Last week, during our full ant room tour update
video, we fed my biggest ant colony in the Ant Room, our OG fire ant colony, we call
the Fire Nation, some sweet jelly and an entire cockroach. This was actually the first time I offered
them food on this open rock platform in quite awhile, just so we could see them for filming. Ordinarily, I’d drop their food directly
into the thick vegetation around their mothernest where the ants would finish off their meals
in private. But this feeding would be different, and it
wasn’t long before I noticed something quite strange. This was what the feeding site looked like
several hours later. Usually, the fire ants would be swarming all
over this food, but here as you can see, there were only a few ants. Where did all my fire ants go? And what I saw a few hours after that, brought
a sick feeling to the pit of my stomach. There! Did you see it? Wild feral black crazy ants and ghost ants
were inside the Fire Nation’s territory. This never happens! The territorial pheromones of the fire ants
were enough to scare all feral ants in my home from coming anywhere near this tank. Now, they were seen inside! Something was terribly wrong. What happened to the Fire Nation? Where was my most beloved and biggest pet
ant colony of my entire collection? There was only one way to find out. Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel, and hit the
BELL ICON. Welcome to the AC Family! Enjoy! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! Ghost ants and black crazy ants entering the
Selva de Fuego, the Fire Nation’s massive paludarium kingdom. I even spotted one black crazy ant making
away with a dead fire ant worker! What had happened here? Well, I got to the bottom of it all and I
explain what I believe happened so keep on watching until the end. I couldn’t believe that just a few months
ago the colony looked like this. Millions of ants, swarming above ground, in
celebration of their annual nuptial flight event, where reproductive males and females
hope to mate with those of other fire ant colonies. Of course, seeing as I don’t have any other
fire ant colonies in my room, all the reproductive queen hopefuls and males, ended up not mating
with anyone and dying out within the territories like they do every year at this time. It was shocking to see a colony which I’ve
had for over 4 yrs go from millions to just a few. This fire ant colony was definitely the most
popular ant colony on this channel, and I would say was responsible for taking this
channel and all of us AC Family, where we are toda y. The Fire Nation has accumulated over 153M
views collectively. Their first break out viral video My Fire
Ants Are Planning an Escape currently has over 39 million views. Shortly after, they showed us the savage side
of nature in the video Cockroach Giving Birth While Being Devoured by Fire Ants, which was
featured on Nat Geo and Discovery Channel. Together we watched as the Fire Nation devoured
Donald Trump & Hillary Clinton during US elections season, and showed us the miracle of how they
survive floods by literally creating air chambers using their bodies and by floating on water. They showed us how they amazingly could walk
a tight-rope to get to food across my room. When the channel hit 1 million subscribers,
I tested my luck by placing my honey-covered hand into their nest, at which of course they
riddled me with stings. On Christmas, we gave them a glittering cockroach
christmas tree which they devoured lovingly. Eventually they moved from their formicarium
to this enormous half land - half water simulation of the Amazon River and rainforest which they
dominated and ruled for two very epic years! We marveled at the Fire Nation’s display
of blood and flesh-lust as they tore apart a bird-eating tarantula, a chicken head, a
mouse, a monitor lizard, and even compete with an army of maggots for a decaying turkey
head! They even gave me battle scars on occasion
to remind me that they were an ant colony to be respected. A super organism and force of nature that
wasn’t playing around! We’ve also been lucky to spot, her royal
highness a few times, the Queen of the Fire Nation, whose name is Queen Solis, sole egg-layer
of the colony, birther of this ant army of millions, who once even narrated an episode. There’s no denying that this ant colony,
though the most challenging ants I’ve ever kept, always keeping me on my toes, was also
one of the most amazing collection of animals, I’ve ever had the honour of caring for. And so it was time to get to the bottom of
what had happened to the Fire Nation. It pained my heart to put on my gloves, knowing
that this could possibly be the last time, I’d be arming myself to go into the Selva
de Fuego, the kingdom I had built with my own hands just for them. My heart raced as I stared down at the location
of their mothernest. If the Fire Nation was still alive, they for
sure would be in here somewhere. My mind started to come up with possibilities. Perhaps they had eaten a lot and weren’t
so hungry. But no, that had never happened before ever! AC Family, it was time to get our answers. I went in and removed the driftwood that formed
their mothernest. I looked for fire ants which ordinarily would
be swarming right now as they did the last time I worked in here. And AC Family, what I saw next shocked me
to the core, as the entire life of the Fire Nation flashed before my eyes. Nothing. The Fire Nation was nowhere to be found in
the location of the mothernest. I could see empty chambers which once held
teams of fire ants, brood, and formed the passageways frequented by queen and male alates,
as well as Queen Solis. They were empty now and ghost tunnels. But then a movement caught my eye. It was a lone supermajor crawling around in
the soil. I also spotted a minor worker crawling around
in the empty dirt. The truth made me so sad, but I had to accept
it. AC Family, I’m sorry to say that I believe
the Fire Nation was on its final days. Our Queen Solis, the sole egg layer of the
entire colony must have died and these ants here were the last remaining ants of her final
batch of eggs. I’m so sorry, AC Family. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I ever felt
such sadness over the loss of a colony like I do now. Now that you guys know how epic the entire
four year journey was with this amazing ant colony, you can probably understand why I
cried when I realized I had lost these amazing, amazing creatures. I know, crying over ants. It sounds so weird to new ears but it’s
just one of those things where you need to be there on the whole journey with them to
understand. I felt this was the end of an era for the
entire Antiverse, the end of the most amazing ant colony in the world in my heart. I placed the driftwood piece back in its spot
and left the Selva de Fuego to allow the final workers to live out their final days in peace. The Fire Nation was about five years old,
and though I’ve been saying on this channel that though the workers only live for a couple
months and that ant queens live for up to 30 yrs, I think I failed to clarify that this
was assumed by the ant keeping community seeing as it was recorded in a German laboratory
that a Lasius niger queen lived that long, but the truth of the matter is, there are
thousands of species of ants and we haven’t kept every ant species in captivity long enough
to be able to tell and verify how long the queens of each ant species actually lives. I think the passing of the Fire Nation, assuming
they didn’t die out from some freak disease, has taught us that the queens of Solenopsis
geminata, red tropical fire ants, live for about 5 yrs before passing away. Queen Solis must have died, some time in November. In a typical fire ant queen’s life, during
those five fruitful years she lays millions of ants, spawning hundreds of generations
of workers, creating hundreds of thousands of reproductive ants during nuptial flight
season every year which go on to mate with those of other fire ant colonies and continue
on the species, to complete the circle of life. The Fire Nation’s passing was such a tough
reminder that the Circle of Life is indeed a full circle, and our once booming fire ant
colony was inevitably destined to come to an end and eventually die. Though the passing of the OG ant colony of
the channel was sad, I also realized that we had learned so much from them over the
years, and that they had not lived in vain. Some of the footage and discoveries we made
of their intriguing, secret lives in the soil and water, during the course of the four years
we’ve followed them on this channel, have not been documented by science. By providing the Fire Nation the best possible
care we could give them to live out their best lives, they rewarded us back with such
a wealth of info, discovery, and heart-stopping and adventurous moments, and that to me is
the essence of what ant keeping is all about. I have been contemplating for a long time
about what to do with the Selva de Fuego, now that it was devoid of an ant colony, other
than these feral ants which by the way we need to discourage from being here, so I was
hoping to get your opinions AC Council. Should we get rid of the Selva de Fuego and
rehome all the aquatic life, or move in another of our ant colonies in here like the Golden
Empire or the Titans? Or should I try to find a brand new fledgling
fire ant colony to start all over again from scratch, to be the Fire Nation’s successors,
a Fire Nation 2.0 of sorts. Let me know in this ipoll here. AC Family, this week, I lit a candle on our
behalf to celebrate the life and death of one of the most amazing ant colonies in the
world. Rest in peace to the Fire Nation. Goodbye, my beloved fire ant colony. I’ll miss you greatly. AC Family, it was a tough two weeks for me
when I first noticed the Fire Nation population had dwindled and then later discovered they
had died out, but I suppose it’s all part of the hobby. So much is in store ahead so if you haven’t
yet, SMASH that SUBSCRIBE button and BELL ICON now and hit ALL so you get notified at
every upload, because I believe notifications seem to be broken but the Youtube support
team is on it. Also don’t forget to hit the LIKE button
every single time including now. It would really mean a lot to me. Thank you, guys! AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie
for you here, if you would like to watch some extended play footage of some of my favourite
memories of the Fire Nation. And now it’s time for the AC Question of
the Week. Last week, we asked: Which was your favourite creature featured
in today’s full pet ant tour? Congratulations to Alexander Churchill who
answered: I love Jabba the Hutt, the Surinam Horned
Frog. Congratulations Alexander, you just won a
free Ultimate Ant Keeping handbook from our shop! In this week’s AC Question of the Week we
ask: Which was your favourite memory of the Fire
Nation? Leave your answer in the comments section
and you could also win a free e-book handbook from our shop! Hope you could subscribe to our 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!
So sad
I can't believe they're gone...
I have shed a tear
sick of seeing his animals and colonies die. Months ago i said this; He's stretched to thin. Too many animals. He needs to dial it back.