tis the season for gives and guys
you won't believe what arrived i
received a package
this week that took my breath away
within this
unsuspecting tupperware container lies
an ant colony
of epic proportions a super colony with
masses of ants hundreds of queens and
menacing super majors
i can't wait for all of you to meet them
please subscribe to my channel and hit
the bell icon welcome to the ac family
enjoy so before i open this
and show you the ants inside let me give
you the lowdown as to how this package
got to me
a good friend of mine was chopping up
some bamboo and within the pieces
he found a huge ant colony with tons of
brood
workers and queens he told me he managed
to collect the colony
and keep them in a rice sack before
transferring them to
this orange container now when i opened
the container not only did i
freak out at what i saw but i also
instantly knew what plans i had for this
colony
stay tuned until the end for that
because i'd also like to know your
opinions
to help determine the fate of this ant
colony
so as you can see some of the ants are
already kinda escaping
by looking at the ants can you ant
enthusiasts guess the species
just a clue we already have a similar
species
in our ant room alright let's open her
up
and have a peek inside
[Music]
ac family behold our brand new
colony of fedoli ants also known
as bigheaded ants now for those of you
who've been following this channel for a
while
you know that we already own a colony of
bigheaded ants
living on a floating island open concept
bonsai ant farm
called avista but this colony is a
different species
and much much much larger
as you can already probably tell within
this container lies a massive super
colony
with tons of brood all the white things
there
workers even specialized larger super
major workers
and over a hundred egg laying queen ants
this is one monster ant colony
watching them took my breath away aren't
they gorgeous
[Music]
okay so let me show you around let's
take a look at the workers
here you will notice that the workers of
this colony come in different sizes
this trait is called polymorphism where
you have smaller workers
and some really big workers with large
heads
and massive mandibles these larger
workers are the jaw force of the colony
and specialize in defense and cutting
things open
check out these super majors here that
are grayish and orange in color
they've just emerged from their pupil
stage and are still hardening
in a day they'll be darker as their
exoskeletons harden
just like their fellow sisters i wonder
what the first few hours are like
as a new adult ant walking among the
huge super colony for the first time
another amazing thing about this colony
is that they have a ton
of egg-laying queens not all ant species
allow
more than one queen in a colony but this
species does
and it's a trait called polygeny where
lots of new pregnant queen ants
come together after mating and start
cooperatively founding
a super colony together check out this
royal sorority of queens
gathering here being able to have many
queens in a colony
is advantageous in the ant world because
it means you can grow your ant army
to a powerful size quicker thus
increasing your chances of survival
and success in the wild and i mean take
a look at all the brood
just laying around the hundred or more
queen ants of this feidoli super colony
clearly have been busy but before we go
on i've gotta do a few things
to help this colony out
[Music]
now a lot of you ant keepers out there
end up with colonies in the same way
as this colony ended up here you or
someone you know is out chopping wood
and before you know it you've
unknowingly broke open
an ant nest i know a lot of people
accidentally end up with a starter
camponotus colony
aka carpenter ants in this way so for
those of you who do
here are some tips to help your new
colony feel cozier
in their temporary holding container
while you figure out their long-term
housing
so as you can see i've already placed in
a test tube setup
basically a test tube with a cotton ball
creating a water reservoir
this will provide the colony water but
also the colony can easily dry out
without the wood they were nesting in so
a test tube setup
will help give them the humidity that
they need also if you're using an ac
test tube
i suggest using this one of our ac test
tube adapters
the one with the little hole to help
further make the inside humid
and the inside air more still i placed
the ac test tube adapter onto the end of
the test tube
also if the colony is huge like this
you'll need several test tube setups
to accommodate the ants and all their
brood but lucky for us
i have this huge test tube here i've
created their water reservoir here
and on the end i stuffed some cotton and
fixated a small connector tube
so they could enter the test tube and
relax in the massive humid space
inside i carefully place the test tube
into the container
the ants were all over it look at them
all going crazy over the strange giant
glass receptacle
that was just placed into their space
now another thing i needed to do was
make sure
the ants could easily reach the openings
of the test tubes
so i moved the smaller test tube up
against this wooden piece
there now they could get in easier i
also needed to do the same for the tube
of the larger test tube done
ah the ants instantly clung to my hand
and rushed up my arm
these ants thankfully don't sting like
our fire ants do
but they can leave a bite that hurts a
little if they manage to get you in the
softer skinned parts of your body
especially when those massive super
magers bite i quickly did my best to
shake them off
brush them off with cotton and then
later pick the remaining ants off with
my fingers
these ants are truly aggressive and are
serious
at defending their colony
i've also baby powdered the sides of the
container so to minimize escapes while
filming
but some of the ants have still managed
to scale the barrier
these ants are true athletes it wasn't
long before the ants began moving the
colony
into the tubes look at the commotion at
the test tube adapter
the ants have all made the collective
decision to start the mass
move of the colony into the test tubes
as the colony began moving into the
tubes i stared for a very long time
at the colony in a trance i watched the
ants moving their brood
into the test tubes
[Music]
it was just amazing to see how quickly
the ants mobilized
and even guided the queens to the test
tubes the royal sorority we saw earlier
began to disseminate and move towards
the opening of the test tube
and inside its humid comfy space
the large test tube was also generating
quite the buzz
as more and more ants began to explore
its spacious
interior there was still a lot of brew
to move
in this brood pile you'll see a lot of
pupae
and mature larvae and look there's a
newly
closed worker ant perhaps just a few
hours he closed
fresh from its pupil stage i bet it's
super confused as to what is going on
it will soon be mobile in a few more
hours and start working at helping the
colony
move the family into the test tubes as
you can see with these newbies here
guys isn't it amazing that as soon as
the ants emerge
into adulthood they automatically know
what to do
instinct has programmed every ant with a
set of simple instructions
that bring about very big results when
carried out collectively
it's the beauty of youth social insect
society
it will take several hours before the
entire colony is moved into these
preferred spaces within the test tubes
and it seems the smaller test tube in no
time is already starting to fill up
check it out
i see eggs there and even a queen
wow they're like sardines but the ants
are still busy moving in regardless
ants like it tight now all of this
movement and carrying of the brood
into the test tubes requires a lot of
energy
so i decided to help give the ants that
boost
by placing in some sweet jelly a few
videos back when i filmed at our future
ant house
which by the way i'll be talking more
about in a bit i noticed the local
fedoli colony in the yard
loved the sweet jelly we gave them turns
out
the ants didn't seem to take to the
jelly right away which probably meant
the ants were
hyper focused right now on the move i
decided to also place in this freshly
crushed
young roach to give them some protein to
make sure all the larvae are fed
and queens constantly egg-laying this
the ants seized immediately
the workers and even super majors came
to grab the roach from all ends
by now masses of ants had already begun
to fill
our larger test tube as more and more
ants began the great move
into their new temporary nests let's
close them up for now
and allow them to move in in peace and
discuss our plans
for this new super colony of faedoli
ants
[Music]
so some of you ac family have probably
been asking okay ants canada
what are you going to do with two
feidoli colonies
well i decided to take this colony in
for a very
important reason and i want to know what
you guys think of this
hear me out so in a past video we
performed an experiment
to see what ants lived around our future
and house
currently being built out in the
countryside we wanted to see what sort
of
awesome and exotic ants we would be
living with we saw some incredible
weaver ants
living in a nearby tree which was great
but we also
saw a lot of invasive ant activity which
was a bit of a concern
many invasive ants like ghost ants black
crazy ants
and pharaoh ants can drive native ants
out of an
area which is not so good for an
ecosystem thankfully one of the baits we
set
drew a big crowd of feidoli and carabera
diversa ants
both of which are native ants it gave us
hope that the native ants of the area
were indeed present and fighting against
invasive enemy ant lines
and so going back to this colony i
figured hey
why don't i hold on to this super colony
of feydolians
and release them onto an occupied spot
near some bamboo somewhere
around our future and house that way
we could help strengthen the population
of native fidoli ants
and hopefully help the native ant
population
push invasive ant populations back i
even saw several
queen elates in this super colony see
the queen with wings
which means they're in the process of
producing reproductives now
the seeds to future fedoli super
colonies so what do you think guys
should we do this now the main thing i
want to ask you guys now
is how long should we keep this colony
i should be heading back to the ant
house next week and i can possibly
release them
or if you guys wish we can hold on to
this colony for a bit
grow them even bigger then release them
or maybe we can just keep them
for years and release the elates when
they start having a nuptial flight
lots we could do here and i'd like to
know what you guys think we should do
so be sure to check to my pinned comment
in this video
and hit like on the course of action you
vote for
with this super colony of feydolians if
you guys do vote we keep them
be sure to also leave a suggestion as to
what you think their setup should be
a terrarium an ant farm setup maybe
another floating island like the
bobbleheads
and of course if we do keep them this
super colony
will need a name so be sure to leave
your name suggestions in the comments
and the ac senate and i will choose from
our top
5 favorites for all of us to vote on in
a future video
i opened the container the next day and
this
is what i saw the great majority of ants
had moved into the test tubes
there were still piles of brood left to
move but i knew it wouldn't be long
before the entire colony had moved in
i can't wait for this colony to fulfill
a greater ecological purpose
and their fate lies in your hands
i'll do my best to grow this colony as
big as i can
but for now these ants are beloved
newcomers to our antiverse
as they join our ever-changing
collection of ant
kingdoms thank you all for watching and
for supporting the ants
it's ant love forever
[Music]
ac family hope you enjoyed this week's
episode so many more ant videos are
ahead
so if you haven't yet do smash that
subscribe button
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every upload also don't forget to hit
the like button
every single time including now it would
really mean a lot to me guys
thank you ac inner colony i have left a
hidden cookie for you here
if you would like to watch extended play
footage of this fagioli and super colony
go check them out and guys it's that
time of the year again
we just launched our biggest ant promo
yet
the ac holiday sale 2020 where you get
20
off our ac and tower small and ac hybrid
nest mini over at our shop
at antscanada.com and on top of that if
you use the promo code
ant love forever 2020 you get our
ultimate ant keeping handbook ebook
complete with care guides on specific
commonly kept ant species
totally free which you can add to your
cart before checking out
our easy to use ant farms which you see
me use in my videos
make an awesome holiday gift for anyone
who loves ants
we ship worldwide and also offer full
email support
if you need our help plus if you didn't
catch a queen antho season and need ants
just visit the queen ants for sale tab
on our site
to look for ant colony sellers in your
area just a reminder this promo ends
january 1st
and you need to order before december
17th if within us
or december 10th if outside the u.s if
you hope to receive your package before
christmas
so visit antscanada.com today and own
your very own ac ant farm
and pet ant colony and now it's time for
the ac
question of the week last week we asked
why can cockroaches still move their
limbs
even after they've been cut up into
pieces congratulations to
srinivas al-adarthi who answered their
brains
or more accurately their ganglia are
distributed
along the center of their body from head
to tail
congratulations srinivas alladarthi you
just won a free ultimate ant keeping
handbook from our shop
in this week's ac question of the week
we ask what is polymorphism
in ants leave your answer in the
comments section and you could also win
a free ultimate ant keeping handbook
from our shop hope you can subscribe to
the channel as we upload every saturday
at 8am eastern standard time please
remember to like
comment share and subscribe if you
enjoyed this video
to help us keep making more it's ant
love
[Music]
forever