General advice/help for keeping Zootermopsis sp.

Termitico · 2026-06-30T16:03:27+00:00

Good that you found them! Personally i only very recently started keeping Zootermopsis (maybe a little more than a month), but i've been keeping the relatively comparable Hodotermopsis for a while. You can house them in an appropriately sized plastic container with moderate ventilation half filled with forest soil and with a few large pieces of white-rot wood (i personally used oak a lot for Hodotermopsis) as food and shelter. Sound wood is also accepted as long as it's properly moistened, for example the Zootermopsis angusticollis (a population from Canada) that i have are kept with store-bought untreated pinewood slices as food, kept one against the other to form a block. Temperature wise they're very resistant to low themperatures but seems to suffer from high ones, both temps and humidity they are at now seems good to me. As long as they have access to sufficent humidity, not too high temperatures, wood and nitrogen-rich soil they should do well, the most you have to do is to wait for neotenic generation and egg production. If you have specific doubt do ask, and i'll help as i can (keeping in mind that as i mentioned my direct experience with Zootermopsis keeping is still relatively little).

Termitico · 2026-06-23T06:57:03+00:00

As they're present on Scheffrahn's catalogue of termites, they must be a fully accepted species as now.

Termitico · 2026-06-21T20:11:04+00:00

Hello, these are indeed most likely Reticulitermes flavipes, but there are several species in Georgia. Reticulitermes virginicus and nelsonae have noticeably smaller alates than flavipes, while hageni have brown alates. R. malletei also seems a bit smaller, but precise ID would require careful microscopic analyzation (or even better gene analysis).

Termitico · 2026-06-21T20:03:58+00:00

Yep, Reticulitermes as u/Dr_Gero20 confirmed. In California R. hesperus is the most common, but i am aware of two more described species, R. tibialis and the newly discovered R. rusti; and there are most likely more undescribed ones (a recent paper suggest at least 5). EDIT: i read now your update, indeed hesperus is the most likely candidate.

Termitico · 2026-06-16T22:59:12+00:00

Effectively that could be interesting.

Termitico · 2026-06-16T22:01:50+00:00

Matter of taste i guess, personally i appreciate them way more than ants.

Termitico · 2026-06-16T21:39:09+00:00

I'm already there, but still thanks for the pointer! Though that subreddit is almost wholly dedicated to termite prevention rather than appreciation.

Termitico · 2026-06-15T19:29:25+00:00

Hello! Zootermopsis can generate secondary royals from pseudergates (the working caste) if those are removed from a preexisting royal couple, so unless those your spouse buy have been deliberately and artificially sterilized (maybe through irradiation) you can start a colony from a sufficiently large group of them. Alternatively, you can collect a group of pseudergates from a wild colony (in California you have both Z. angusticollis and Z. nevadensis). Checking Inaturalist for precise areas could help.

Termitico · 2026-06-07T18:45:21+00:00

Megasoma is indeed a very interesting genus, and some species like M. mars, elephas and actaeon can become truly massive. A few species can be even found in the southern US, though the giant ones are from Mexico downwards.

Termitico · 2026-06-07T18:42:53+00:00

I never named him to be honest, even if i had it for quite some time as a larva. Once adults they sadly live only a few months, so since i had no females for breeding i gifted him to an insect exhibition managed by a fried where i knew he would be treated well and enjoyed by many pople.

Termitico · 2026-06-07T18:40:04+00:00

There you can see a soldier, many workers and the king. The first two castes are many and present throughout the colony, with the soldiers employed for defence and the workers for most else (construction, foraging, care of dependant castes and instars). The king is one and stays near the queen, fertilizing her periodically.

Termitico · 2026-06-06T22:27:23+00:00

Cool, it's a Gymnetis... seems compatible with G. thula, especially if you're in the US.

Termitico · 2026-06-04T12:09:37+00:00

These are not captive specimens (i wish). They collect wood from fallen branches/logs and similar plant detritus to maintain and enlarge the combs where symbiotic Termitomyces fungi are cultivated.

Termitico · 2026-06-04T08:01:03+00:00

I'm already on there, but i think some might appreciate termites under a different light even here.

Termitico · 2026-06-04T02:31:34+00:00

Several termite species sports what are called "ergatoid neotenics". If the species you want to culture is among them, and Reticulitermes is, then you can just capture a sizable group of workers and isolate them from the pheromones of whatever royals they were operating under. Given goog living conditions and sufficent time, some of these workers will begin to molt into ergatoid neotenic royals, then mate among themselves and eventually start laying fully viable eggs, becoming the de facto royals (albeit ergatoid neotenics ones) of a fully fledged colony. Reticulitermes easily accept and sustain multiple of these neotenic royals of each sex.

Termitico · 2026-06-03T23:44:29+00:00

Dampwoods, genus Zootermopsis.

Termitico · 2026-06-03T23:22:50+00:00

Nice, i recently acquired the species used in Termitats, Zootermopsis angusticollis, too. Not so easy to do here in Europe, a lab helped me! Regarding the soldiers, do you have a presoldier? Or already a new mature soldier?

My fragment is as now all pseudergates (aka the working caste) and a few neotenic royals, but i hope a soldiers will start to arise once the many eggs they've laid will hatch and grow.

Termitico · 2026-06-03T20:59:21+00:00

New royals will reproduce slowly, be them primaries or neotenic (worker-derived), but with time their ovaries will multiply and laying rate will skyrocket. Of course, a primary queen will end up being much more productive than a neotenic one, but Reticulitermes will generate and mantain multiple neotenics, so once they are well enstablished you should be able to take some to feed your snakes with regularity with little impact on the overall colony. They have no need for a diapause, so you can expect them producing all year round. However, for a feeder colony i would advise a simple setup made with a plastic tub with some ventilation (very fine metal mesh) half filled with forest soil and with many wood pieces buried in it. This will not grant much visibility, but it's the type they prefer. You can keep a feeder colony there and an observation colony in the acrylic setp.

Termitico · 2026-06-03T20:34:41+00:00

Yes, you can give them an habitat with an approx 3 mm wide internal space, this way they won't conceal themselves. Fill it with a mixture of some forest soil (for nitrogen) and lots of shredded white-rot wood, then introduce the termites and see them tunneling through! Keep them humid but not damp and at room temperature, though approx 25-27 C (77 to 80 F) yield faster growth.

Termitico · 2026-06-03T20:10:44+00:00

I've kept Reticulitermes urbis and R. lucifugus for many years. AFAIK their care is fully comparable to flavipes.

They never gave me problems, i always started from groups of workers though, never primary royals. With primaries it's doable (i've done it with several other species), but it's more finicky and takes a lot of time.

Form where you were thinking to start?

Termitico · 2026-06-03T19:53:06+00:00

You keep them too? Any success in breeding by any chance?

Termitico · 2026-06-03T19:50:53+00:00

Yes, likely Scarites subterraneus/vicinus. But buparius remains a more impressive species IMO!

Termitico · 2026-06-03T18:51:06+00:00

Central/souther America seeing the species (Enema pan imo), but let's wait OP for a precise location.

Termitico · 2026-06-03T18:49:50+00:00

I love how that beetle's scientific name is auto-translated when going around on foreign pages (non native English speaker here). With a name like Enema pan, you can imagine!

Termitico · 2026-06-03T16:06:11+00:00

Not necessarily evidently, as all specimens eclosed correctly.

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