you develop a sort of understanding. Eventually it gets to the point where you
almost know what your colony needs, when they need it, and how much of it they need. It's almost like you form a psychic connection
with your ants. And for weeks now my massive fire ant colony,
a colony you guys have named "The Fire Nation" has been demanding that I add new living space
to their setup.
The Fire Nation is now bigger and more voracious
than ever and has been needing some new living space, some fresh territory added to their
lands. So finally today, something amazing has arrived
for them. Behold, their new state of the art ant farm,
our newest, baddest, larger and most advanced ant farm yet, the AC Hybrid Nest 2.0. Today we're moving them in, and learn about
what happens when an ant colony picks up and moves into fresh territory.
You won't want to miss all the awesome fire
ant action ahead so keep on watching until the end! How will our Fire Nation take to this new
specially designed home? Find out here, in this episode of the AntsCanada
Ant Channel. Please subscribe to my channel and hit the
bell icon. Welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy! Let's cut right to it, AC Family.
Look at these fire ants, Solenopsis geminata. They're ready to move into some fresh new
space, and they've been ready for a long time now. Adding new living space and removing old living
space is important for the health of an ant colony because in the wild, the elements,
creatures, and microbes help keep ant nests fresh and clean. New soils are moved into an ants nest by way
of rains and other things like winds or animal or plant activity.
Alternatively, ant colonies will literally
pick up and move their entire colony to a new location or dig their nests into new soils
abandoning old tunnels that may have become too soiled or too lived in. In a captive ant farm setup, ant colonies
don't have this luxury and are forced to deal with the living space you give them for as
long as you hold them in. So it is important to cyclicly remove old
parts of an ants' setup, especially if they are not natural nests, and replace them with
new living space so the ants can benefit from fresh and clean nesting media. I am actually in the process of drying out
the Fire Nation's outworlds and removing them from the network just to clean them out and
allow them to breathe, free of ant activity for several months.
So let's look at the Fire Nation's new future
home, shall we? I'm so excited! A lot of you have been writing to us for years
now asking us when our new improved Hybrid Nests would release, well, the wait is finally
over, AC Family. Proudly presenting our newest flagship formicarium,
the AntsCanada Hybrid Nest 2.0. I've been waiting for so long for these to
finally launch at AntsCanada.Com, as they have taken 2 yrs for the AC Team to develop,
test, tweak, and improve. Let's go over its exciting features for us
ant keepers! When you first receive your Hybrid Nest box
you immediately notice its size.
This is a huge formicarium. It is 10 inches long with a living space of
8 inches x 8 inches. This houses thousands and thousands of ants. You may notice this is our Formica Hybrid
Nest version.
This is the first of our series of genus-inspired
formicariums, and we will roll the other versions out gradually in the coming months. Though this design is inspired by nests belonging
to the genus Formica, almost every species can live in any of the designs. Our Fire Nation will love this Hybrid Nest...
Hopefully. If we compare its size to our old Hybrid Nests,
you will see that these new Hybrid Nests are much bigger by many times, and in case you
wondering about the price, I'm happy to say these new Hybrid Nests will cost a few dollars
less than our previous Hybrid Nests.
So if you look at the cover you will see the
name of the version of Hybrid Nest, as well as an indented area. I wanted this here for people like me who
like to name their ant colonies or label them by species like they do in museums. A sticker or label can be placed here in this
area for that. Or you can simply write in this area with
permanent marker.
Completely up to you! Lifting the cover we see the beautiful interior
of our Fire Nation's new luxurious home. Look at all those rooms and corridors! I cannot wait to see how the Fire Nation makes
use of them. You will also notice several openings on the
sides. There are two openings here and here which
act as exits and entrances.
Our AC Test Tube Adapters fit perfectly inside
so you can attach a new test tube colony directly to the Hybrid Nest, and by the way if this
is your first time seeing these new test tube adapters, we have two sizes, one for smaller
ants to keep their test tubes humid, and a larger AC test tube adapter for your larger
species like Camponotus and Pogonomyrmex. You can also use these to accommodate water
test tubes for the colony to drink, which is what I'll be doing for the Fire Nation. Of course these exits also accommodate our
large size of tubing. You'll also notice this smaller hole which
runs to the other side of the Hybrid Nest, and that is to fixate a heating cable if you're
the type that likes to heat your ant colony for quicker growth.
It is placed on one side so there is a good
heating gradient for your ants to thermo regulate and choose where to position the colony according
to their desired temperature preference. These smaller peg holes above the heating
cables are there for some planned features which we will introduce sometime in the future. You will notice that there are multiple levels
and that the floor is slightly granulated. This helps with foot traction as well as holding
any digging medium in place in case you choose to add some or in case your ants decide to
drag some in from your outworld.
Now lifting the upper portion off the Hybrid
Nest, you'll notice the hydration tray in which you place your hydration medium of choice. Water poured into this tub here flows freely
underneath the living area of the ants and humidifies the ant colony from below via these
tiny microholes. This is the Formica design, so about a 30%
of the floor space is microholed, perfect for most ants. Other Hybrid Designs which will be releasing
overtime over the next few months will have slightly different humidity offerings.
No matter what species of ant you are keeping
you want to maintain a humidity gradient with some drier parts and some more moist parts
so the ants can hydroregulate, super important for the proper rearing of the young. Every species has their moisture preference
so it is always best to give them a varied choice and this Hybrid Nest does exactly that. But enough talk and theory. It's time to see what the Fire Nation thinks
of this custom-designed craft of ant technology.
Let's move the Fire Nation into their new
home! To setup, I first had to secure the glass
onto the Hybrid Nest. I always like to use Elmer's school glue because
it is non-toxic and easy to use. I allowed it to dry over 12 hrs. Also, I had to add my hydration medium.
For the Fire Nation, I am going to use cotton
and toilet paper, but you can also use soil, Ytong, sponge, water gels, perlite, sand,
or whatever media you know your ants like. I also only put it in the areas under the
microholes, but you can fill the entire tray if you so choose. This will hold moisture longer if you're the
type that doesn't want to have to water every two or three days. So my plan was to add pieces of large tubing
into the two exits and cut this highly traveled small tubing, which we call the Geminata Pass
that connects the Fire Palace, the rubbermaid bin, with the surrounding outworlds, and attach
the ends here and here.
On the other holes I was going to place water
test tubes for the colony to drink from. All Hybrid Nests also come with perforated
plugs in case you want to plug any of the exits up. But for the Fire Nation, I wanted this new
home to have a function. I wanted it to be a drinking station, just
so it gave the ants a greater reason to move in to this space and call it home.
So here we go, AC Family, first I had to put
on some gloves because as we saw a couple videos back, these girls pack a good sting! Alright 1 - 2 - 3. I cut the Geminata Pass and quickly attached
the ends to the two exits. All escapees were snatched up and thrown back
into the Fire Palace. Instantly, the ants were alarmed at the sudden
shifting of their trail which prior to this moment remained untouched for many months,
and they became wary and curious at the new smell of the Hybrid Nest.
They stammered about, rather confused at first,
but then they began to wander into the Hybrid Nest. More and more ants came and began to snoop
around. I knew it wouldn't be long before the ants
on both ends would find each other and meet and establish a new trail running through
their new Hybrid Nest. No ant had wandered yet towards the water
test tubes.
I covered the nest and allowed the ants to
move in. Let's see their progress 1 hour later. Lifting the lid. Wow! Looks like the move is well under way.
Ants are drinking from the water tubes and
the ants are moving about excitedly inside. They've also established a trail within the
Hybrid Nest. Let's come back later. 2 Hours later the fire ant trails running
through the Hybrid Nest were now solidified and very apparent.
Every time I came back to check up on the
ants, the trails became more obvious and the ants more excited about their new home. I loved watching the ants establishing their
trails! It was like watch ant highways. Don't they just look mesmerizing? I could seriously watch this all day, every
day. How about you, guys?! So the Fire Nation will take a few more days
still before they elect this Hybrid Nest a suitable nesting
location.
I will know when they will start to truly
call this home when they start moving the brood into here. I will be sure to keep you guys updated on
their progress. For now, the ants will continue to leave their
pheromones on the surface of the Hybrid Nest and mark their territory. Though I do like natural nests involving dirt,
I do also love keeping ants in dirtless formicariums like this because you can actually see the
interior nest activities of the ant colony uninhibited, not just what happens outside
of the nest.
Hopefully, soon we'll even catch a glimpse
of the queen whom we haven't seen for over a year! Let's hope, AC Family. And by the way, what should we name this new
ant territory? Leave your name suggestions in the comments
and I will choose my top 5 favourites for the AC Family to vote on in a future video. So if you would like to get yourself one of
these cool Hybrid Nests, I have placed links to this item at our shop in the description
box of this video. The new Hybrid Nests now ship out in less
than a week from purchase date and just a reminder that we do ship worldwide.
Hope you guys can join me at admiring ants
in the comfort of your own home. It's really a different thing observing ants
in person than through a Youtube video. Thanks for watching another episode of the
AntsCanada Ant Channel. This is AntsCanada signing out! It's ant love forever.
Alright, AC Family, so what did you think? Do you like the Fire Nation's new nest addition? Don't forget to leave your name suggestions
in the comments for this new section of the Fire Nation's territory! I hope you ant lovers out there get a chance
to own one of these Hybrid Nests one day and see how cool it is to watch ants living in
it. AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie
for you here, if you would just like to watch extended play footage of the ants moving in
to their new Hybrid Nest. And now it's time for the AC Question of the
Week! 2 Weeks ago, we asked: List one reason why the
praying mantis was an ideal predator to control the
Golden Empire's population. Congratulations to Animals and Stuff who correctly
answered: The reason the praying mantis is an ideal
Predator is because the are smart, have great eye sight,
move with slow motion but also move quickly if needing
to get to safe ground, she can also fend for her self with no issues, can move without
the ants noticing her and also kick ants off her.
Very thorough answer! Congratulations Animals and Stuff you just
won a free ebook handbook from our shop! In this week's AC Question of the Week, we
ask: What does an ant colony do when their
current nest gets too dirty or too lived in? Leave your answer in the comments section
and you could win one of these brand new Hybrid nests from our shop! Hope you can subscribe to the channel as we
upload every Saturday at 8AM EST. Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, & SUBSCRIBE
if you enjoyed this video to help us keep making more. It's ant love forever!.
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