Gathering Bush Termites

[jnorriss]

I had an interesting situation today. A friend of mine who maintains the estate where I live was talking to a council official today re trail bike riders and 4wds that were using the estate to access fire trails in the bush that backs on to the estate. During this discussion he mentioned that a friend saw them whilst gathering termites. The council guy said 'You should give him a friendly warning not to as he can get fined as you are not allowed to remove termites'. He went on to say a person had just been done recently.

Obviously I was concerned as I have been sourcing them for over a year as a plentiful supply and has stopped my Ruddies from evicting young which they were doing when being fed mealworms previously. I think it is also the reason my Double Bars have been only second to my Zebras in producing young as they seem to be as keen as the Ruddies on them. M y wife was not keen on breeding maggots in the garage but tolerated mealworms. I keep the termites in a bucket inside a dustbin that has water in the bottom. I keep this outside the aviary so is not a problem for my wife.

Anyway I phoned Queensland Parks and Wildlife and got referred to the Permit Dept and the Local SE QLD office. Both contacts had never had the question before and I could not find anything on the web.

I have to say were very responsive and both offices got back to me promptly and both confirmed that termites are not protected and I can continue to gather them. The only things I should be concerned with is to get permission if on private land and not to take from a mound that was a breeding site as they were protected. I am not sure what the regs are in other states but seems this council guy was being officious and talking thru a hole in his neck. Has anyone else an experience with officialdom re termites from the bush.
Jamie

[desertbirds]

Maybe you stumbled on the council guys stash of termites.if you cant collect the mound then where do you get sufficient numbers ?

[E Orix]

In Victoria it is illegal to take Termites from a State/National Park and i presume NSW is the same.
In NSW you are not allowed to collect brush from a park as I know years ago some mates got into trouble over it.
I guess protected area means total/everything,maybe not introduced things etc.

[Craig52]

Jamie,when i was feeding termites,i travelled over 200kms one way and back.I would load up 4 x 200ltr drums on private property.When the property owners changed,i got the same advice from the new owner telling me that termites are there for a reason and that is to break down the dead timber on his property so he didn't have to remove it,hence he barred me from taking them.
If the council where i live found out i had termites in those days(large city suburbia) i am sure i would have been confronted,possibly fined.
My neigbours never new i fed termites as paranoia would have them dob me in.
As a builder,i have seen many houses that have been infested by termites and the damage is horrific,if you live on a large rural/bush property then you wouldn't have much to worry about this as termites do what comes naturally. Cheers Craig

[Tintola]

You cannot take from a mound that is a breeding site ??????? Oh well, just tell them it's a "recreation site" only and that the queen was out on official duties and the rest of them were all playing tennis when you broke it open. I'd like to see them prove you wrong. The guy obviously knows nothing about the biology of termites. Just keep doing what you are doing. What are they going to do? Give you a warning? Every home owner spraying a mound on their fence line would be guilty of the same crime. DON"T MAKE WAVES AND YOU WON"T CAUSE A TSUNAMI. The fact is that most of the termites that we collect as terrestrial mounds are not the same species that attack houses.

[vettepilot_6]

I agree with Tintola...
When I collect termites I cut the top of reasonably neatly with axe hits around it then dig out the centre of the mound...when finished I put any old sticks logs etc I can find put the top back on and 10 to 12mths later I get to reraid it lol...

[Tiaris]

In NSW it is illegal to take them (or anything else) from a National Park but not from State Forests.

[Diane]

You cannot take from a mound that is a breeding site ??????? Oh well, just tell them it's a "recreation site" only and that the queen was out on official duties and the rest of them were all playing tennis when you broke it open. I'd like to see them prove you wrong. .

@ Tintola

[Craig52]

[quote= The fact is that most of the termites that we collect as terrestrial mounds are not the same species that attack houses.[/quote]

Tintola,i can't prove what you said but,the termites were from a terrestrial mound and they did get out of their drums by way of a small pin hole in the bottom.They attacked my back fence,they got into the aviary timbers and continued on their way into my bird room.
I didn't know they were in there until i did major renovations but do know they need moisture to eat wood and survive as the roof on the bird room had a small leak down the inside one of the stud walls.
I followed a mud track from there back to one of my of my drums and freaked as my house is timber clad.
The black ants that entered my holding cage and then dissapeared into the dividing wall to the bird room used to drive me crazy as no matter what i did to deter them,they just kept comming back,well as i know now they were really doing me favour as they were killing and removing termites.
I don't feed termites now for that reason and my wife told me it was the termites that had to go or she was.(it was a pretty hard decision back in those days but of coarse she won) Cheers Craig

[Tintola]

Depending on the are in which you live, and the species involved a lot of them are dry grass eaters. I guess it would be wise to err on the side of caution and try to isolate them so they don't escape. The main ones that attack buildings in my area are the arboreal ones.