Oh boy!
You won't believe what I managed to film this week.
My massive pet fire ant colony, you guys have named the Fire Nation is without question
my most ravenous, meat-hungry, prolific, ant colony on the channel, as you may have seen
from a past video where we fed them a bird-eater tarantula or a chicken head.
And so, AC Family, this week, I noticed that the time had come to give this all-star ant
colony the protein boost they needed, this time - a mouse!
And what they ended up doing to it, will leave your jaw on the floor, just as it did mine!
You'll see exactly what I mean by the end of this video!
Brace yourselves, everyone, as we enter the firey Selva de Fuego, the epic paludarium
kingdom of the Fire Nation fire ants, here on the AntsCanada Ant Channel!
Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel and hit the BELL icon.
Welcome to the AC Family!
Enjoy!
The innovation of the classic ant farm has come a long way since the 1950's when the
first ant farm was invented.
Who would've ever thought that ant farms could actually be bioactive, with plants and a community
of other animals, even aquatic ones like the various fish, snails, and shrimp living in
this flowing, moving river world?
The Selva de Fuego, a half land-half water vivarium, inspired by and designed to mimic
the edge of the Amazon River, is ruled by my red tropical fire ants called the Fire
Nation, and they are no joke, aggressive ants not to play around with.
They are so adapted to life around water and navigate the river's surface masterfully.
They set up stations on the floating aquatic plants but can skate atop of the water's surface
if needed.
But walking on water isn't my favourite thing to watch them do.
AC Family, as you may already know, the Fire Nation truly leaves us breathless when they
feed, and lucky for us, it's feeding time!
A few ants have found these two superworms and word is reaching back to the colony now.
Here they come!
Brace yourselves AC Family, and watch how they come swarming in to feed on our offerings.
These initial ants guard the superworms while more and more ants march in emerging from
the nest.
The entire area is now covered in a pheromone telling all surrounding ants to come and eat.
It won't be long until this superworms will be, no pun intended, the hottest thing and
newest talk of the kingdom!
Now when the swarm had finally arrived on location a few minutes later, to start dissecting
the superworms, I noticed something a bit peculiar.
Have a look!
Now if you're familiar with this colony and have been following them for awhile, you may
notice that there's something a bit off about the workers.
Do you guys notice it?
Watching the ants feeding, I found it strange that the ratio of ordinary workers to majors
and supermajors, the extra large ants with huge heads for cutting up food, was slightly
off.
In this big crowd of fire ants, I could only count around 4 or 5 supermajors.
This is actually a small number per sample for the Fire Nation, and it was a bit of a
cause for alarm, because it meant to me that the colony was not getting sufficient protein.
You see these specialized, massive supermajors require extra protein and material to form,
and are generally speaking 'nutrient expensive' for an ant colony.
So, if a colony is not getting enough protein, it will produce less of these supermajors,
which is not necessarily lethal for the colony, but it does mean that the colony may take
longer to process food.
What's even more worrying is that with nuptial flight season just around the corner for these
Fire Ants, I fear they'll be needing a surge of protein soon in order to produce the male
and female alates, and I'd hate for them to be cannibalizing their own young to meet these
protein demands.
So this, AC Family, is why I decided it was time, to give the Fire Nation the protein
boost they were needing.
Behold, the protein of choice!
This dead white mouse.
It's packed with an amazing amount of protein and other nutrients which will benefit the
Fire Nation greatly, and AC Family, you will truly be shocked at what will be left of this
mouse once the Fire Nation is through with it!
Here we go, AC Family!
Placing the mouse into the Selva de Fuego, and fixing it into position.
The Fire Nation doesn't seem to be jacking up into full-out attack mode, probably because
they don't identify the mouse as a threat.
Had this mouse been alive and moving, it would definitely be a different story!
They'd be stinging this mouse to death, but of course, we don't do live feeding on this
channel.
The Fire Nation has been notified of the mouse' fresh carcass, and they are starting to emerge
now to engage in the feast!
Some of the ants are hoping to gain access to the good stuff within, by way of the exposed
skin of the mouse's feet.
They'll be trying to burrow in through here.
Others will be attempting access to the mouse's insides through its ears.
Oh, the thought of fire ants entering the ears makes me shudder!
The ants will attempt to enter the mouse's body any way that they can.
Through the eyes, nose, mouth.
The Fire Nation will indeed be working over time over the next few days until this entire
mouse is processed.
Over the next few hours, as expected the Fire Nation was busy performing their mass excavation
and transport project.
What will end up happening is that the ants will bit by bit, carry peices of this mouse
back to the nest where it will be fed to the rest of the colony, including larvae, and
their queen who will use all this awesome protein to lay more eggs.
The protein will also go towards making more super majors for the ant colony.
Ants happen to be some of the world's most important detritivores in the ecosystems they
are part of, breaking down dead animals like this mouse.
What we are witnessing here, though somewhat gruesome to new eyes, is actually one of the
important purposes ants fulfill in the natural world, and you'll marvel at just how effective
they are at their jobs.
It's several hours after the introduction of the mouse, and by now the ants have begun
to gain access to the mouse's interior!
What's amazing is that the ants are working in perfect synergy, communicating by way of
pheromones, biochemicals laid on surfaces and wafted through the air, which communicate
specific signals, carrying key messages to all ants in the colony.
By now, their dissection strategies have been fleshed out, no pun intended again.
And as you can see, some of the ants have begin to form burrows in parts of the mouse's
fur.
It looks like some ants are wanting to burrow directly into the mouse's fore head!
In fact, the ants have chosen their spots of excavation throughout the mouse's body.
Where would you be burrowing if you had to eat into this giant animal?
Over night the ants continue to work at breaking down this mouse.
They cannot rest, as this huge mass of food is valuable to the colony and in some cases
could spell the difference between life or death for an ant colony.
They not only need to break it down and bring it all into the nest asap, but they must also
defend it, as well.
Now check this out, AC Family!
Before sunrise, I discovered the ants had even begun the process of stripping off the
mouse's fur.
Isn't that crazy?!
And even cooler, I noticed the ants had begun to carry chunks of mouse meat back to the
nest!
The excavation was official under way.
I wondered how long it would take for the ants to finish this entire mouse.
How about you, AC Family?
How long do you think it will take the Fire Nation to fully consume this mouse?
Leave your guesses in the comments and go back to your comment at the end of this video
to let us know if you guessed correctly!
Whatever the time frame, I hoped they would finish it ASAP because I was not looking forward
to the smell of decaying mouse in the Ant Room!
Now AC Family, watch this.
What I ended up seing by morning, truly shocked me.
AC Family, behold.
In just 12 hours, the fire ants had managed to reduce the mouse to this!
Wow!
Take a look at that mouse skull!
They'd successfully stripped the mouse's head meat off leaving just the skull beneath.
I am certain under that layer of white fur, not much of the mouse's body was left either.
Guys, have a look at the tail and that leg completely stripped of its flesh!
I couldn't believe their progress, and to think they were carrying away the meat piece
by piece.
What's even more incredible was that there was no smell!
They were quick enough to carry the majority of the meat away before any kind of stench
grew from the site, but it didn't stop some flies from trying to get in at the carcass,
"trying" being the operative word.
The ants weren't going to share this meal with some maggots.
Again on night two, the ants continued to work at the remaining flesh on the mouse.
Such hard working creatures!
By the next morning, the mouse had officially been fully processed.
Check out what was left of the mouse!
Bones and fur.
In nature, these leftovers, which are not usable to the ant colony, would be dealt with
and further broken down by other microorganisms.
The entire process of entirely consuming this mouse took roughly a day and a half, though
most of the body had already been carried away into the nest after the first 12 hours.
Once again, AC Family, we've had the privilege to witness one of nature's most important
biological dismantlers, as they helped a dead mouse return to the soil.
As an ant keeper, I just love watching this process, and the Fire Nation is definitely
an expert in the Antiverse at carcass deconstruction.
And it made me think.
What is our purpose in nature, and are we doing our best to fulfill it?
Thank you, guys for watching, and until next time.
It's ant love forever!
AC Family, did you enjoy today's episode?
Did you miss us?
After a several week hiatus we'll be uploading regularly again, but we weren't uploading
over the past few weeks, as I have been busy putting together a production team to help
me create these ant videos, so we can upload much more consistently and hopefully more
frequently for you, guys.
So, please be patient with us as we make the transition from just me to the new AC production
team, in case we miss a week of uploading during this training period.
It's all part of youtuber growing pains, I guess right?
Don't worry!
I've been reading all your concerned comnments and have been posting responses to them on
Twitter and this channel's community tab.
We ain't going anywhere and you will always get your weekly dose of the Antiverse as usual,
so be surew to hit that SUBSCRIBE button and BELL ICON now so you don't miss out and join
this growing community of nature lovers following the real life drama of the Antiverse.
So question: Would you guys be OK with two uploads a week, the mid-week upload being
something shorter or more informative like ant keeping tips or the latest on AntsCanada
products for ant keeping?
Speaking of which, not too sure if you guys know, but we've got all the top of the line
ant keeping gear for you ant keepers at all levels from beginner to advanced, as well
as a tonne of new and exciting products for the ant keeping community not available anywhere
else, so head on over to AntsCanada.com, and browse through our shop.
We ship worldwide, and offer full email support if you need us.
We also have ant colonies with a queen available in most regions so go check us out and pick
up your ant farm kit and ant gear today!
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 watch some
extended play footage of the Fire Nation breaking down the mouse!
These fire ants are just crazy!
And now it's time for the AC Question of the Week!
Last week we asked:
What's so special about Beetle Jelly?
Congratulations to Who Would Win who answered:
It contains a heightened amount of vitamins and nutrients
Congratulations, Who Would Win, you just won a free e-book handbook from our shop!
In this week's AC Question of the Week, we ask:
What is the special role for the supermajors in an ant colony?
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.
Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video to help
us keep making more.
It's ant love forever!