couple of days in dishes inside a cooler (no ice of course) set in the shade; maybe that would also work for a week. Ambient (outdoors) temperature is usually alright for them as long as they are kept moist but not wet and their container can't heat up. You'll check them often enough that air supply shouldn't be a problem. Keep them on a water or oil trap if there are ants around.

4) group size and composition. As others have mentioned, termites cannot live alone and isolated individuals will die quickly. Even in species that are easy to keep without their queen and king, 20 is about the minimum group size. Exactly how many you can keep in a 90mm petri dish depends on the species and their body size. If you find soldiers when you collect the termites (they are rare in some species, numerous in others), keeping a couple in each group can also be good. Soldiers generally rely on the workers to feed them, so they can make the workers hungrier and more likely to eat the filter paper sooner. BUT, a group of all or mostly soldiers will die fairly quickly, so you don't want too many. Depending on the species, soldiers have bigger, heavier mandibles, or blocky, sclerotized heads, or a spout on the top of their head that shoots glue. If you are disturbing a foraging site, the workers will most likely hide and the soldiers go on the defensive, so if you are just grabbing termites and not looking at the caste, you may have ended up with too many soldiers. If that is the problem, the next time you collect termites you should take a piece of wood where they are actively working (eating) and shake or tap the termites out into a container, then break up the wood to get the rest.

You may also consider whether feeding the termites on paper prior to isolating bacteria is really going to enrich their gut flora for cellulose-degrading species beyond the normal population. Some termite species are very happy eating filter paper in a petri dish, but some are really not and will live on their reserves as long as possible rather than eat the filter paper. Maybe enriching the bacterial culture outside of the termite would be a better option? I have a student with a similar project, and she enriched for cellulose degraders by adding termite gut contents to liquid media containing cellulose before plating them out.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

Since the termites came from a rotten door frame, it is best to keep them in a fully enclosed container with a few pieces of rotten susceptible wood and a wet cotton wool sob, to maintain humidity. It is necessary to put a black cover ( polythene or cloth) round the container to keep them in the dark . Room temperature would be OK.

There is also the wood sandwich method, used for testing susceptibility of timber types, that would keep them longer.

Thank you Tamara and Jayanthi, you have answered my most important questions. I will follow your advice and see how it works out. Thanks so much.

Hello,

First of all look at the identification of termite and it ecosystem.

Respect components of termite's ecosystem : sort of wood, temperature, humidity, component of air. I have breed termites (Coptotermes havilandi, Prorinothermes canalifrons, etc) during several months without problem, betwen two glass with wood, and with external litlle boxes with mesh to have a good circulation of air inside. You can have more explication on my web site on http://www.chez.com/guillermet. But it is in french langage.

Thanks

Please ascertain the termite species. RH plays a major role, for example if the spp is Heterotermes then,

Here is a reference to an old paper (my very first) that might prove useful. You can perhaps keep the termites on plaster of Paris to which I added activated charcoal to darken it. My aim was to determine to what extent you would know the RH based on the color of the plaster. But it could be that you can keep the termites on this substrate. I used it to keep collembolans and also nymphal and adult chigger mites (Trombiculidae).

1958. Color as an index to the relative humidity of plaster of Paris culture jars. Proc. Entomol. Soc. Washington 60:289-291.

I will try to find a copy and upload it or send it to you if you send me your email address. I just checked and don't have any copies, but can perhaps get one. Let me know if you would like me to try.

My vague recollection is that the RH with almost any water added was >90%.

Best wishes, Ivan Huber

[email protected]

Thank you very much sir. My email address is [email protected].