Thanks for your interest in our blog.

A few zoos have successfully bred termites, but it requires transporting an intact colony, with the queen, from the wild into captivity. Unfortunately, this is quite difficult to arrange. Also, termite societies are very complex and have very specific requirements as to humidity, temperature, air flow and food, and these differ greatly from species to species. At this point, collecting them as needed is the most practical approach.

Good luck and please keep me posted.

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

Thanks for taking the time to write back…I thought I recognized the “symptoms” of one drawn to all sorts of animals. My work has involved me with beasts ranging from ant lions to African lions, and I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite.

Generalist naturalists and writers were the rule in times past, but are a rare breed these days – Clifford Moore’s classic Wild Animal Pets (1954), still a wonderful resource, does a great job on jumping spiders, red foxes and most everything in-between, and there are scores of others. Well, glad to hear I’m not alone, thanks.

I too wind up keeping feeder animals for interest’s sake – crayfish, snails and marine and freshwater shrimp cultures in particular have taken on lives of their own.

Thanks for the kind words on my book, Newts and Salamanders. I’ll have a second edition out by summer’s end but, per publisher’s guidelines, the text will be much reduced. Photo selection should be greatly enlarged, however…hopefully provided, as were the first edition’s, by the incomparable Dick Bartlett. The Everything Aquarium Book covers a lot of ground, species wise, and focuses on the odd and underappreciated, in case you are looking for something along those lines (I don’t earn royalties…just mentioning it for interest’s sake!).

I’ll add collecting/alternative food articles from time to time. Please keep me posted on your collection and observations, and of course forward any questions you may have.

Enjoy and best regards, Frank Indiviglio

Nice to hear from you again…also to see that, as with the cicadas, you share my interest in collecting and using all sorts of insects; thanks!

You raise a very interesting point, one that I have considered often. As with yourself, I was always under the impression that, with the notable exception of horned lizards, the spectacular thorny devil and a few others, herps largely avoided preying upon ants due to the formic acid, biting and stinging abilities etc.

I remember, when caring for giant anteaters at the Bronx Zoo, pouring a vile-smelling mix of formic acid and vinegar over the gruel (rice, milk, chop meat, monkey biscuits) which I cooked for them – without the “ant taste” they wouldn’t touch their unusual food (and even I, ambitious insect collector that I am, could not gather enough ants to satisfy the appetites of two 40 pound anteaters and their cub!). I recall also that large numbers of ants confined to zip lock bags after collecting gave off an acidic odor that irritated my eyes.

Yet, in reading field research reports in Herpetologica and other journals, I noticed that ants frequently turned up in stomach content studies of a wide range of herps. It makes sense, I suppose, as ants are often the most numerous insects, in terms of individuals (but not species…that honor goes to the beetles, particularly the weevils) in many habitats – they quite literally drive the functioning of most tropical ecosystems.

I began experimenting and found that most suitably sized native (USA) herps accepted ants – swifts, various toads, green treefrogs, anoles, dusky salamanders and many others. Ants are especially important in the diets of many poison frogs species, as well as for some Mantellas, Atelopus and other small terrestrial frogs, and palm (arboreal) salamanders took them when refusing most other items; flying dragons also seem to favor them. I then tried them on flat rock lizards, whiptails and others, usually with good results.

The trick is in hitting on the right species…I remember, when carrying Texas horned lizards from ant nest to ant nest as a child, that even they refused some while gobbling up others. Certainly there are different tastes, and many can bite or sting – tropical species can be quite nasty. The harvester ants sometimes available via one or two internet dealers are a safe bet for horned lizards and many others, but other than that it really takes trial and error.

You seem to have wide interests, so may be interested to hear that I also have fed ants to fishes, web-building, wolf and jumping spiders and ground beetles, to name a few.

Reproductive (flying) adults, like termites, have a high fat content and seem a particularly good source of nutrition…everything from mantids to quite large mammals, including people in some places, gorge on them during mating flights.

Great to hear that you take the trouble to collect ant pupae for your fishes…a lost art here in the US, but a favorite of mine. Ant pupae sales are brisk in bird markets throughout Southeast Asia, and in through the 70’s commercial turtle food here consisted largely of “ant eggs” (dried pupae). Turtles fared poorly on this as a sole diet, but fresh and dried pupae are a very good supplement for many creatures.

Thanks for your interest in my more “arcane” ideas!

Please keep me posted,

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

Indian meal moths, along with the similarly-sized flour moths, are indeed a fine food item. I had access to huge populations in the grain storage area of the Bronx Zoo, and fed them to red-backed salamanders, poison, harlequin and Mantella frogs, young desert whip-tailed lizards, African butterfly fish, newly-hatched spiders and a wide variety of other creatures.

Unfortunately, I fear that many pet keepers may not be quite as devoted as are you, and might balk at rearing these potential kitchen pests. Once established, they can be difficult to eradicate. However, our Flour Moth Traps, which utilize environmentally friendly moth pheromones, are very effective at controlling Indian meal moths and similar species – so, those of you who are careful (and have understanding significant others!)… go to it and please report back.

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

They are easy to culture on ground dog food or for a more healthy media mixed grains and beans ground very fine will also work.

The forests of northern California hold some fond memories for me…it was there that I found my first (and only) Pacific giant salamander. Do you ever run across those?

The Pacific dampwood termite, Zootermopsis angusticollis, is native to your area. It is one of the world’s largest termites and is a fine food source for many herps…if you can locate a colony, the trap should work well. I’ve kept these in zoo exhibits and found them quite hardy…you can store extras in a plastic sweater box provisioned with damp cardboard.

Many box turtle foods can be collected fairly easily – earthworms are a favorite (be sure to vary these with other invertebrates, as turtles tend to get “spoiled” and may want worms exclusively), as are any of the white beetle grubs you might find in rotting logs. Also snails and slugs (although I’d hate to think of you using one of your region’s gorgeous banana slugs as turtle food!), crickets, beetles. Avoid fireflies, brightly colored insects (possible toxicity), centipedes, millipedes and spiders. A nice way to keep your box turtle busy is to dump a few handfuls of leaf litter into their terrarium…box turtles will key on this right away and eagerly paw through it…great also for smaller herps, as there will usually be many tiny inverts in the mix.

I use the Zoo Med Bug Napper insect trap to collect moths, beetles and other flying insects for my collection…this is a very effective means of providing important dietary variety.

Canned invertebrates (snails, grasshoppers, crickets, caterpillars) are a convenient food resource that you can order from ThatPetPlace online…all are eagerly accepted by most box turtles, and can be tong-fed to species that take live prey only.

To ensure that your turtle is getting a balanced diet, it’s a good idea to provide a canned or pelleted box turtle food…such can form up to 50% of your pet’s diet, or more at times when insects are in short supply.

You can read more about another collectable food item in another of my articles : Cicadas – An End of Summer Treat for Pet Reptiles, Amphibians and Invertebrates

Please keep me posted as to how your turtle likes various types of foods…such feedback is very helpful and interesting, and please be in touch if you need further information.

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.