You guys gotta see what I made!
This here is the ‘Blades of Midas’, the name given to my now massive colony of spiny
ants.
I’ve watched this colony grow from just a few hundreds in a plastic container to now
hundreds of thousands of ants, and needless to say these awesome black ants with spikes
all over their bodies and golden shiny gasters, are ready for an upgrade to their home.
This is their main nest, and within it reside multiple queen ants all laying eggs.
These spiny ants are unique in that they construct these crazy nests using collected debris from
their environment all glued together using the silk from their larvae.
It kinda looks like a paper wasp nest.
Anyway, today I’ll be constructing for these ants, a brand new and epic terrarium, complete
with plants, driftwood, and some very cool, lantern-like structures made of twigs, that
will allow the ants to expand on their mothernest, which must grow as the colony grows, but the
hardest and scariest part about this entire project in my mind, was how to move this huge
ant nest, which the ants defend aggressively, into the new terrarium!
I had no real plan.
There really was no other way, other than to simply put on some gloves and transport
the nest by hand, which is what I did!
This is what happened and how the ants reacted to their brand new kingdom.
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I’ll be honest, AC Family.
It’s been awhile since I’ve done something like this, i.e. the building of a large ant
terrarium.
It’s been almost two long years since I’ve looked at a huge empty tank like this, about
to be turned into a massive ant kingdom.
Over the past two years I’ve had to deal with countless challenges including having
to downsize my ant collection due to the pandemic, building a new Ant House, and finally moving
my ants and pets into the new Ant Room 2.0, a proper tour of which will be coming soon!
So, it goes without saying AC Family, my heart was so full this week, as it seems things
can finally start to get back to normal.
I’m super excited for this titanic moving day for both the Blades of Midas and us.
But I’ll be asking you guys a very important question, as I’ll be needing your help at
the end of the video regarding our Blades of Midas and their new massive terrarium,
so do stay tuned for that coming up!
So, when contemplating a design for the Blades of Midas’ new terrarium, I knew it needed
to better suit the ants’ lifestyle, more so than their current terrarium.
You see, the problem with their terrarium now, was that it seemed like the colony wanted
and needed to expand their nest, and I was hoping they would keep building outward along
the driftwood towards the left side their tank, but I think the ants had problems doing
that due to lack of supportive structure.
After keeping these spiny ants for awhile, I began to realize that the ants actually
need an initial supportive skeleton, a lattice work, in order to help them build and glue
their debris nests in place.
And so, I had the perfect idea to incorporate into their new home!
Now I know a lot of you really love and miss the creation and building process of these
ant terrariums, so AC Family, let’s do this, shall we?
It’s time I, your Creator of Worlds, turn this huge 75 gallon tank into a kingdom fit
for our beloved Blades of Midas.
First, I added a drainage layer.
I used crushed coral, but terrarium-builders more commonly use coarse gravel.
This drainage layer is super important because it ensures that the substrate doesn’t become
water-logged in case of overwatering, and that no areas in the soil go anaerobic, which
can kill soil fauna.
This terrarium will be bioactive and full of life!
I then added loam soil.
This soil will be essential for the growing of plants.
The Blades of Midas aren’t really soil diggers, as their nests are generally above ground,
but the plants and beneficial soil creatures will be needing this soil.
I added some driftwood pieces.
Next, I added some carbonized rice husk.
This is essentially burned rice husk and makes an excellent soil conditioner and nutrient
enhancer for the plants.
It also makes a great nest building material for the ants!
I then started the planting process.
The next thing I needed to do after that was a very important step!
Time to create our ant barrier.
I need some rubbing alcohol and some baby powder.
I mix this all up into a thin paint-like substance.
People ask me if there is a preferred ratio I use, but I just go by visual.
The more baby powder the better because it means more barrier but too little alcohol
and the barrier may have trouble sticking.
I generally go by 2 parts baby powder to 1 part rubbing alcohol.
I had the tank made with a lip that runs along the top of the tank, and it was under this
lip, that I placed the ant barrier.
Once dried, the ants will slip off this ant barrier and won’t be able to escape.
Having an open top terrarium is very beneficial when housing ants because it means great ventilation
which minimizes mold, and also allows for easy access into the terrarium when feeding
and cleaning.
Alright, all was set!
Now AC Family, this was the ultimate moment of truth!
I needed to move the ant nest into the terrarium.
This was going to be just crazy!
The ants right now seemed to be rather calm, but I was certain that once I had my hands
in there pulling it from its spot and dropping it into the terrarium, they would totally
switch to defense mode!
These ants don’t have stingers.
They spray formic acid, and their bites don’t hurt as much, but a lot of them on my arms
biting me could get very uncomfortable.
I placed a divider in the space between the two tanks so that any ants falling would fall
right back into the old terrarium.
And the moment came!
Here goes nothing, AC Family!
I went in and picked up the mother nest as quickly and carefully as I could and lifted
the entire driftwood piece and placed it into the new terrarium.
The ants were going totally crazy!
I scooped up the remaining ants by hand along with the substrate containing a lot of essential
soil creatures for bioactivation.
And AC Family, after two hours of work, this is what the new Blades of Midas terrarium
looked like.
AC Family, behold.
The new terrarium kingdom of our Blades of Midas.
What do you guys think?
It’s covered in a thin veil of mist, which will fade shortly.
It’s a forest floor terrascape, and I’ll get to those lantern twig balls in a moment,
but check it out!
The ants explored every inch of their new lush territories and were in total awe of
their new massive home.
They’d never before seen anything like it their whole lives!
I just couldn’t look away as I watched the ants taking in their new surroundings we made
for them.
Let me show you around!
In the Blade of Midas old terrarium, there used to be lots of plants, but the ants ended
up killing most of them, leaving only some nerve plants.
So, I made sure to plant a lot of beautiful nerve plants all around the lands.
I even was able to transplant the nerve plants that surrounded their nest in their old terrarium.
Here’s a green variety.
Looks like a couple of males decided to emerge to hang out beneath one of the leaves!
This here is Dracaena.
And Pepperomia.
Let’s hope the ants don’t decide to kill our plants!
The nest of the ants was now calm and it almost seemed like just an hour after the move, the
ants were going about their normal business, almost unbothered and more preoccupied with
exploring.
Luckily, I found the nest was quite shallow so the bulk of the colony was very easy to
move.
My fear was there would be some chambers full of brood just under the driftwood, but that
wasn’t the case.
The majority of the colony was nested inside the driftwood which made transport easier
than I expected!
Alright, now about the twig lantern balls.
I found these sold as Christmas ornaments, hence the gold within it, but I felt it would
make perfect nest skeletons for our Blades of Midas!
The gold would be a cool touch seeing as the ants’ gasters are gold.
The ants curiously explored each twig ball with great fascination and awe!
They crawled all over it and within it!
I felt the ants actually loved the balls, which were each connected by bridges of winding
driftwood and twigs!
The ants now had a wonderland of plants, sticks, and future nest skeletons to enjoy and use
as they so pleased.
Now I know some people might prefer more naturalistic terrarium-builds, because surely something
like this would never be seen in the wild, but I am certain our Blades of Midas will
truly utilize and love this very functional terrarium to its fullest.
My hopes is they start building nests into these balls, carrying debris from around their
terrarium and glueing them onto these ball structures.
I think that will look super cool!
For humidity, a thick mist fills the terrarium before sunrise.
I super love how it looks.
It’s a bit spooky, and super Tim Burton-esque - perfect for Halloween!
Now at the start of the video, I mentioned I would be asking a very important question,
and it’s this.
I need your help, guys!
What should we name this new terrarium, kingdom of our Blades of Midas.
Leave your name suggestions in the comments, and I will choose my top 5 favourites for
all of us to vote on in a future video.
Thank you, AC Family for your input.
I made sure to give the Blades of Midas some extra sugar water test tubes so they could
have the extra energy needed to rebuild any damages to their main nest, and also, AC Family,
as is our tradition every time one of our colonies receives a new home, I gave them
a house warming gift!
A cockroach.
They’ll be needing the protein for web-building and little did I know, I was right!
Literally the next day after moving in, I saw this and shouted in joy.
Is that what I think it is?
Yup!
At one of the middle balls, the ants were beginning to construct a satellite nest!
How awesome!
Gluer ants were carrying around the larvae to glue the debris they had lugged all the
way up.
This was totally amazing!
I was happy to know our lantern terrarium design had passed the Blades of Midas’ seal
of approval!
As I watched the ants enjoying their brand new, luxurious home, it made feel grateful
that finally we helped our ants live their best lives by providing them an upgraded home.
I must say, guys, I’ve missed this.
AC Family, it’s been a tough journey, but I feel like I’ve braved the storm, and I’m
happy to say that we can finally get back to us enjoying ant keeping at epic proportions!
Our ant and critter collection can now get back to diversifying and growing, much like
the ant colonies we care for.
We’ve got some space to fill up with epic ant setups, guys and you will all be a part
of that process of fun and discovery so don’t forget to subscribe to the channel, if you
haven’t yet.
Join our AC Family at the start of this new journey in our new Ant Room 2.0.
By the way, one last thing before I go, for those of you, AC Family in the Philippines,
I’ve got some great news!
I’ll be having a meet & greet in Cebu for an event called Baicon 2022, this Nov 5th,
so do get your tickets now at Baicon.ph.
I’d love to meet you Filipino AC Family in person and chat about ants!
I must say, guys, how super grateful I am to all of you who have been watching and supporting
this channel, following the lives of our various ants and other creatures with me.
I take none of you for granted, and am always thinking of new ways to improve the quality
of these videos, so we can continue learning and discovering about ants and other creatures
that come our way.
It means a lot to me that there are millions of you from around the world, who love ants
and nature as much as I do.
It gives me great hope for the future.
Also, wow!
We’re so close to 5 million subscribers, guys!
This totally blows my mind!
Please give me ideas, AC Family for our big 5M video!
Anyway, I will surely keep you all updated on the progress of our Blades of Midas.
Until the next time we return to these lush lands of our Blades of Midas, thank you all
for watching and supporting the ants.
It’s ant love forever!