Guys, it finally happened. My massive, ravenous pet fire ant colony escaped
their ant farm, and today you’ll see why they broke out and what I had to do. Welcome everyone, to the AntsCanada Ant channel. Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel and hit the
BELL icon. Welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy! Now I know what you guys might be thinking:
Bust out the raid! No way! It’s not worth it! There’s a better way, and I’ll show you
exactly how I managed to recover them as well as how and why my pet fire ants, the Phoenix
Empire, escaped, so keep on watching until the end. Take note all you ant keepers with newly caught
fire ant queens this year, this video may be a peek into your not so distant future! The ants were everywhere when I discovered
them walking into my ant room one morning, and it made my stomach drop because this was
the worst colony to be free and loose in the Ant Room! So, first thing’s first! I had to secure any and all creatures that
were in direct danger, namely one of my tarantulas, which I rehomed into a different enclosure
now. The Golden Empire, my yellow crazy ants colony,
also shared the table top, next door to the Phoenix Empire, but I wasn’t concerned about
them, as they were protected in ac setups, and were safe from outside fire ants breaking
in. Next, I needed to locate the breech. Where had they broken out? I immediately found that they had managed
to break out from the single least secured space of their setup. This DIY section in which I used to offer
their sweet jelly cups! I quickly disconnected it and tapped all remaining
ants into the outworld. This is why I often avoid DIY ant farm setups,
because if you have a species known to be escape artists, like fire ants, you run a
greater risk of a break out like this. Now that all surrounding creatures were secured
and the breech dealt with, I had to deal with the masses of escaped fire ants. Judging from the number of ants all around,
it seemed it had only been a few hours since the ants had broken loose. I saw no movement of brood anywhere, thank
goodness. That would’ve been bad, if we saw the ants
marching somewhere with brood, because that would have meant that the colony had initiated
an official emmigration and there was a chance the queen had also moved out of the ant farm
and into the room somewhere! All ants wandering the table were scooped
up using two paint brushes. I have a tutorial on this channel on how to
deal with escaped ants, and having two paint brushes on hand to safely sweep up escaped
ants is one of my favourite ways to handle escapees! I brushed them back into the outworld. Lucky for me, I noticed that the ants had
congregated in a bag of soil which I had laying nearby! Thank goodness! I could easily scoop up the ants with soil
and place them into the outworld, as well. For the fire ants crawling all over the floors,
which were now also making their way to my bathroom where there was moisture, I vacuumed
them all up with a hand vacuum, also a handy tool for dealing with escapees, then tapped
them all into the outworld to reunite with the colony. After literally 6 hrs of work, and many stings
later, I was able to recover the escaped fire ants. This doesn’t happen often, but again when
using DIY setups, there is always that risk of escapes. But guys, turns out there was a deeper reason
the fire ants chose to escape. After some investigation, I discovered why
the Phoenix Empire, our beloved fire ants had attempted this epic ‘break out’ in
the first place. I also can’t wait to show you, just how
I plan on ensuring these ants don’t break out like this again in the future! Now over the almost 10 years of owning this
species of fire ant, I’ve learned a lot about what makes them do certain things, like
attempt to escape a setup. I find a fire ant colony that is content,
well-fed, busy with life’s various activities, with all provisions given, will typically
not attempt to break-free. However, if any of these things are not met
in a satisfactory nature, the ants will have no choice but to do all they can to escape
in order to fulfill their needs. For instance, if the colony is hungry due
to not having enough meat or sugar, they’ll attempt to escape. If there’s not enough to do in their setup,
like build tunnels or hunt, they’ll attempt to escape. If it’s too hot or cold, if their setup
is too moist or dry, they’ll attempt to escape. So I looked to their setup, the City of Ashes,
to find out why the ants had attempted to escape. I opened the Magma Chambers, their ac Hybrid
Nest Mini, and woah! Look at the colony just jam-packed inside! Brood were piled up in the various chambers
and highways of ants moved all around. The colony had truly filled in this space
nicely. I then looked to the Fire Fortress, their
ac Ant Tower, and as expected, jam-packed with brood and ants. And so, AC Family, I believed we had our answer. The colony was outgrowing their setup. They needed more nesting space, and evidence
for that need of nest expansion was seen in the fact that the colony was starting to move
into that bag of nearby soil when they broke out, as well as my bathroom. And so, guys, behold! The future satellite nest add-on to their
setup. I was waiting for the day I could introduce
the colony to this ant farm! This is a full-sized ac Hybrid Nest from antscanada.com,
with very spacious tunnels and chambers. This happens to be the Camponotus design,
but it can be used for any species, and the Phoenix Empire should truly appreciate all
these spacious chambers. It comes with four entrances into the nest,
into which our ac tubing fit perfectly. A porous floor with microholes that allow
for humidity to evaporate upwards into the nest by way of a water tub below, will give
the colony all the moisture they need! It’s a lot of state of the art ant tech
and real estate for the ants, which I know they’ll just love and need. I’ve glued the glass down onto the Hybrid
Nest using elmer’s school glue, and the whole nest can be covered with a cover to
keep them nice and dark. Alright, and now to connect the colony! My plan was to connect this portion of their
setup containing water and sugar test tubes to one hole of the Hybrid Nest, and the tube
leading from the rest of the City of Ashes to this hole. The other two holes were plugged up using
ac plugs which come with the kit. I had placed a fresh roach into their outworld
to create a diversion so there would be less ants at our disconnection point. OK! Let’s do this, guys! I had to work fast. Disconnecting and connecting the tube to one
hole, and the other to the other hole. Now, let’s watch them move in! Ants immediately began to march into the Hybrid
Nest. It was so awesome to see them traveling around,
smelling and investigating all areas, they could explore. This nest would soon become Phoenix Empire
territory! Now, you might notice some areas of the nest
look a bit soiled, and it’s because this Hybrid Nest used to house a past ant colony
of mine, and I’ve simply washed it and reused it for our Phoenix Empire here, as these Hybrid
Nests are definitely reusable. In no time, the fire ants had established
a clear trail to and from both entrances into the nest, and I just loved watching the ants
moving through this giant space which I couldn’t wait to be filled with ants, brood, and crossing
fingers the queen! Alright, so now all we gotta do is cover the
nest and come back later to see if they’ve moved in. A few minutes later, peeking into the nest…
and woah! Looks like the Hybrid Nest is the latest talk
of the town! Look at all those ants! At this point you can see the ant highways,
their trail patterns even more clearly! See it? The ants form primary lines along this general
path. So cool, right?! I don’t know about you guys but I could
literally watch this all day. Another thing I loved was how I could really
appreciate just how big our Phoenix Empire has gotten. I mean, just 5 months ago or so, this colony
was only a single queen ant with eggs! Just amazing to see how mighty our beloved
Phoenix Empire had become, and for a moment I stared my ant-loving heart fulfilled. I was quite happy the ants seemed to like
this new space so far! OK let’s cover them up and check up on their
progress tomorrow! The next day, I opened the Hybrid Nest to
check up on the ants. Had the colony moved in yet? AC Family, this is what I saw. The ants hadn’t moved in yet. But the ants had moved some dirt and pebbles
inside. Just like when I first introduced their Hybrid
Nest Mini, I suspect it will take some time before they fully explore and trust the space
enough to call it home. It’s a smart survival strategy to not move
the colony into a space immediately, no matter how tempting, until enough ants have secured
the area and made sure it isn’t some home of a predator for instance, nor a place that
randomly floods, for example. I’m actually super thankful for this survival
strategy, because it was this survival strategy that also bought me enough time to recover
the fire ants when they escaped into my ant room, before they moved their royal queen
out and all her brood. Alright, I think you guys know what’s next. What should we name this new massive addition
to the City of Ashes? What should we call this Hybrid Nest? Leave your name suggestions in the comments,
and I’ll choose my favourites for us to vote on in a future video. I’ve found ant keeping to be a funny relationship
between human and ants, where we as the ant keepers, need to constantly read the ants
in order to know what they need as they grow and evolve, seeing as they can’t exactly
send us handwritten messages with a shopping list. As the ant keeper, or caregiver of any pet
for that matter, I’ve learned it’s a constant, never ending journey of detective work and
reading the signs our pets give us, so we could best fulfill our job as providers of
all they need to live out their best lives, and in the case of ant keeping, all for nothing
but the fascination for nature in return. It’s why I love keeping pet ants, even if
they sting me or give me a heart attack by escaping. The fascination of it all is totally worth
it! Thank you all for watching and supporting
the ants. It’s ant love forever! AC Family, did you enjoy today's episode? Be honest! Would you have used raid? I’m glad we didn’t have to resort to pesticides
or bug spray, but at least now you know what to do if you ever need to recover an escaped
colony. So much more is ahead so if you haven’t
yet, do SMASH that SUBSCRIBE button and BELL ICON now, and hit ALL so you get notified
at every upload, because I think notifications are broken again. 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 scenes of the fire ants moving into their
new Hybrid Nest. And guys, did you know that it’s anting
season in the Northern Hemisphere, and you don’t even need to leave your home to start
an ant colony?! You can catch pregnant queen ants from the
safety of your own backyard, balcony, or open window starting this month! Be sure to visit AntsCanada.com for all your
ant keeping and collecting gear shipped to you in a special package from our ant-loving
facility in the USA, so you can get the most out of your ant keeping experience. We ship worldwide and also offer full email
support if you need our help! We also have a helpful forum and ant colony
trading marketplace on the site. Visit AntsCanada.com today. And now it’s time for the AC Question of
the Week. Last week, we asked: Which was your favourite creature in
the Meadow of the Dwarves and why? Congratulations to Lloyd Green Ninja who answered: I liked the neon rainbowfish because
of its color and they look AMAZING!!! Congratulations Lloyd, 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 one reason a fire ant colony
might want to break out of their setup? Leave your answer in the comments section
and you could also win a free ebook handbook from our shop! Hope you could subscribe to the channel as
we upload every Saturday at 8AM EST. Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and
SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video, to help us keep making more. It’s ant love forever!
