Guys, I can't wait to show you our newest member of the Antiverse!
On this channel, as you know, we explore the amazing and epic worlds of various ant colonies,
large and small, ravenous and bizarre, but our ant kingdoms also share the Antiverse
with a variety of other creatures, like vampire crabs living on the island of Vampiron, snails,
fish, and shrimp in the waters, axolotls, a city of roaches, and even a great green-bottle
blue tarantula, named Goddess Azula.
But every now and then a new creature will move into our Antiverse, to integrate into
our great society of beloved creatures, and this new horned beast, will truly amaze you,
especially when you see the sanctuary and home we're constructing for it, as well as
when our new beast eats!
Ladies and gentlemen, gather round, and prepare to create another magical world and discover
some interesting things about my new pet devil.
Here on the AntsCanada Ant Channel.
Please subscribe to my channel and hit the bell icon!
Welcome to the AC Family, enjoy!
I figured since our Antiverse already had a Goddess, it was only appropriate to introduce
a counterpart to the Antiverse.
Unlike Azula, who resides in a drier, dessert/oasis type kingdom we call the Arachno Sanctorium,
our great Antiverse new comer loves its kingdom nice and wet! (waterfall) I can't wait for
you guys to see what I, your Creator of Worlds, has planned up ahead, so keep on watching
until the end.
(blur out shot)
Peeking from beneath a wet, forest-green duvet of moss, awaits our new pet devil.
Its eyes lay exposed above the moss as it lay in wait, patiently for its new home to
be built, and for its next great meal.
Today, we will be providing this pet devil of ours both of these very necessary demands.
But let's have a closer look at our demonic creature here, shall we?
Obviously, this is not a real demonic creature from some underworld, but rather a pretty
shy and lumbering amphibian.
AC Family, this here is a Suriname Horned Frog, known scientifically as Ceratophrys
cornuta, sometimes known as an Amazonian horned frog.
As its name suggests, it is native to South America and also sports two horn-like projections
from its eyes.
Just as it's doing here, in the wild, it is usually spending most of its time huddled
within self-made pits within the soils or leaf litter of the rainforest floor, simply
waiting to ambush prey that comes along.
These frogs don't actively hunt, but are built to simply stay still and wait for food to
coming moseying along by, upon which this frog swallows its prey whole, which brings
me to one of the most amazing things about this frog - its feeding habits!
AC Family, so get this!
These frogs are eating machines!
In fact, they eat so much, that they've earned the name "Pacman Frog" in the pet trade.
In the wild, they will eat insects, other invertebrates, even larger prey like other
reptiles, amphibians, or small rodents or birds!
Yes, these frogs can eat mice and chicks once full grown!
I can't wait to show you what I feed it!
We must be careful working around this devil, though, because word has it, they're quite
aggressive and have a big mouth for biting!
More about that, later!
Our devil frog here is currently a rotund 4 inches in length, but can grow to twice
the size.
It will be great to document over time how quickly this frog grows, if it ever will.
I'm not sure if this is a male or a female, but I'll explain later what my guess is.
It's got a beautiful lime green colour that I just love, and I know, you AC Family, will
come to love this new horned frog, too.
Alright, more to observe and discover about our horned frog later, but first, AC Family,
we have some work to do, so let's put our new guest to the side for now.
It's time to do what we do best, guys, and create a whole new haven for our new frog
to live in, and I've got some epic plans ahead!
Here before us are all the materials I'll be using to construct what I foresee to be
the perfect haven for our pet amphibian devil.
My goal for this habitat creation is to create a marsh paradise, that will make life for
the frog easy and comfortable.
Here is the terrarium I will be using.
It opens from the front giving easy access to the inside.
It's got some great height which I will make use of, for our mossy marsh paradise.
It closes and locks in place quite conveniently.
So the first thing I needed to do was install the components of the setup.
Here is a submersible filter, that will help keep the waters clean.
Water enters these holes, gets filtered and pumped out through this tube, which I've attached.
Let's install this now.
The chord runs upward, as well as the tube.
Promise, you guys will understand the plans of this moss marsh haven, as we go along.
Next, I wanted to add filter foam to create a nice barrier around our filter, to keep
large pieces of debris from getting caught in our filter, and also to create some spaces
for our next component coming up!
Alright and up next, I've got a bag of activated carbon, which I will be place into the sectioned
off spaces created by the foam.
This carbon will also help eliminate toxic metals and other substances that might end
up in the water.
Amphibians like frogs have very moist and permeable skin, which means they absorb toxins
quite easily.
Our devil won't be able to get at this carbon layer due to the foam, but will be able to
experience the benefits of it once this entire habitat is up and running.
Next, I needed some living moss, and I needed lots of it, so I went to the best moss source
I had.
My planted tropical fish tank, which had massive bushes of it growing on driftwood.
I went in a harvested a lot of this sacred and awesome java moss, which grew so abundantly
in my fish tank.
Now although this moss grows well in water, it can also grow on land if it stays moist
enough.
And now, AC Family, it's time I show you what I feel is the most epic feature of this paludarium.
This here is a background which resembles a rock wall.
It's got a tonne of neat ridges that make it ideal for what I call a "living wall".
Let's start!
So with the moss, I arranged it onto the wall, and used stainless steel wire pieces to pin
it into place.
Now the secret to getting moss to grow is to simply not touch or move it once you've
planted it.
Over time, the growing moss will eventually naturally attach itself to this rock wall,
but for now, we'll need pins to attach it.
Some people even use super glue to fasten their moss into place while waiting for them
to naturally attach!
Let's fasten the living wall up against the back now.
Next, to make this living wall complete, I wanted to add some pothos which is excellent
for these kinds of planting spots.
I fastened some pothos clippings onto the living wall using stainless steel wire.
I personally love this plant because it's so hardy and adapts well to transplants, especially
if they're moving into wetter environments.
This pothos will surely continue to grow and naturally attach over time to this living
wall, as long as it is kept moistened, but stay tuned for my epic plans regarding that!
OK!
There we go!
Living wall all done!
What do you guys think?
Looks really cool already right?
I know, but wait!
There's more!
Now here, we have a rock bowl used as a food or water bowl for reptiles, but in this case,
it will be holding our digging medium and land moss, creating the land portion/island
on which our horned frog will be residing.
I added tropical plants to really bring the island to life.
Next, time to place the island into the tank.
Oooh our world is really starting to take shape now!
Alright, next, it was time to cover the island with more moss.
I'm really hoping this moss continues to thrive where I've laid it.
Our horned frog absolutely loves the stuff, so I'm hoping it will love all of this moss!
Now AC Family, are you ready for this?
Here's the absolute coolest part of my architectural plans for this enclosure.
OK!
Once again, I knew one of the big things moss needed to survive was moisture, meaning all
of this moss needed to stay moist in order to continue thriving, so I needed to make
sure water was constantly bathing all mossy surfaces.
So here's the mesh cover which fits nicely onto the top.
And next, my plan was to install this piece over it after attaching it to the tube leading
from the filter.
This means, after installation, the freshly cleaned waters coming from the filter, create
channels of water that will constantly trickle down our living wall, providing all the moss
and plants the water they need.
The water will also end up bathing over the moss of the island, thereby keep it nicely
hydrated.
After adding the water, and turning on the filter, and making a few adjustments, our
new terrarium was complete!
AC Family, behold!
I'm pleased to present to you, Pacmania.
Isn't it so serene?
The water trickled so nicely down our living wall, just as planned.
Have a look!
I just loved the look of the plants and all that awesome moss for the frog to bury in!
I loved the wet mossy living wall!
I suspect our new frog will love this place!
Speaking of which, it was now time to introduce our horned devil into Pacmania.
I new I had to do this super carefully because, first, I didn't want to stress our frog out
too much.
These frogs aren't exactly the hard-to-catch, fast moving frogs.
In fact, they're not built for frequent and regular movement, and do best in terrariums
like ours that don't require the frogs to have to travel or swim too far.
But also, these frogs are notoriously aggressive and territorial.
So, I did my best to keep my fingers far away from that mouth at all times!
Using the duvet of moss to shield my fingers, I gently pushed the frog out of its carrier
and into Pacmania.
And then it was in, and instantly, the frog made itself at home in our marshy, moss island.
It was so awesome to see the frog already liking the home we made for it!
It lay happily under the cover of moss, and I marveled at the look of it sitting still
in the setup.
She truly looked like she belonged and appreciated Pacmania.
Look at that skin!
And those eyes!
Now, ready to hear my guess as to whether this is a male or a female?
So apparently, female frogs grow larger than male ones, and when this big one was sold
to me, it was suspected that it was a female because of her size, but one of the things
that made me question this was,
while I was building Pacmania, I continued to hear some interesting croaks and chirps
from the frog multiple times in a few hours.
Now although females have been known to make sounds, it's the males that are truly the
song-makers.
Plus, males also tend to be more brightly, ornately coloured than females, so could this
possibly be a male, AC Family?
Or do you think just a really chatty female?
Let me know what you guys think.
One of the things, I need to say real quick was one of the components of Pacmania was
pebbles, a substrate at the bottom of the water part of the setup.
I have since removed that, when I realized it could lead to the frog ingesting it and
causing impaction.
I now just kept the bottom bare with some moss.
That was totally my bad, guys!
No pebbles in frog setups.
And now that the frog had settled in nicely, it was now time for feeding time!
Oooohhh you guys are gunna love this!
First on the menu!
A cricket!
Oh I can't wait to watch this thing eat.
OK, it seems uninterested.
Hmmm!
Well, how about a frog pellet?
Success!
Our horned frog loved its frog pellets, specially formulated softened pellets that you can literally
feed the frog by hand, or tweezer rather.
Haha!
Either way, I truly love this new frog of ours, and find it kinda cute.
What do you guys think?
Cute?
Gross?
Let me know in the comments section.
I can't wait to watch how both this frog and Pacmania evolve and grow over time.
So what do you say, what should we name this new frog?
Leave your name suggestions in the comments and I will choose my top 5 favourites for
us to vote on in a future video.
Once again, AC Family, we did it!
We created an epic home sanctuary for our newest addition to our growing biological
life pool.
I truly love that you all were here to discover and experience this with me!
Until next week, it's ant and frog love forever!
AC Family, did you enjoy today's episode?
Do you like our newest pet devil?
Let me know in the comments!
Next week, we return to the epic life stories of the ants of the Ant Room, and trust me
guys, you won't want to miss these continuing ant stories!
So you know what to do!
Smash that SUBSCRIBE button and BELL ICON for notifications now, so you don't miss out
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And don't forget to hit the LIKE button every single time, including now!
It would really help a lot!
If you're new to the channel, and want to catch up on all your AntsCanada Lore, feel
free to binge watch this complete story line playlist here, which traces the origins of
all the ant colonies of the ant room, so you can follow their stories and better appreciate
how these ant kingdoms came to be, and why we love them so much!
AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie for you here, if you'd like to see exclusive
time lapse footage of the building of Pacmania!
Go check it out!
And now it's time for the AC Question of the Week!
Last week we asked:
Why is the protein acquired from this lizard valuable to the Fire Nation?
Congratulations to Akileusz HU who correctly answered:
It's used to create alates and also is food for larvae.
Congratulations, Akileusz HU, you just won a free e-book handbook from our shop!
In this week's AC Question of the Week, we ask:
What is your favourite thing about our new Suriname horned frog?
Leave your answer in the comments section and you could also win a free e-book handbook
from our shop!
Hope you can subscribe to the channel as we upload every Saturday at 8AM EST.
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us keep making more.
It's ant love forever!