oh my God look at this I have a very
serious problem a problem that all n
keepers of this species inevitably go
through now these tropical fire ants can
be an ant keepers dream or can be an ant
keepers nightmare look at all these ants
it's incredible they have completely
filled up all living spaces that I
provided for them and they're constantly
requiring more space more food and also
a lot more maintenance remember my aunt
routine video showing the maintenance
required for this ant colony helped in
just a few months maintenance has
tripled the growth rate of solenopsis
Gemma Nara is truly unprecedented before
I used to be able to spot clean this out
world but now I just got to put on some
gloves
cover it with baby powder and grab at
their garbage there's no other way I
also inevitably do end up scooping some
workers I try to save as many as I can
but when you're dealing with this many
ants it's practically impossible without
unintentionally scooping up some workers
by the way guys if you're new to and
keeping or if you're looking to get into
and keeping please don't let this video
scare you because this species is a very
difficult species to house
I've been keeping ads for many many
years and I'm comfortable working around
them most commonly kept and species are
not this extreme but I love the
challenge and I know a lot of you and
keepers out there are also up for the
challenge of keeping these girls in fact
these are so hard to keep that I make
sure to test all of our ants Canadore
products on them to ensure quality and
effectiveness but if you saw the title
of this video then you already know
what's up next these ends have a big
plan in mind they are planning an escape
in this video I'm going to show you how
I could tell that these ants were
planning a big breakup and what I did to
circumvent the
and also actually change their minds so
be sure to keep watching until the end
ladies and gentlemen welcome to the ents
Canada and Channel now let's go back to
a couple weeks ago when this colony was
smaller at this point the colony was an
okay size manageable eating well
maintenance was pretty easy as well and
they were a delight to watch there
weren't too much but there also weren't
too little but then I noticed something
very alarming if you look over there
you'll see ants on the screen right
underneath the cover not exactly an
emergency situation because they're
still inside and they can't get through
the cover but this was alarming because
it meant the ants were crossing my
barriers now the thing is here in the
Philippines the air is super human all
the time which means that dry barriers
like baby powder and flu on lose its
effectiveness over time simply due to
the moisture in the air and so what I
now have to do is I have to add baby
powder every month just to replace this
barrier so the ants can't cross I just
simply dip a cotton ball into some baby
powder and gently Pat it against the
upside-down lip now here's the thing if
you look carefully there at the top
you'll notice that there's a grouping of
ants just kind of sitting there sitting
there as if they were planning something
or they were waiting for something based
on experience when ants do this I found
that they're ready to make an escape if
you notice now that all of that baby
powder is there it seems like that
grouping is starting to disseminate and
they're all going away thankfully these
ants are in an ACO world which is
designed to keep ants like these fire
ants inside and luckily it comes with a
cover I also make sure to place baby
powder on the bottom of the cover just
to keep this from happening again now on
goes the cover and I don't have to worry
a colony at this size is very healthy
not too crowded and they've established
a very prominent highway but are not
completely carpeting the surface they
are however growing at a very
exponential rate
and I found that the larger the colony
the more aggressive they are which can
prove to be a challenge especially when
you're working around in this case like
when I'm changing water tubes these ads
are super aggressive and I definitely
need to wear gloves
of course when working around these
girls and dealing with dis connections
and connections I will have some
escapees and for them I just flicked
them back into the out world so they can
rejoin their colony escaped ants
basically are kind of helpless
they'll die without their colony ants
are stronger in numbers alone ant
wandering around this kind of useless
and I always find those random escapees
that escape while I'm disconnecting
connections trying desperately to get
back and rejoin their colony but this
video is not about those random escapes
this video is about their Great Escape
now remember when we saw that grouping
of the ants kind of just hanging out as
I said before I always find that ends
hanging around in groupings like this in
their out world somewhere towards the
top indicate that the ants are sort of
contemplating ways to get out of this
familiar space now it's not out of the
ordinary for ads to set up resting spots
around their out world by any means but
with these fire ants when I find them
hanging out or on the top it's kind of a
red flag for me now I find when ants are
showing signs of wanting to escape their
setup it usually means that they need
more food so in this case when I suspect
that they want to escape I just double
their feeding portions I know this helps
because every single time I add more
food I see less and less of these ants
just hanging around the top
contemplating an escape anyone who's
kept the species knows exactly what I'm
talking about these ants are voracious
eaters when these girls want to escape I
just feed them more cockroaches check it
out guys
[Music]
you
[Music]
and now here I am adding a little bit
more baby powder just to be safe
look how many workers are foraging this
outward it's just crazy
both hybrid nests here are completely
full it just boggles my mind how one
Queen can give rise to so many workers
so quickly the Queen's egg-laying rate
must be phenomenal I bet she lays one
egg every few minutes and it's around
the clock again for those of you who are
into end keeping or want to get into end
keeping don't let this alarm you because
most species like Lacey is camponotus
especially Formica and other species
particularly from the temperate regions
even Tetra more ium do not grow this
fast and for all you guys out there who
want very large and impressive colonies
I hope you're watching this video and
paying attention this is what you can
expect if you're from a temperate region
and you're keeping temperate region ends
trust me it's a good thing that it takes
years for an colonies to get this large
also worth noting if a colony reaches a
certain size that you really like all
you got to do is lower the temperature
just a little bit perhaps by one or two
degrees and that will slow down the
egg-laying rate of the Queen you can
also limit food but doing this will lead
to mass deaths when my answer showing
signs are wanting to escape not only do
I double the food portions but it also
indicates that the ants need more space
I mean look at the brood that they've
moved into the tubes now these ants need
new space and they need it soon now
instead of adding another four Macario
or another one of these Outworld nests I
wanted to try and show you guys
something really cool that you can do to
increase their living space using just a
few materials introducing my solution to
offering these ants some new space the
ant agon okay perhaps the name is kinda
tacky but it's really cool and I wanted
to show you guys what you can do
especially if your colony is really
large I definitely wouldn't recommend
this kind of setup for a new colony with
just a few workers because for small
colonies humidity is everything and I'm
not sure if I would trust the
consistency of humidity in a network of
tubes like this but for a very large and
active colony that could use the space
this can add a lot of fun to the design
of your end setup it can also add a
little bit of distance for those of you
who have ends that are willing to travel
far distances to get to other satellite
nests or out worlds it allows you to
increase the space without actually
increasing the space all right so
basically what I've done here is I've
connected a bunch of our large AC tubing
using a variety of different connectors
available at the AC shop and I've left
this tubing kind of run around this
stool which I've placed on top of the
desk and these tubes will eventually
connect to the and set up
I can't wait to connect them ants love
exploring new areas especially when the
colony is large like this and they
really just want to explore some new
space and of course we all love spoiling
our ends so here we go guys I'm going to
connect this fire ant colony to the
antig on here we go gotta grab the
escapees and throw them back into the
out world
look at him go
[Music]
Oh
[Music]
and there you have it some new living
space for this growing ant colony and
you know what I don't see ants trying to
escape anymore this will probably only
last them hmm I would say a few weeks so
do stay tuned for an upcoming video when
I give this colony even more living
space by the way guys for those of you
that liked this app footage of ants
moving into the ant agon I've created a
hidden cookie for you guys and you can
simply click here to watch ants just
moving into the ant agon or visiting the
link that I'm going to put in the info
section of this video overall despite
these little challenges keeping ants is
such a fun experience this colony is an
example of what can be achieved with
time patience care and a proper setup we
a TENS Canada have taught thousands of
people to keep ants and we're still
counting we make sure to help our
customers achieve beautiful healthy and
fruitful ant colonies just like this and
are truly the most amazing creatures on
this planet and it really is my desire
for you guys to find out just how
awesome ends really are if you would
like to get into em keeping or you need
help with your current ant colony be
sure to watch our free videos on this
channel or read our various articles at
ants canada.com
also be sure to visit our forum which is
super helpful it's a place where
thousands of ant keepers from all over
the world meet post about their ends and
read up because just like ants we are
better in larger numbers thanks so much
for watching this video please subscribe
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Time and don't forget to check out our
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see an ant tutorial playlist over there
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keepers and we have a fire ant playlist
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watch large active colonies finally
don't forget to visit us at ant canada
comm we have lots of great information
on and keeping we've got a forum full of
thousands of and keepers from all over
the world who you can learn from and
please if you've got ant colonies don't
forget to contribute and I highly
recommend you journal in the journaling
section and finally if you need add
colonies be sure to visit our Gantt
project at the Queen Anne's for sale
section we sell ant colonies in key
cities all over the world and if you'd
like to be again farmer and sell
colonies of your own in your city please
write to us again at ncaa.com