Ooh, oh, oh.oh
Whats up AC fam?
Welcome to another episode of Ants Canada
ok so you know your life has been taken over by ants when this work desk used to be used for working but now its just a land full of ants countries
we have of course the Fire Nation, our red tropical fire ants we've got our black crazy ants over there yet to be named, soon and yes yet another mini ant world right there,
waiting to be populated
yes AC fam! we've got a new ant colony and this video will truly blow your mind
today were gonna break the rules a little bit, attemping something that all ant keepers know you shouldn't do
today were mixing two ant colonies.... Together!
we'll be taking this small tube queen ant colony and combining them with this huge single queen ant colony of the same species
now in most cases this isn't allowed because they'll fight to the death even if they are the same species
you see unrelated ants will engage in an ant war
so why on earth are we doing this? breaking one of the principle rules of ant keeping well its because these ants are rule breakers them selves
introducing the world famous Yellow Crazy Ants Anoplolepls gracilipes
which are known to form super colonies and combine colonies together
and when i try to combine the two unrelated colonies the result shocked me
will they fight to the death? or will they be kind and join forces it's time to find out! you won't want to miss all the crazy ant action ahead, so watch until the end of this video
AC family meet our new yellow crazy ants here at the Ants Canada ant channel
now, one of my favorite parts of having an ant colony is creating their home.
as the ants keeper, we are the initial designer of their universe
so what you house your ants in is super critical
i'm placing my hand here at the back for size reference
i've chosen to house my new ant colony in an "AC outworld"
designed naturalistic-ally with an AC field and forest biome kit.
i've created a sort of rocky slope, with a biome kit hardening ground plate
into which connects the tubes
which lead into their AC hybrid nest.
and if you look just beside the outworld
You'll see the fire nation
Just an inch away
I've chosen to use the Large AC Camponotus Hybrid Nest for these ants
And yes, its the size lodge
Now by the way i know alot of you have been waiting for so long for our hybrid nest larges to come back in stock,
And i'm happy to announce that they'll soon be available again
And in a Size even larger than this one shown in here
Alright now let's check out our new yellow crazy ant Colony A
So here's the story.
A friend of mine contacted me here in the Philippines asking if I wanted to have a small yellow crazy ant colony
with 2 queens and about 9 workers.
Now yellow crazy ants have always been my dream species,
so of course...I said yes.
Take a look at them guys, aren't they so cool?
Look at their color!
I find yellow crazy ants to be more of an orange-ish gold color
but in the sun, they shine a bright yellow.
I just love them so much, they're such beautiful ants
and the coloration of the queens is just gorgeous!
Now Colony A here is a very small colony
As you can see, there's just a few workers
They've pulled a little bit of the cotton to kind of
make their nesting area a little more comfortable
And over there, you'll see a little batch of eggs.
So my idea for this great colony mixing,
was to connect Colony A's test tube
directly into the hybrid nest.
Alright, now let's take a look at
Colony B.
So that same friend who gave me Colony A
messages me up and says
"Mikey, I caught an even bigger yellow crazy ant colony
and this time it's got 1 queen but hundreds of workers
and a lot of brood
all in a plastic jar".
He asked if I wanted it.
Now I had every intention of simply raising a big colony
from just Colony A
but I remember hearing that in the wild,
unrelated colonies of yellow crazy ants would sometimes
merge into a single colony.
To join forces.
In the world of ants,
the faster your colony can grow numbers,
the higher chances of success of the colony
so colony fusion is a great bio strategy for certain ant species.
Yellow crazy ants allegedly being one of them.
So after some thought
I decided to go for it.
I knew there was a danger that Colony A would
totally be killed
but if my hunch was correct,
and the rumours were true
these two colonies would merge.
And so my plan was to shine a light
onto this jar,
get it all bright and hot so
the colony would be bothered
and then I would attach this tube
to the jar.
If everything goes well, the bright lights will cause the ants to move into the outworld
and then eventually
find the hybrid nest.
Now as for Colony A,
again, I plan to attach them right here.
[sigh] Ok AC fam...here we go!
The moment of truth.
Let's cross our fingers guys and hope this doesn't end up in a huge ant bloodbath.
Attaching Colony A to the hybrid nest...now.
And now, time to attach the jar of Colony B
to the outworld.
[sigh] Ok, here we go!
Wrapping some cotton around...
and I'm going to unplug this hole here...
Oh!
It's too small!
I'm going to have to use a smaller tube I guess
Put that back there..
Such processes are often just kind of ad lib...
on the fly.
It looks like Colony A isn't really making a move into the hybrid nest yet.
Ok now I've got a smaller tubing
which attaches to this larger tubing
Let's see if this fits.
Perfect!
Ok and now the next step
is to unwrap the jar
so we can expose the colony to the bright lights.
Wow, look at all those ants!
And now
all we gotta do....
is wait.
All it takes is just one ant to move through this tube
and discover that there's a more suitable place for the colony to be.
Check out the exciting process!
Come on...come on..
There we go!
We have our first brave wanderer.
And it wasn't long before it came back to tell the colony.
"Girls!"
"Follow me!"
"I found a great place for us to move to"
But sometimes, no one listens the first time around
so she heads back to tell the others to really listen and to follow her.
And
Sure enough
eventually one of her sisters
makes the decision to follow her.
So this starts a whole chain reaction of ants
returning back to the colony
letting them know they found a cool location for everybody to move:
a place that's not so bright
and perhaps not so hot.
More and more ants are coming now.
And they're carrying the brood!
This is awesome!
The move of Colony B has officially begun.
Right now, it seems the ants are just leaving all of the brood in a pile at the bottom of this tube
but it's inevitable that one of the workers
will be adventurous enough to discover the outworld.
Like a lone explorer on a new planet,
the ant begins to scope the area.
This worker ant is super excited!
And wow! Did you just see that?
It ran in a circle!
The ant is just thrilled to be able to discover this new land
and it rushes back to the rest of the colony
to let them know there's a whole new world,
just beyond the tube.
Some people doubt that ants have emotions but
there's a lot of evidence that insects
actually do experience happiness and
excitement
and you guys just saw that yellow crazy ant's happy circle dance right?
The process of moving for Colony B continues
with more workers dumping more of the brood into the tube
and more explorers scoping the outworld.
Imagine what it's like for these ants
having the opportunity to explore a new area with new smells
new ground,
new everything?
Their sole purpose right now is to find a suitable location for the colony to nest
and it looks like the tube is getting a little congested now
and will make a suitable temporary nest for the time being
until these surveyor workers find a nest
and it's only a matter of time until they discover the hybrid nest
which lies just beyond another hole on the other side of the outworld.
Still no signs of Colony A wandering out of their founding test tube.
I'm watching them like a hawk.
With the ants in the tube, we can get a better look at what the colony looks like.
The scientific name of yellow crazy ants
is Anoplolepis graclipes
Don't you guys just love the sound of that name?
I love it! It sounds like gold running off the tongue!
Though they're commonly called yellow crazy ants,
they're not in the same genus as our black crazy ants
whose scientific name is Paratrechina longicornis.
Yellow crazy ants, like the black crazy ants,
get their name from their fast, erratic and explosive movements.
For me, yellow crazy ants are slightly quicker but
that could be because yellow crazy ants are twice as large
as black crazy ants.
Also like black crazy ants,
yellow crazy ants have polygenis colonies
meaning there are multiple queens per colony.
Colony B here,
has one queen seen here.
She's hiding there in the pupae.
She's not a fan of our camera lights.
And also with a clearer view of the colony through the tube
I do see the remains of a dead queen that they're dragging around
as if she's still alive.
I wonder if the workers develop a biological attachment to their queens.
Could this be evidence of a form of ant grieving?
Of ant love?
Now if Colony A and B do happen to join forces,
this colony will be a 3 queen colony.
But I still have my fears that Colony A will be attacked.
Oh no
Look here..
The first scouts discovered the hybrid nest.
They begin searching around the hybrid nest
and it seems they've picked up a scent
of Colony A nearby.
And it's not long before one worker enters the tube
that leads to Colony A's founding test tube
Watch what happens.
The worker from Colony B
approaches the entrance..
with caution.
And then...
contact made.
The scout from Colony B rushes back to the colony!
and surprisingly, the workers of Colony A
instantly go to follow that worker
and join the colony along with some brood!
In fact, it was as if the colony just picked up their stuff
and headed out to meet the unrelated colony.
Including the queens!
And what shocked me the most,
was how Colony B
responded to Colony A's 2 foreign queens.
Queen 1 was
met with a lot of force
and she struggled to fight off the workers.
I panicked.
Were they killing her?!
Surprisingly though,
Queen 2
was met with
much tenderness
with a very different attitude.
The unrelated workers of the new colony
surrounded her
and began cleaning her
and massaging her gently.
The greeting was so beautiful and tender.
And seeing this,
I decided to not to interfere with the interactions happening with Queen 1.
I had a small feeling that this was normal interaction,
part of an instinctual yellow crazy ant ritual perhaps.
I watched both queens and couldn't believe how opposite their receptions were into the colony.
The really opposite dispositions was just so bizarre.
With the colony completely moved out of the jar,
I connected the tube back to the hybrid nest.
so all the ants and the brood in the tube were then moved
into the hybrid nest
including the queen from Colony B.
Now as for the queens of Colony A,
the workers were interacting with them.
Just as quickly as the ants moved out of the jar and into
this tube,
the colony moved from the tube
to the hybrid nest.
They were very efficient.
And as usual, I'm going to leave a hidden cookie
for you guys here,
if you just wanna watch ants moving into the hybrid nest.
Exclusively for all you inner colony members.
Wink!
So it seemed the workers
were prodding the queens of Colony A
into these holes
to move them into the nest.
I think they're officially joining forces.
Poor Queen 1 though.
She is not having it.
It seems the colony has bigger plans for her.
And just like that,
all the brood,
was moved into the hybrid nest.
There's Queen 2
being ushered to the nest.
Quite peacefully.
And there's Queen 1,
just kicking and screaming along the way.
They're dragging her into the nest
whether she likes it or not.
And then it occurred to me.
These workers weren't killing this queen...
they were subduing her
and almost turning her
into a slave.
An egg laying slave.
And it reminded me that in the ant world
queens
unlike humans,
aren't the leaders of the colony.
They're equals
And I guess in some species like these yellow crazy ants,
slaves.
It was time to leave the colony alone
and allow them to acclimate.
Alright guys, this video has gone so long now
and so we're going to have to do a part 2 to this video.
So AC Fam, tune in next week where we get to see
how these ants are doing,
and how they're adapting to their new home
and of course, how the new queens are adapting to their new colony.
Our new yellow crazy ant super colony that is!
And of course guys,
as always,
you guys are going to name them so start leaving your suggestions in the comment box
and don't forget to give a thumbs up to any suggestions that you really like!
I'll pick the finalists and then you guys will vote in a future video.
Thanks so much for watching another episode of the AntsCanada Ant Channel!
Until next week AC Fam, it's Ant Love Forever.
Alright guys, we're not going to end this video without the AC Question of the Week so last week we asked:
"What is the name of the process in which ants transfer food to one another from mouth to mouth in a "kissing action?""
Congratulations to Moty Games!
who correctly answered
"Trophallaxis"
Moty Games, you just won a $50 gift card to our shop!
And now for this week's question of the week:
This week we ask:
"Name 1 difference between black crazy ants and yellow crazy ants besides their colour."
Leave your answer in the comment section and you could win a free e-book from our shop
which is a complete handbook on ant keeping complete with care sheets
nuptial flight schedules
and ant glossery.
Thanks so much guys for watching another episode of the AntsCanada Ant Channel
Don't forget to subscribe because we release a video
every single Saturday at
8pm Eastern Standard Time
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Hope you continue to watch these videos because these ants here on the AntsCanada ant channel
are also your ants as well
See you later AC fam, it's Ant Love Forever!