Greetings A.C. family!
Returning to my manila home
after spending the holidays in Canada
I have been eager to get back because I want to see if all my ants
have been OK after three weeks apart.
Plus I know you guys have also been eager for updates,
so let's start with the Fire Nation
They're as big as ever and loving their new soil nest
You guys have been wondering what I planned on doing with the two bins.
Well, you could expect a video on that coming out very soon in a few weeks
but as a clue it has something to do with soil.
What's up with the new Trap Jaw queen ant?
Has she lay eggs yet or what?
Sadly no, she hasn't.
Which further supports my suppositions that she not mated
but
I will continue to keep her and feed her to see if she ends up laying eggs.
Fingers crossed.
As for the Golden Empire and their war against mites...
the great news, is that the colony is still alive.
The mites however are still present, so base on all your votes, A.C. Family
we're gonna continue with the lemon therapy. Stay tuned for an update video on them soon!
Which leaves us with the Dark Knights.
returning home, i was shocked to see how much they grown over the holidays
they were just packed in their
and all I can see was black
it was perfect, because I had just the thing planned for the Dark Knights
and it is hidden right behind this grand curtain
we are about to see what it is AC fam
and trust me
its pretty outrages
so keep watching until the end
welcome everyone to another episode of the AntsCanada, ant channel
Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel and hit the bell icon, welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy the Video
A new day shine upon the Dark Knights
This colony has always remained problem free, peaceful, with no attempts of escape
and overall has been such a delight to keep.
The Dark Knights have been pretty much the colony all ant keepers hope for
now this here, one of my goal as an ant keeper, my ant keeper new year resolutions if you will
was to pay closer attention into the details of our ants biology
and by that, i mean i wanted to make sure my setups and care for each of my ant colonies were more customized
to their particular species natural behaviours
kind of like how I discovered in some of the previous videos for instant
that control flooding and some dirt to dig or both beneficial provisions for the Fire Nation
so one of the things I felt that I could change for the Dark Knight's setup
to overall improve their quality of life as Black Crazy ants
was distance
you see Black Crazy ants are known for travel, these ants are a nomadic species and opportunists when it comes to setting up their home base
They seek out dark, damp cavities in whatever they can find in
which to set up their nests.
They can set up nests under rocks,
in nooks of drift wood,
inside a crack in a wall within a home,
or even inside drains in bathrooms....a black crazy ant favorite.
They can literally live in a place for a day or a few hours,
before deciding to move on to another place.
They can move in and out in a flash
so I felt it was time to give the Black Knights some distance
in their set up by offering them an expansion to their kingdom.
And lo and behold,
behind this grand curtain,
is the portal to this whole new wondrous and epic kingdom.
AC family, let me give you a guided tour of The Dark Knights' new territories!
Let's check it out!
Into the portal, we're taken up what I call the "Dragon Stairway"
where to the right
is the lair of a great and majestic dragon
with spikes.
This dragon is sleeping now but no worries.
Even if awake, it's a friendly dragon and even eats the same food as the Dark Knights.
At the top of the Dragon's Stairway, we cross over the AC Plateau
which will be the highest point in the Dark Knight's kingdom.
AC...because well...
it's an air conditioning unit.
From the AC Plateau, we move across the scary DK Bridge
which towers high above the ground.
The DK Bridge also crosses over a dormant waterfall
which, legend has it..
will revive in times of great heat.
The DK Bridge leads us straight into the Cavern of Darkness;
a tunnel which runs straight through solid rock.
Well...
....drywall.
Emerging from the Cavern of Darkness,
one tiptoes across a foot bridge
and moves straight across the Wooden Cliffs.
From the Wooden Cliffs, you have no choice but to plunge down a 90 degree tunnel,
called The Knight's Drop.
At the base of The Knight's Drop,
we move across an intimidating rock escarpment
called Silver Rock Canyon
named after the giant silver rock enshrined at the center of it's cliffs.
The cliffs tower high over an unexplored abyss.
A dimension otherwise known as...
...my kitchen.
Here in this abyss
one finds oceans of the most unbelievable aquatic creatures,
creatures of various shapes and colors,
creatures the Dark Knights have never seen before,
creatures that would relish a Dark Knight...
had one fell onto their water surface.
But the Dark Knights thankfully are safe from these aquatic creatures.
Moving on
I know the Dark Knights will love their new home base location
right atop The Silver Glacier.
Adorned with strange hieroglyphs from unknown worlds,
attached for unknown reasons,
this Silver Glacier will be the final destination of the Dark Knight's journey.
So where will this tube connect to then?
Right to this set up.
A couple days before, I created a naturalistic set up for them in an AC outworld
using a rain forest biome kit.
And also a brand new hybrid nest.
To prepare this set up for the Dark Knight's triumphant arrival,
I needed to add some baby powder rubbing alcohol mix to the outworld.
When this mixture dries, it's super slippery for the ants.
It just keeps them in their outworld.
Some elmer's school glue to seal the glass to the hybrid nest
Fill the hydration chamber with cotton and water to provide humidity in the nest
to make it a desirable nesting site
and install a freshwater test tube for the Dark Knights to drink from after a long journey.
Everything was now ready.
AC Family, I'm so excited to introduce the Dark Knights' to these new territories.
How bout you?
This is 40 feet of travel surface and 2 stories
making this the largest ant farm I've ever owned.
Now if my mom were to see this back when I was still living with my family,
she would have been livid!
Thank goodness I'm an adult now living on my own
but if you guys are still living with your family
PLEASE
do not do this without your parents' permission first!
Doing this has been a dream of mine!
Perhaps this might seem a bit extreme,
but hey
we love ants right?
I was going to plan on letting the Dark Knights move into this huge new kingdom
starting when they are the most active.
Of course..
at night.
Now it was time to wait.
8:30 pm
The moment of truth
The Dark Knights were starting to perk up
Little did they know, they had something pretty incredible
waiting for them in just a few moments.
The new hybrid nest and outworld were in place,
connected and awaiting the Dark Knights to move in.
AC family, I have no idea if this is going to even work
or if the ants will even walk the 40 feet to their new hybrid nest.
But that's what science is for.
Let's see if our little project worked, shall we?
Here we go!
Time to release the Dark Knights upon their brand new kingdom!
Tonight is the night of the Dark Knights!
There they go!
The Cavern of Darkness.
The Dark Knights are brave as they push forth.
And!
To my delight,
it wasn't long before the ants had discovered their new hybrid nest.
Aren't they so cute? Look at how happy they are.
And as is custom,
I placed a delicious treat for the ants in their outworld
to celebrate their new kingdom.
I also had to connect the old tube from the outworld to their current nest.
The next morning
all was peaceful and serene.
The Dark Knights looked as though they had a long night and look!
They started to move brood piles into the tubes which lead to their new kingdom.
So did they move in?
Let's look.
Onto the Silver Glacier and opening the nest.
Looks like they did.
Quite nicely!
I expect within the next few days, they will be transporting the brood into this new hybrid nest.
And as for the outworld
Wow! Look at them explore their new land!
And it looks like they found and accepted our housewarming gift.
The Dark Knights have been such an amazing colony
and I am happy they now have this new path connecting their two satellite nesting sites
It's very true to how they would do it in the wild.
Can you believe it? That's 40 feet these ants are traveling!
Amazing right? But I gotta ask.
If you came to my place, would you mind seeing a bunch of tubes around?
With ants crawling through?
No right?
I didn't think so.
Now I plan to extend this set up on and on and on as this colony grows
because as you've seen in a previous video,
black crazy ants are capable of double cloning,
which means their sibling queen alates and male alates can mate in the nest
without inbreeding happening
so they'll just keep growing and growing.
Thank you AC Family so much for joining us on this epic night!
We'll see you guys next week for another ant video.
It's Ant Love Forever.
Alright, so what did you guys think?
Was that cool?
For those of you who would just like to watch extended play footage
of the ants exploring their new territory
I have included a hidden cookie for you here, inner colony
so you can enjoy the ants moving in to some relaxing music.
And we can't end this video without the AC Question of the Week.
Last week we asked:
"Name 1 reason why catching queen ants from your area is a better idea for the environment?"
Congratulations to
Gail Hart who correctly answered
"if you keep an alien ant species, it can spread alien sickness to local ants"
There were a variety of different answers accepted
like the keeping of native ant species avoids alien ants from becoming pests
or out competing local ants.
Congratulations Gail Hart, you've just won a free ant shirt from our shop.
For this week's AC question of the week, we ask:
"Name one of the landmarks along the path to the Dark Knights' new Hybrid nest and outworld"
Leave your answers in the comment section and you could win a free e-book handbook from our shop.
Perfect to get right before nuptial flight season starts in just a few more weeks in the Northern Hemisphere.
Hope you guys can subscribe to this channel if you liked this video
and give it a thumbs up!
We upload a brand new mind stimulating ant video every Saturday at 8am Eastern Standard Time
See you guys next week!